How to get RM90 million to fight Covid-19

BY THE HAMMER

While it is great that it is Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) this year, much has changed in the first quarter steering us into a dark reality we never expected. 

So isn’t it time we really looked at how money allocated for VMY could now be used for SMY (Save Malaysia Year)?

This is a call Tourism Malaysia should make. 

For once, they’ll be seen to be doing the right thing. 

They can compensate the winning agencies in their recent pitch results announcement with about RM50,000 each, and move on to real life-threatening causes. 

With this one sweeping move, Tourism Malaysia could erase all the blunders that came before.

Campaign Asia says the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has found that Asia-Pacific is expected to be most heavily impacted wth the Covid-19 pandemic with up to 49 million jobs at risk throughout the region, representing a loss of nearly $800 billion to travel and tourism GDP. 

PubMatic revealed that spend for travel ads was cut by two-thirds (65%) in the first two weeks of March. 

So everyone knows VMY is not going to happen, unless you are talking about medical tourism (in limited cases). 

“It is not about being irrelevant, rather it is insensitive when all people are thinking about are their health and safety,” says Vincent Ong, vice president of marketing for APAC at Club Med. “As a responsible travel brand, it is our priority to spread positivity and project the ever-needed spirit of optimism,” according to reports by Campaign Asia.  

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