The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) is tapping into social media to help boost the country’s tourism sector, which has been lagging following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan said it decided to seize the opportunity to promote tourism widely through this platform because of the increased use of social media, such as Facebook, Instagram and now Tik Tok, of late.

“The tourism industry, whether leisure or business, is especially dependent on social media, given the nature of picturesque images as a point to introduce a destination.

“Realising its importance, among the initiatives we’re set to engage with our partners include up-to-date tourism promotional campaigns, live feeds or updates on our flagship event destinations and venue promotions,” he said .

He also said that social media influencers could also help out as studies had shown that users tended to seek influencers’ reviews whenever they wanted to know more about a particular subject.

Jeffrey said about 49 per cent of consumers relied on influencers’ recommendations on social media, while 71 per cent of consumers who have had a positive experience with a particular brand through social media were likely to recommend the brand to friends and family.