Recently, a location-based free mobile application was developed by Abdul Muizz Mohammad Khuzaini, together with his team of seven people, which will basically help travellers discover Malaysia as a local. It features over 700 places and events in 12 categories – culture, nature, food, caving, diving, climbing, beach, shopping, museums, galleries, theme parks, parks and trails.

Abdul Muizz, the CEO of Malaysian company CiEdge Adventure, said he and his team members started working on it in January 2019. The mobile application is known as XTVT which is basically an acronym for “activity”, the location-based app lets users know what events and landmarks are nearby. The application then helps the user to spot the location and eventually assist them to get into their destination with a real-time map.

Recently at the app launch in  Kuala Lumpur Abdul Muizz said “The app already has 15,000 downloads in three months. There are many hidden gems and off-the-beaten-track places in Malaysia. This is why we built the app to let folks know of lesser-known attractions that our country has,”.

He added: “The app allows users to send in details of the places and events, and all submissions are moderated before being published. “That way, everyone can be part of this growing travel community,”

The mobile application also lets users save favourite places and events, share them with other users, and works with various activity providers and homestays to let users buy tickets and book accommodation. The sole motive behind establishing this was to serve the tourism industry and eventually grow the economy of Malaysia.

Also, there are many plans to increase the number of places and events to 1,000 by the end of 2020, and eventually include VR (virtual reality) capabilities where users can have a 360° preview of a place before going there and even knowing the place effectively upon reaching the destination.

Abdul Muizz said “A lot of places in Malaysia have local names that are unfamiliar to foreigners, making it harder for them to understand its history. The VR experience aims to help them experience it before going there,”.

Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, who officiated the launch, expressed pride in seeing young Malaysians tap into the market and contribute to its growth. He said “Our target for Visit Malaysia 2020 is 30 million tourist arrivals, and it’s great to see young people stepping forward and doing their part for the industry and the economy,”