Writer:
Hazrin Izwan Che Haron @ Shafiee
Research Portfolio Officer (Industry & Tourism Thrust)
The Terengganu State Government aspires to make the state as a main edu-tourist destination in the east coast of Malaysia by utilizing nature, adventure, and heritage as the main attraction. In addition, their policy and strategy are also aimed at attracting more visitors and encouraging them to stay longer, by creating great packages, development as well as modernizing the tourism products to be more viable.
Creating an Edu-tourism hub and destination is part of Pelan Induk Terengganu Sejahtera (PITAS2030). Previously, the Tourism department has been actively promoting tourism through the edu-tourism sector. Results showed that edu-tourism is among the important medium and with the increasing number of tourist arrival.
As a holistic approach in edu-tourism market, event managements is able to integrate strategic management to achieve the best short-term and long-term performance and contribute benefits to all subjects involved through a monitoring system with the possible aim of goals especially designed to attract people to revisit the edu-tourism destinations.
Primarily, great creativity for new businesses in edu-tourism from event managements will make benefit by widening potential partners nationally and internationally, nurturing their staff and their stakeholders and ensuring that it reaches a wide audience of tourists and visitors to revisit the destinations.
Promotion
Tourism promoters could promote edu-tourism destinations for example through 360-degree videos and cinematic virtual reality (VR) productions where it really inspires tourists to travel. The VR videos normally contained major destinations, tourism products especially historic knowledge , cruise lines, hotels, resorts and tour operators and this application is available and could be easily downloaded on any smartphone for free of charge. Tourism promoters need to foresee this technology as an ultimate tool for travel advisors. Virtual reality creates a new kind of excitement that will dramatically increase sales in tourism markets. Previously, the conservative way of advertising to the tourist is relatively stagnant over the years and it is time for virtual reality to offer a new way of engagement.
Encouragement
Encouragement from the government in investments in the edu-tourism industry helps to contribute increment of economic growth, business activities and competitiveness which will lead survivor process that will improve tourist satisfactions These discoveries are useful in edu-tourism product development activities in Terengganu where it helps to plan tourism product segmentation, designing tourism promotion programs and develop destination decisions.
