Homegrown eWallet Boost has collaborated with Sabah Tourism Board (STB) to launch “Mansau Sabah Boostku”, an initiative aims to support the revival and regeneration of the state’s tourism sector and overall local economy by incentivizing and encouraging spending in the domestic tourism industry.

This partnership is expected to contribute towards merchant recovery following the reopening of interstate travel under the National Recovery Plan.

Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Jafry Hj Ariffin said the collaboration with Boost was the latest effort by the Sabah Tourism Board to further spur domestic travel promotion to Sabah.

“Mansau in the local KadazanDusun dialect means to walk, go or travel around.

“And Boostku is a wordplay for the slang Bosku, a friendly or respectful way to call someone we just met, that have been broadly accepted.

“So, #MansauSabahBoostku, putting it into words means ‘Let’s go to Sabah my friend’,” he explained when launching the initiative here on Monday.

Jafry said the easing of inter-district restrictions effective October 14 and interstate travel on November 1 was certainly great news to all and a promising outlook for the industry as Sabah gradually activated its state tourism and living the norm post pandemic.

“We are ready to welcome back domestic travellers from all over Malaysia.”

Having said that, he said Sabah Tourism Board had never stopped tourism promotion despite the pandemic.

“We continue to ensure our destinations remain on top of travellers’ mind by doing dual prong promotional awareness campaigns online and offline, traditional and modern methods.

“This includes participating in consumer and tourism trade expos virtually.”

In line with that, he said the state tourism industry is embracing the move towards a cashless trend.

“The Boost collaboration is the latest effort by the Sabah Tourism Board to further intensify domestic travel promotion to Sabah.

“This is part of my ministry’s effort through Sabah Tourism to encourage and provide digital option for domestic travellers to purchase tourism packages and hotel stay in Sabah.”

Jafry said the Boost application is utilized nationwide and it is timely for the state to capitalize the e-wallet users.

He said users could get RM100 worth of credit to spend on travel offers at any Sabah Tourism Board’s partner wallet merchants by redeeming 388 Boost star.

Meanwhile, Boost Biz chief executive officer Eric Chong said, “Regenerating and reviving the economy takes a collective effort.

“With the country kickstarting its recovery and Malaysians already embracing a contactless lifestyle, we are in a position to help expand the accessibility of e-wallets and tap into its value to support the revival of local businesses within the tourism and travel industry that were hard hit by the pandemic.”

“We are delighted that Sabah Tourism Board shares our vision in using fintech as a powerful solution for some of today’s problems that stem from this pandemic.

“We are happy to partner with Sabah Tourism Board and confident that this collaboration will play a big part in regenerating Sabah’s economy by spurring spending in the domestic tourism sector,” he said, adding that 150 merchants comprising hotels and travel agents that accept Boost as payment method have signed up for the “Mansau Sabah Boostku” initiative.

Chong said Boost and Sabah Tourism Board hope to encourage Malaysians to opt for a safer, contactless payment method to continue curbing the spread of Covid-19 while travelling.”

On another note, he said Sabahans are ahead of e-wallet adoption than the rest of the country and the state has the most number of active Boost customer base.

At present, Boost has 9.4 million users and 380,000 merchants nationwide.

As a means to stimulate domestic tourism and Sabah’s local economy, from November 5, 2021 to November 30, 2021, Boost users can redeem RM100 credit into their Sabah Tourism Board Partner Wallet from the BoostUP Catalogue within the eWallet app.

The RM100 credit is valid until February 5, 2022 and can be used with no minimum spend requirement at over 100 merchants across Sabah, including hotels and travel agents that accept Boost as a payment method. Users can refer to the full list of merchants online at https://www.myboost.com.my/terms/campaign-terms-conditions/.

The Sabah Tourism Partner Wallet credit can be redeemed in two ways, by tapping on the ‘My Partner Wallets’ section on the homepage, then tap on the ‘Redeem from BoostUP Catalog’ button or under the profile page, tap on ‘Rewards’ button and tap on “Browse Rewards” section.

For more information, users can stay tuned by following Boost’s official social media channels on Facebook (facebook.com/myboostapp) and Instagram (instagram.com/myboostapp) as well as the official website visit www.myboost.com.my.

Also present at the launching ceremony were Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment cum Sabah Tourism Board chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah Datuk Yusrie Abdullah and head of Sabah Region of Boost Biz, Joseph Tsen.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by CHOK SIM YEE

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