Homestay: FAM Trip First Class Seat Is For Social Media

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1. Malaysia Tourism Ministry is rejuvenating Malaysia's Homestay as a main tourism product. Which is a good efforts knowing that the respective Tourism Product is authentic and unique hence uphold an enormous marketing value and potential.

2. The project is in collaboration with Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) - Malaysia's authority body and main operator of rail transportation. This is remarkably another sterling effort of cross-selling which can only be good for the industry and the country itself by and large.

3. I am fortunate enough to part of the whole program first hand (due to my position as the Personal Assistant to Malaysia's Association of Travel & Tours Agent (MATTA) 's Inbound Vice-President) and as of such I have the luxury of accessing the insights of the mentioned initiative's Sales and Marketing modus operandi.

4. However, it is my honest opinion that the respective Sales and Marketing strategy leading to its approaches could and should be at a higher degree of effectiveness, efficiencies and more of a 21st century flavor.

5. It goes without saying that there should be Pages on Facebook plus Twitter. Other than that, there should be targeted social media initiative to reach out the target market.

6. Travel-related social network should be used as the medium of communication in this case instead of being ignored altogether. Having said that, perhaps Ministry of Tourism should distribute the information and extend the social engagement on platforms such as but not limited to WAYN, Localyte and perhaps Koolred.

The raison d'être 

7. Facebook is THE kick-spot where more than 300 million users gathered and socialize, simple - and Twitter is STILL the hottest social network around besides offering a real time sms-like flow of information. Period. (despite recent slowdown on their growth rate, we both know they are still a force to be reckoned with).

8. WAYN (Where Are You Now) is not just a Travel-specialized social network with  15 million users up to date but notably had an excellent track record in promoting and collaborating with National Tourism Body. This is justified by the successful "Joburg - a world class African city" campaign in collaboration with Johannesburg Tourism.

9. Whereas Koolred is a newborn that are yet to be tried and tested. However, this very fact could turn into an advantage; for after all, a less "reputable" entity would charge less for online advertising on their platform (usually) in comparison to those household names.

10. But then again that is secondary to Koolred 's social network offering. Specifically, a feature that let a user to offers others to go with them to a specific destination.  To have your message appeared here (especially on the very first page) is undeniably a good exposure.

11. Statistically the message will be exposed to all users as it appears on the landing page of Koolred.com and out of the total users, whereby more than quarter of them (approximately 29.3% to be exact) belongs to ONE of the respective campaign's set of target markets. Singaporean, Thai & Indonesian respectively.  

11. As per Localyte, they are emphasizing on the significance of the supposedly "Local Expert" and these local experts ranging from a mere avid travelers to a representative of a particular travel agents.

12. Therefore Ministry of Tourism should ordered its promotional arm  (Tourism Malaysia) as well as MATTA to single out these active agents and approach them to promote the Homestay destinations. These individuals shall be able to provide massive coverage through their networks alone and not to mention through those who are "accidentally" land up on their profiles. 

Epilogue 

12.  In the light of the Familiarization Trip (FAM Trip) which will be held in the near future (so I was told) as per standard practice - I'd suggest that the same amount of cost should be channeled to pursue the above-mentioned Sales and Marketing strategy as per Points 5 and 6.

13. Better still cost of arranging the standard practice Familiarization Trip (FAM Trip) for agents could be reduced, by selecting a much-reduced size of the group of Travel Agents that will eventually make the trip and the majority chunk of the allotment should go to pursuing Point 5 and 6.