22 media representatives visiting east coast of Sabah

LAHAD DATU: A total of 22 media representatives from various newspapers, magazines and social media platforms from Malaysia and Singapore are taking part in the media trip to Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan organised by Tourism Malaysia.

Tourism Malaysia in a statement said the programme which was scheduled from Sept 11 to 15 was initiated to introduce the local media to various tourism products in the districts of Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan, as well as to help promote destinations in Sabah as a build-up to the Visit Malaysia 2020 (VM2020) campaign.

“The media will gain some fascinating experiences including cruising down Sungai Kinabatangan, soaking in the Lipad mud volcano, visiting historical places such as Agnes Keith House, St. Michael’s Church, Puu Jih Shih Buddhist Temple, Sandakan Memorial Park and Sandakan Heritage Museum.

“As well as visiting Sim Sim Water Village, exploring the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and Rainforest Discovery Centre. Known as the seafood paradise, the participants will get to taste the fresh and delicious seafood cuisines at this east coast part of Sabah,” said the statement here, yesterday.

Besides, Tourism Malaysia said, the trip was also made in conjuction with the launching of Sandakan Food and Agriculture Festival 2019 on September 13 at Bandar Kim Fung in Sandakan.

Tourism Malaysia hopes that the media will share stories of their explorations of Sabah’s great nature with their readers and audience in their respective publications or social media platforms and in turn create the interest for them to visit “The Land Below the Wind”.

The statement also said, the trip is expected to generate some 80 to 100 stories by this group of participants, consisting of feature articles and postings and stories on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and blogs.

From the sharing and reposting of these entries, Tourism Malaysia looks forward to gaining between 5 million and 6 million audience reach resulting from the outcome of the media trip.

Fully utilizing the power of social media, hashtags such as #TourismMalaysia, #MalaysiaTrulyAsia, #cuticutimalaysia, #vm2020, #CutiCutiMalaysia, #VM2020 #GoSabahExperienceMore #SabahOkBah #SyiokOSabah #MalaysianHospitality and #MasWingsMates will be used throughout the programme to gain more traction for the publicity.

This media trip is organised in collaboration with Malaysia Airlines, MASwings, Sabah Tourism Board, Sandakan Tourist Association, Myne Resort Kinabatangan and Tabin Wildlife Resort.

Malaysia Airlines flies to Tawau twice a day every week and Sandakan once a day, while MASWings flies from Lahad Datu to Sandakan twice a day, added the statement.