TikTok and Penang Global Tourism Launch TikTok Travel Campaign to Promote the State’s Popular Destinations .

●       Penang Global Tourism names TikTok as its official co-branding partner

●       TikTok’s partnership with Penang Global Tourism marks the launch of the #TikTokTravel initiative to encourage social media fans to capture their favorite travel moments

●       Partnership will involve a series of exciting online and offline initiatives starting with #ExperiencePenang to promote Penang’s popular destinations on TikTok

3rd from left) Donny Eryastha, Head of Public Policy for Indo, M'sia and the Ph, TikTok; YB Yeoh Soon Hin, Penang State Exco of Tourism Development, Arts, Culture and Heritage; and Mr Ooi Chok

(l-r) YB Yeoh Soon Hin, Penang State Exco of Tourism Development, Arts, Culture and Heritage; Donny Eryastha, Head of Public Policy for Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, TikTok; and Mr Ooi Chok Yan

Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, 14 June 2019: TikTok, the world’s leading short video platform, today announced its strategic partnership with Penang Global Tourism in a Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony witnessed by Yang Berhormat Yeoh Soon Hin, Penang State EXCO of Tourism Development, Arts, Culture and Heritage. Penang Global Tourism is the first of Malaysia’s tourism boards to partner with TikTok and name the platform as its first-ever co-branding partner promoting the state as a key travel destination in South East Asia.

The partnership serves as the pilot programme in Malaysia for #TikTokTravel, a campaign launched by TikTok across 100 countries worldwide. #TikTokTravel is an initiative that aims to inspire users to creatively capture and share their favourite travel moments.

#TikTokTravel aims to position TikTok as the go-to destination for social media fans’ various travel moments, from breath-taking scenery to inspirational cultural heritage, from seeing to experiencing, and from recording to sharing - all on mobile.

In Penang, this partnership will begin with a series of online initiatives to promote the state’s splendour on TikTok. Among these exciting initiatives include online challenges, bespoke filters and stickers. The campaign kicks-off with Experience Penang 2020, a campaign by Penang Global Tourism that highlights all that Penang has to offer to local and global visitors. The campaign will showcase every aspect of Penang’s amazing diversity through its culture, heritage, arts, food as well as its natural surroundings.

As part of the campaign, users can also take part in TikTok’s latest online challenge, #ExperiencePenang launched on 15th June 2019. Using the #ExperiencePenang sticker on TikTok, users simply have to capture their best moments in Penang ranging from documenting its rich heritage, diverse culture and food, mesmerising art, and beauty of nature. Once the best moment is caught, users need to tag the post with the hashtag “#ExperiencePenang”. Supporting the #ExperiencePenang challenge are Malaysian artists and influencers such as singer and actor Alvin Chong, popular TV host Mark O’dea, singer Ai Wahida, actress Emily ZiYing, and many others.

“We are honoured to be named by Penang Global Tourism as their co-branding partner to help promote the state’s potential as a key destination in Malaysia. TikTok offers a window to the world with its intelligent discovery process, powered by cutting-edge technology and content tailored to user preferences. Through this partnership, we are looking forward to further empowering users to bring to life their favorite travel moments,” said Mr. Donny Eryastha, Head of Public Policy for Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, TikTok.

(l-r) TikTok's Donny Eryastha, Penang State EXCO YB Yeoh Soon Hin, and Penang Global Tourism's Ooi Chok Yan after the MoU siging to launch #TikTokTravel Campaign

“Through our partnership with TikTok, we hope to tap on a wider audien

ce and pique tourists’ interest to showcase a new, engaging and creative way to travel to Penang,” said Mr. Ooi Chok Yan, CEO of Penang Global Tourism. “Launching the #ExperiencePenang campaign with TikTok, we aim to reintroduce the beauty of Penang to tourists from all corners of the world. This campaign is only the beginning of our collaboration with TikTok and we are looking forward to launching a variety of other programs as we always try to explore new marketing ways to inspire more people to visit Penang. Penang is well connected with a number of South East Asia destinations such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam via regular direct flights. As such, we can confidently say that partnering with TikTok in this campaign establishes a great synergistic effect. Apart from overseas destinations, Penang Global Tourism also focuses on promoting Penang to the domestic market and via TikTok, we hope to capture more of the youth travellers here.” 

Here are a few popular creators who have joined the challenge using the #ExperiencePenang hashtag:

Link: https://www.tiktok.com/share/video/6699355697051684098

Embed: <iframe width="340" height="700" src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/6699355697051684098" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Link: https://www.tiktok.com/share/video/6695508455312100609

Embed: <iframe width="340" height="700" src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/6695508455312100609" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Link: https://www.tiktok.com/share/video/6698316728448863490

Embed: <iframe width="340" height="700" src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/6698316728448863490" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Other popular local celebrities and homegrown creators are expected to promote these initiatives supported by the tourism board, which will also set up their official account on TikTok to further engage with a wider audience.

Embracing the spirit of TikTok, the #TikTokTravel campaign transcends boundaries and celebrates diversity. By empowering people to quickly and easily capture and share moments that matter in their lives from their smartphones, TikTok has become increasingly popular for showcasing authentic travel moments, with almost 400,000 videos under the #TikTokTravel hashtag and a total of almost 250 million views. These videos range from creators interacting with nature in various ways, to immersing themselves in different cultures such as tasting street food, to trying their hand at uniquely local experiences.

Following the launch of its programme in Penang, TikTok Travel initiatives are scheduled to be launched in partnership with various tourism authorities across Malaysia and worldwide.