YB Dato’ Sri Azalina Dato’ Othman Said, Minister of Tourism launched the latest Tourism Malaysia online advertising campaign today (23 September) at the Malaysia Tourism Centre in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.
 
With the Internet becoming the preferred media choice for many travelers to obtain travel information, Tourism Malaysia (TM) has tied up with Yahoo! and MSN as platforms to increase the Malaysia Truly Asia brand visibility globally by showcasing Malaysia’s unique tourist destinations on both websites.

Through the online advertising campaign, Tourism Malaysia aims to engage potential travelers and increase consideration and favorability for Malaysia as a value-for-money destination, as well as to lead them to Tourism Malaysia’s official website and sign up for packages to visit Malaysia. Online users will be able to view TM’s commercial visuals specially selected for the campaign.

The campaign will be implemented in stages, beginning with the South Asia and Oceania markets. The three-month long online advertising from September to December 2008 will target newlywed couples and business travelers from South Asia market as well as adventure-seekers and young families from the Oceania markets.
 
BACKGROUNDER
According to the Internet World Stats (http://www.internetworldstats.com), approximately over 1.4 billion people worldwide are using the internet. The region with the highest internet usage is Asia, with more than 578 million users, constituting almost 40% of world population that use the internet.

Yahoo!, the number one most-trafficked internet destination in India, has over 649 million unique users in India, 14.7 million visitors in Australia and 2.9 million visitors in New Zealand. Meanwhile, the top-ranking portal in New Zealand and Australia, MSN, reaches 72% of the Australian users and 61.9% of the New Zealanders online population. Thus, advertising on the Yahoo and MSN websites presents a strong opportunity for TM to reach out to the intended markets and instill purchase intent among the online audiences. 

For more information on this online advertising campaign, please contact the Director of South Asia and Oceania Markets Division, Tourism Malaysia at telephone +60 3 26158351; fax: +60 3 26930207 or email enquiry@tourism.gov.my.

Issued by: Advertising & Publicity Division, Tourism Malaysia
Date: 23 September 2008
Tourism Infoline: 1300-88-5050
For more information, please contact Tel: +603 26158448; Fax: +603 26158299
Or email: sharonwong@tourism.gov.my
Website: www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my