final report europe calling project

“Sea Asia through Malaysia” Europe Calling - December 2001

FOREWORD

We are a group of communication advisors and our project was to develop an event to

increase awareness and stimulate interest among our target audience (students 18-25) to

choose Malaysia as their travel destination. Our first concern was to conduct a survey – in

the form of a questionnaire - which gave us all the feedback we needed to promote

Malaysia for our target group.

We administered our questionnaire to a sample of 75 Haagse Hogeschool (The Hague)

and 75 Ichtus College students (Rotterdam) between the ages of 18 and 25 years old.

Primarily our purpose was to obtain their travel preferences, which were crucial to create a

profile of our target group.

Eventually we found the results very detailed of the way young students in the Netherlands

perceive their holiday options. We tried our utmost best to analyse the results of our

survey in a way that would be comprehensible to you, you will find the results of the survey

on page--. The results of the survey allowed us plan an event that we personally believe is

an effective way to get our chosen message across.

We hope that you find reading our report interesting and productive. If there are any

questions or queries, we will be willing to explain them to you at our presentation.

Yours sincerely,

Patricia Gomes Ferreira Daniëlle Laheij

Katherine Haggarty Paul Mourad

Nikolaos Koulousios Celine Neuteboom

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Part I: Problem Statement

a. The “problem” or issue to approach

i. Description of the general situation we want to address

In the age of globalization, tourism is one of the central features of local and global

economy. It is a source of revenue that most ‘touristy’ countries count on in order to

stimulate tourism-related industries and to support their economies. Enhanced by modern

transportation systems and the ‘telecommunications revolution’, tourism is a crucial

domain of Malaysia’s economy and is evaluated as such by the Malaysian Tourist

Promotional Board. In the period Jan - July 2001 the Grand Total of Malaysia’s Tourist

Arrivals was 8,366,5861. In the same table (provided on the web site of MTPB), if we look

at the Region/Country of Residence we find that tourists from Western Europe make only

a percentage of 1.6 % (134,904) of the Grand total. In that percentage is the specific

number of Dutch tourists also included, which is only 0.4% (33,023). The numbers are

indicative of the situation in the tourist domain and these numbers call for more action in

marketing and promoting Malaysian tourism.

The Malaysian Tourist Promotional Board is aware of the situation and efforts have been

made to improve it. One of the efforts is focused on the younger market in the Netherlands

with the purpose to penetrate this market segment and stimulate their interest in travelling

to Malaysia.

Our work as communication advisors is to help MTPB and promote their goals. Preliminary

research (survey) has showed us that young people in the Netherlands are not really

informed on the numerous tourist possibilities that Malaysia has to offer. When asked, for

example, Why have they never visited Malaysia, 54% of the respondents answered that

they had no idea. The void of information is a reality, as well as the high travel costs.

However, several dynamics in our survey showed that travelling is always a trend for

young people- all we need to do is try and direct their needs towards the ‘splendour and

beauty’ that is uniquely Malaysian.

1 Source: Immigration Department of Malaysia (KL)

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ii. Consequences for the organisation involved

The event our team is organising allows MTPB to inform the students about all its activities

in order to attract their attention and promote the Board’s plans. The opportunity is there to

eventually penetrate the younger market in the Netherlands. Ultimately, this event can

have positive consequences for the Malaysian Tourist Board by promoting the Board as a

useful source of information for students who want to know more about travelling to

Malaysia. People who will attend the event will eventually keep promotional material and

information for future reference. Furthermore, by bringing together the Board and its

‘customers’ a link can be established between the two of them, which can work as a strong

emotional advantage for promoting the Board’s aims. Through this event MTPB has a

good chance to illustrate the numerous travel experiences Malaysia has to offer and to

also give incentives to potential tourists. Finally, the event (as well as the survey) can

provide MTPB with feedback that is absolutely necessary in order to create the tourists’

profile and have an elaborate and real insight into their travel preferences. Having done

that, the Board can plan their activities more successfully.

iii. Aspects of the problem on which we focus on

In our survey we decided to focus on students’ travel preferences, so as to create their

profile and use it at a later point for the organisation of the event and the promotional

activities. With the puzzle we turn information into a ‘game’ that will attract the attention of

young people. Here we focus on facts that everyone should know about Malaysia, ranging

from the national language of the country to social habits or geographical data. The event

itself will focus on the culture of Malaysia, since the survey has showed us that students

do want to know more about multicultural Malaysia. So, the event will be a display of

cultural activities such as martial arts, traditional dances and fashion from Malaysia! Here

we use infotainment to help us get our message across.

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iv. How to translate this situation into a communication problem

Our event is supposed to involve students in order to give information and generate

interest among them about visiting Malaysia. To translate this project into a communication

situation we have to take into consideration that:

It is a student-orientated event: students from The Hague and Rotterdam expect to

learn something more (or something new) in a pleasant and entertaining way. It is

therefore essential to use unique and creative ways to provide information on the

issue. The crossword puzzle is one of our tools.

Students want to enjoy themselves, so it necessary to think of information given in an

entertaining way. The display of Pencak Silat, for example, is combining information on

the culture of Malaysia and a performance that will capture their attention or

imagination.

The MTPB has to stimulate students to think about the Malaysian tourist attractions in

order for the Board to penetrate this market. In this way, it can be useful to give or

sponsor concrete incentives (such as cost-effective travel packages) or to suggest

other ways of making a trip to Malaysia the new ‘student trend’.

To sum up, this approach consists of finding out specific ways to stimulate students’

Attention, Interest, Desire and Action (AIDA model).

b. The profile of the hosting organisation

i. General description

The Malaysian Tourist Promotional Board is a statutory body established under the

Malaysian Tourist Promotional Board Act of 1992. There is one MTPB Head Office in

Kuala Lumpur and five regional offices throughout Malaysia. In addition to these there are

18 other branches worldwide, in Australia (Perth/Sydney), Hong-Kong, France, Canada,

Germany, Italy, Japan (Osaka/Tokyo), Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden,

Thailand, Taiwan, UK, and the USA (Los Angeles/New York).

The mission of the MTPB is to market Malaysia as a destination of excellence and to make

the tourism industry a major contributor to the socio-economic development of the nation.

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Their aim is to increase the number of foreign tourists to Malaysia, extend the average

length of their stay and, eventually increase Malaysia’s tourism revenue. In the long-term

their objective is to stimulate the Malaysian tourism as well as tourism-related industries,

by promoting new investments in the country, while providing increased employment

opportunities.

As far as the branch offices are concerned, they function as Malaysia's Tourist Information

Centres for both the travel industry as well as for potential travellers to Malaysia. They

also act as a resource centre as most of them maintain an extensive library of slides,

videos, reference books and brochures for the references of the travel industry, journalists

as well as researchers. In addition, they serve as the marketing and promotional arm of

the Malaysian National Tourist Office for the Asian, ASEAN, Oceanian, European,

American and African market. In this role, they co-ordinate a marketing programme in

those areas, conduct travel information seminars, organise participation in trade and

consumer shows as well as familiarisation visits for travel agents, convention organisers

and the media.

c. The target audience

i. Demographic traits and other types of information

Our target audience are students (college / university) in the age range of 18 to 25 years.

There was no restriction on choosing the sample for our survey, other than the student

status and the age. We thought that we should include everyone who could be a potential

traveller to the Far East. The event itself is targeted to students in The Hague and

Rotterdam, so as to have a variety of students and not just students from The Hague.

However, it will be difficult to persuade the Rotterdam students to come and attend an

event in The Hague, unless there’s some strong motivation. A prize for the puzzle would

be a good motive, therefore we have included two flights to Malaysia in our budget.

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ii. Why should they be interested in our event?

Our target audience of students are a group of young people that are very active in tourist

activities. Especially in the Netherlands, young students are most likely to save up and

choose a holiday away from their own country. Our survey showed that more than 50% of

the respondents go abroad more than once a year and one of the most decisive factors for

choosing a destination is the sun and sea. Malaysia is, therefore, a perfect destination for

them. Moreover, the multicultural background of Malaysia is of great importance since

Dutch people are used to a mixture of cultures and appreciate multicultural approaches.

Finally, the event will take place in the Haagse Hogeschool and namely in the university

hall, so that everyone coming in to and going out of the building will be involved.

ii. What are the target audience’s needs and how is the event going to answer them

According to the answers we had for Question 16 of our survey, students are mostly

interested in information on travel conditions and costs, as well as information on the

multiple cultural activities, that a place like Malaysia has to offer. This event will be

sufficiently based on information, but information alone can be ‘dry’ and boring for the

young people. That is why we thought of an infotainment mixture of information in the form

of cultural displays and performances. In this way students will be informed and at the

same time will be excited by the performances, so the information will have a

psychological impact on their perception of Malaysia. Bringing the culture closer to the

people has always been a successful way of promoting cultural products. And Malaysia

has a lot of potential in this field. Finally, since the sun and sea have been one of the most

popular answers in the question of Expectations of a holiday (see survey) we thought we

could incorporate the word ‘sea’ in our slogan (“Sea Asia through Malaysia”) in order to

emphasise on this and promote the natural assets of Malaysia, as well as satisfy the

audience’s preferences.

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Part 2: Planning

d. General goal and 3 objectives

i. General goal

The main aim of our event is to develop awareness and stimulate interest amongst our

target audience (students 18-25) to choose Malaysia as their travel destination.

ii. Four Objectives

I. To gather background information and useful feedback from our target group.

II. To educate and inform our target audience about the various cultural, social and

environmental characteristics of Malaysia as a travel destination.

III. To stimulate their interest on visiting Malaysia by providing incentives.

IV. To inform our target audience of the different possibilities of travelling and

accommodation.

iii. Justification of each objective

I. In order to organise such an event, the first step is to find out what our target

audience would want and expect from the event. We carried out a survey whereby

we questioned 150 students in both Rotterdam and The Hague about their

knowledge of Malaysia, their holiday preferences and what would make them

attend the event we are planning. After analysing the results of the survey, we were

able to plan an event that would be of interest to our target audience.

II. The event we are planning needs to educate our audience in a fun and exciting

way so as to get the message across successfully. We want the event to be

ultimately entertaining, however our main aim is to try and get more people to go to

Malaysia for their holidays and therefore we need to stimulate interest in the best

way possible.

III. We believe that in order to gain significant interest for our event, we need to have

some sort of incentive for our target audience to attend, such as a competition

where a prize could be won.

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IV. Those who attend our event, and who are interested in going to Malaysia will want

to learn how they can travel to Malaysia, where they can go and what sort of

accommodation they can afford.

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Part 3: Strategy

e. The tools for each objective

I. For this objective we used a survey of 16 questions to find out information on their

travel preferences and habits. We based the survey on the reading material we

collected and the Internet sites that we were advised to look at. The results of the

survey were used as the basis for planning our campaign and coming up with a

successful promotion plan. For results of the survey see part 8 (for graphs see

appendix).

II. We feel that the most effective way of informing our audience would be to show a

video of the most beautiful places there are to visit in Malaysia. We feel that a

video would be visually interesting and will capture the interest of a young

audience. If the video is filled with beautiful images of the Malaysian environment,

exotic beaches, fun and lively cities, different nightlife, interesting history, the

different Malaysian foods an so on…it will captivate an audience more effectively

than just someone talking about Malaysia. The event needs lots of visuals to make

it eye catching and unique.

III. We thought that a way to do this would be to have some sort of competition where

students could win perhaps free flights to Malaysia, or some other form of prize.

We have designed a flyer with a crossword puzzle on it as one of our promotional

activities, with questions about Malaysia. All correct answers will be drawn out of a

hat, one of which will win the prize. The puzzle will be handed out a few weeks

before the actual event. The competition will be an incentive for people to attend

and will also be a way for our target audience to learn more about Malaysia, as

they will have to find out the answers from Malaysian websites. It will create

awareness and will also be rewarding.

IV. In order to achieve this last objective we wanted the event to include stands from

travel agents, airlines and student travel companies to inform our target audience

about the costs of going to Malaysia, the different places there are to visit and the

different types of accommodation there are for different budgets. We feel that the

most interesting approach would be to have different stands where students can go

to find out information and ask people who know about travelling to Malaysia. They

will also be able to get contact addresses if they want to find out more information.

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f. Type of event

i. Definition of type of event

The results from the survey showed that what people wanted from the event was an

entertaining and different programme, where music, dancing and also information would

be given about Malaysia. Therefore the event we have planned includes a display of the

Malaysian martial art Pencak Silat, Malaysian food for the catering, Malaysian dancers and

music and a fashion show.

ii. Justification of how our event will function as an effective communication tool to approach the issue

As we are students ourselves we feel as though to entice and capture our audience’s

attention we would need an event that is different and exciting. We are aware that very few

students will attend an event, and spend a long time there, if it is solely for information

purposes. For this reason we have chosen to plan an event that will attract students-

where dance, sport and music are the main elements. Amongst the entertainment, all of

which are Malaysian based, there will be a speaker who will link all the acts together and

explain the purpose of the event. We hope to have some travel companies and tour

agencies who will be willing to put on stalls with information so our audience can go and

receive information about Malaysia as a holiday destination. After being shown displays of

Malaysian sports, music, entertainment and dances, our target audience will be introduced

to Malaysian culture and therefore be aware of the possibilities of travelling there for a

holiday.

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g. The promotion plan

i. Explanation of how we intend to reach our target audience

According to AIDA model, a powerful promotion plan has to lead the target audience into

four successive stages in order to process information and make a decision. These steps

are attention, interest, desire and action. For each stage it is necessary to find out the

appropriate promotion tool in order to reach the target audience and to involve it in the

event.

The first step consists in attracting the attention of our target audience by giving

information about the event. We want to reach students in the age range of 18-25 in The

Hague and Rotterdam, so we have to think about the different kinds of advertising that will

effectively reach them. We thought that a cost effective and direct form of advertising the

event towards our target audience would be through flyers. On the flyer will be a

crossword puzzle with questions about Malaysia where one winner will win a prize. To fill

in the answers of the crossword- students will have to research Malaysia, as the answers

will not be too obvious that a visit to the Malaysian Promotional Tourist Board website will

provide all the answers. In order to get the answers, they will have to read through the

information and will inevitably see the idyllic images of Malaysia. Hence their awareness of

Malaysia as a tourist destination will significantly increase. We also want to advertise on

napkins that will be used in the university canteens- so when students buy food, the napkin

with the food will have our slogan with the date, time and venue of the event. We also want

to put up posters around the universities which will be the same design as the flyers,

however the posters will have more information on them with what the event will be.

With the second stage, we have to arouse our target audience’s interests. The event we

have to plan has to be the sort of event that students will choose to go to. Therefore the

flyers and posters will advertise the event giving information about the date, time and

venue. We believe that students are more likely to want to attend an event when there are

music and dance acts and catering as apposed to an event with just information stands.

Also the opening act of the event is going to be a display of Pencak Silat. The display will

be loud and therefore will initially attract the student’s attention. It will start in the lunch

break- when most people will be in the canteen and will therefore hear what is going on-

and we believe many people will go to see what all the noise is about. The display is quite

different and very impressive, as the group we have contacted regularly put on displays for

events so they are experienced in public performances, and therefore we believe that

people will stop to watch the display because of it’s uniqueness.

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The third step consists of creating the desire to participate. It is necessary to find out

added values for our events, such as special gifts and prizes, hence the competition with

the crossword puzzle. Also if the event has music and dancing, it will be visually interesting

and students who see the event with fashion displays and Malaysian costumes and

Malaysian music will be experiencing an event which most of them are unlikely to have

come across before.

If we follow these stages correctly, our target audience will be lead towards action and

being part of the event. Those who like the event will obviously stay to watch, and we hope

to raise their interest in traveling to Malaysia by showing the most interesting and

entertaining parts of Malaysian culture- that we believe students will be most interested in.

ii. List of different media we want to use

Print media

Flyers with the puzzle on, and information about the event, such as date, time, venue,

and what sort of event it will be.

Posters will be a larger version of the flyer- with more information on the poster about

what will be in the event.

Napkins with the slogan of the event and will also include the date, time and venue.

These will be dispersed in The Hague’s ‘Haagse Hogeschool’ and Rotterdam schools

and universities canteens.

This kind of advertising allows us to directly reach our target audience, in particular

students in The Hague and Rotterdam.

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h. The message and the slogan of our event

i. The Message

The message we want to put across in our event is that students are able to and should go

to visit Malaysia. We will show several aspects of Malaysian culture and it’s country.

Students who attend our event will be visiting an interactive show and become interested

in all the different kinds of beauty that Malaysia has to offer. During this event it will

become clear to students that it is possible for them to visit this lovely country in a cost-

effective way.

ii. The Slogan

Our slogan will be “Sea Asia through Malaysia”. We eventually decided on this slogan

because we wanted to attract our audience’s interest through visual images of Malaysia’s

fantastic beaches. As Malaysia is part of Asia we thought it would be useful to use this in

our slogan. This is the design we came up with:

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i. The Venue

i. Type of venue we require

Our event will be held at the Haagse Hogeschool in the University Hall. This is in the large

entrance of the University building. The reason for this choice was because it was part of

the requirements set by our assignment provider. It is an appropriate place to have this

event as our target audience are students of The Hague and Rotterdam. The Haagse

Hogeschool is a well-known university that is in an accessible location for students

travelling from Rotterdam. Because the event will take place in the University Hall,

students will be entering and leaving the University constantly during the event. This can

be a very important factor. If we can make the event as attractive as possible, students will

stop, watch and experience it for some time, especially when the music is played. The loud

drums from the Pencak Silat will interest students to come and see what is going on. The

event will begin at 12 o’clock, continue during the lunch break and therefore we hope to

attract a lot of students to come and watch the opening of the event. The venue will also

include a place for the catering. This will be a place where students can sit down and enjoy

a sample of Malaysian cuisine.

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Part 4: The Programme

j. Description of the event

i. Description of the activities in chronological order

We have planned for the event to start at 12 o’clock with a welcome word from Mr. Razali.

Miss Kahar, who is a communication teacher at our school or by Miss Liza from the

Malaysian Trade Office, will introduce Mr. Razali. The speech from Mr. Razali will be an

introduction for the event and will explain the purpose of the event.

The actual event will start at 12:15 and will take about forty-five minutes. This is because

on weekdays we can only have music for half an hour, during the lunch break. The event

will open with a performance of Pencak Silat, which is a Malaysian martial art. Unlike other

martial arts like karate, capoeira and kung fu, Pencak Silat was never meant to be a sport

but a form of self-defense. Four people will perform Pencak Silat, and their performance

will only take a few minutes. After they have finished their show, they will move to one side

of the throne. (All the way through our event this throne will be located on a stage in the

middle of the University Hall). The Pencak Silat performers will stay at this place until the

final performance. After the Pencak Silat has ended the Kombang drums will start playing,

as the groom (model) comes from the back of the audience to sit with his bride (model),

who will be already sitting on the throne. The bride and groom will be the center of the

show for a few minutes and will be dressed in Malaysian clothes. When the bride and

groom are finally sitting on the throne together, a special wedding dance, called the Renjis-

Renjis will be performed for them. After the dancers have moved to the other side of the

stage, our special guest of honour, for example, the Malaysian Ambassador, will be invited

to bless the bride and groom. This ceremony will be followed by the Malay Pering dance.

After these dancers have grouped up with the others, the Kompang drums will start to play

again. With this play they will lead the bride and groom off the stage, followed by the

dancers and Pencak Silat performers.

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After their departure, the models of the six states of Malaysia will parade the stage in their

costumes, to perform the fashion show called ‘Asian fabrics in European silhouettes’,

meanwhile the traditional royalty music - ‘Nobat’ will start playing. As the models have

presented their clothing, the Kelantan princess (she will also be dressed in original

Malaysian clothes) who was at the back of the University Hall during this performance will

be carried up from the back of the Hall by the Pencak Silat performers and she will join the

other models. When she has reached them all the models will perform a special dance.

For this dance everyone will join on the stage and sing in a choir the song ‘To know

Malaysia is to love Malaysia’. This is one of the most important communication tools to

promote Malaysia as a travel destination during our event. After the dance and the song

the Nobat music will start playing again and the princess will be carried off the stage on

her throne. The other models will follow her on the stage and the Rongeng dance will start.

The Rongeng dance is a Malaysian cultural dance and it will include all the people who

have performed during the event and will also include the audience.

We want to close the entertainment part of the event at one o’clock followed by the lucky

draw of the competition. This draw will be done by the ambassador of the Malaysian

Embassy and will for example include one or two free tickets to Malaysia. The lucky draw

will by followed by a video about Malaysia. The video is called ‘Malaysia truly Asia’, and

with this film we want to inform our public about everything that Malaysia has to offer. This

is not the only way in which we want to inform our audience during the rest of the day,

because we also will have bamboo stands consisting of Malaysian foods and specialties,

and information stands, for example travel agents, insurance companies etc.

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Sea Asia Trough Malaysia

Main programme

The following schedule will show you the programme of the day in chronological order. We

added the time that all the performances will take, to give a clearer picture of our event.

There is another programme for the rest of the day, which includes the stands, the lucky

draw and the video. Furthermore there will be catering supported by a Malaysian food

company. They will serve refreshments for the audience and the performers after the

show.

When? Where? What? Who?12.00 – 12.15 Middle of the

University HallWelcome word Miss Kahar / Liza &

Mr. Razali

12.15 – 12.20 On Stage Pencak Silat Pencak Silat performers

12.20 – 12.22 Next to the stage Kombang drums Drummers

12.20 – 12.22 On stage (throne) Start fashion show Bride & groom

12.22 – 12.28 In front of the stage Wedding dance Dancing group

12.28 – 12.30 In front of the throne Blessing of bride & groom

Ambassador of Malaysia

12.30 – 12.35 In front of the stage Malay Pering dance Dancing group

12.35 – 12.37 Next to the stage Kombang drums Drummers

12.35 – 12.37 On stage Leading bride & groom, dancers +

Silat group of stage

Bride & groomDancers &

Pencak Silat performers

12.37 – 12.43 Next to the stage Nobat music Musicians

12.37 – 12.43 On stage Entrance of models for the fashion show

Models

12.43 – 12.45 From the back of stage to the stage

Princess of fashion show

Princess

12.45 – 12.51 On stage Dance performance by models and

princess

Models &Princess

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12.51 – 12.55 On stage Singing performance by

models and princess

Models &Princess

12.55 – 13.00 On stage and in front of the stage

Rongeng dance All of the performers, including audience

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Sea Asia Through MalaysiaThe rest of the day

The following schedule will show you the other activities during our event. Some of these

activities could be at the same time as the main performances, but they will not interfere

with each other.

When? Where? What? Who?13.00 – 16.00 In the University Hall,

around the main stage

Bamboo stands, with different information

Different organizations, for

example travel companies

13.00 – 14.00 On the stage Lucky draw Ambassador of Malaysia

14.30 – 15.00 On stage Video presentation of ‘Malaysia truly

Asia’

Malaysian trade Office

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Part 5: The Design

k. The design of our event

i. How do we intend to translate the message and slogan in terms of design

The message that we intend to communicate with our event is that everybody, in particular

young people between the age of 18 and 25 years, can be interested in Malaysia as a

potential holiday destination. Our slogan “Sea all of Asia through Malaysia” relates to the

aim of our event of getting people interested and eventually going to Malaysia and perhaps

see the rest of Asia.

With the overall design of the event we want to stress that is it possible for students to go

on holiday to Malaysia and that we offer a number of suitable possibilities for them. The

Atrium at the Haagse Hogeschool, in The Hague, has to be designed creatively to make

the people interested and eventually get them to participate in the event and make them

interested in Malaysia. Every aspect of the event has to be related to Malaysia, based on

the different aspects of the country such as nature, culture, values & norms and the exotic

environment.

We want to communicate to our audience through different activities, which must give

them the impression that they are closer and also more familiar to Malaysia. These

activities are; stands with Asian food, a fashion show with traditional Malaysian costumes,

Malaysian music and dance and a martial art demonstration. We want our target audience

to use all of their five senses. We want to stress the visual aspects of Malaysia during the

event. These visual aspects have to be appealing to our target audience in order to attract

them and keep them interested during the event and also give them the feeling that they

are a part of the whole event, and to keep attention at a high level.

The message, we want to communicate, is reinforced by all of the activities containing

pure Malaysian aspects that will involve them with the event. The message is the most

important part of the event because when the message is not clear and appealing, the

audience cannot make a clear and good link to the event itself. The smell and taste of the

Asian food is also a very important part of the event, because that way the audience can

really experience a little of Malaysia. Touch is less important, because one can’t touch a

holiday destination like you can touch a book.

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ii. Our design objectives

With the chosen design we intend to achieve these objectives:

To get our target group/visitors in full contact with Malaysia we want every aspect of

our design to be focused on Malaysia.

To make our target group/visitors aware of the different possibilities Malaysia has to

offer them, if they want to go on holiday to this country.

To give information about Malaysia, e.g. accommodation possibilities, prices, nightlife,

excursions, etc.

To communicate our message in a visual way in order to strengthen the meaning of

our event. We want to do this by stands, flyers, posters, billboards, flags and other

promotional material.

To modify the atrium in order to make it attractive to our target group and try to involve

them in the event.

To entertain the visitors and to make time pass pleasantly therefore they can

understand the message that we want to transmit more clearly.

To involve the target group/visitors in our event with the performances that will be held

during the day. We want the visitors to be a part of the event. After the event we want

them to have the feeling that they played an important role in the event.

iii. Sorts of decoration and attractions we plan to use during our event

During our event we plan to use these kinds of decorations and items:

Posters : we plan to put several posters in different locations. Every poster shows

pleasant images of Malaysia, for e.g. palm trees, nice beaches and sunset. The poster

also gives brief information about the event itself (mainly about the location, time and

performances) On every poster there is also a print of our slogan. We intend to use

mainly posters that portray the nice view of Malaysia. The good quality and the appeal

of the picture on the poster will catch the attention of the target group/visitors and

support the essence of the message.

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Music : we want to arrange music during the entertainment part of the event. During the

different performances we want energetic music to reinforce the performances for e.g.

drumbeats during the Martial art display. It is a very important aspect to make the event

for the visitors as nice and enjoyable as possible. We also think that the music will give

the visitors more a feeling of being close to Malaysia.

Flags : We will show several Malaysian flags at the entrance of the University hall, so

that the people will get familiar with the national symbol and the different aspects of

Malaysia.

Information stands : the information stalls have the same structure but are decorated in

different ways. We want the different stands to bring their own brochures and

information and perhaps their own decoration. But the decoration of the stands will be

a combination of materials from the companies and decorations from the event, e.g.

brochures, flyers and posters.

Flowers and coloured ribbon : These will decorate the atrium and the foyer during the

event and make it more attractive and eye-catching for the visitors. The flowers and

ribbons will have the same colors as the rest of the decoration, mainly colors that

correspond in some way with Malaysia.

Billboards : On the boards there will be our poster and additional information. They will

be at the front of the school and just after the entrance. The billboards will have the

same colors as the original posters.

Other facilities (such as toilets, coffee machines, automatic machines) : We can use the

facilities of the Haagse Hogeschool, however they are not so important in relationship

to the design objectives of our event as they are already part of the venue.

-22-


-23-

Entrance SecurityCopy shop

Stairs 1

Stairs 2

Stairs 3

Foyer

Reception

Stairs 4

Wardrobe

Entrance

Bar

Stairs 5

Martial arts performance

Copy

space


iv. How is the space arranged and why?

For our event we want to provide different areas for the different activities and try to

arrange them in an attractive but at the same time, useful and functional way in order to

reinforce the meaning of our event and to achieve its objectives.

Entrance : this is the first ‘space’ in which the audience will come in, so the aim for this

space is to give a generally positive impression about the event. When you enter you

will see two billboards in front of you with posters of the event in it. We also want to

decorate the surroundings near the entrance as much as possible. We want our

audience to get an overview of the whole event while standing near the entrance. This

event has to appeal to our target group and to stimulate their attention, so we can

focus on e.g. pictures that portray the beautiful landscape of Malaysia.

Foyer : In the foyer people can study and read the information that is available to

them about Malaysia. The can also have time to look over the information in between

the performances. We want the people to be as comfortable as possible and this is

why we want to make use of this area. The foyer will also be used as a preparation

area for the artists, which are going to perform on the event. We will supply them with

all the necessities they require e.g. a room (space) where they can change and relax,

a place where they can refresh themselves and have something to drink or eat.

-24-


i. How these choices will help accomplish our event and design objectives

As we stated during the description of the decoration and look of our event, the design

we have chosen is Malaysian orientated. Our aim is to appeal to our target group

(students between 18 & 25 years old) and to arouse their interest in Malaysia as a

holiday destination. In this way, the use of colours, music, the specific stands and

decorations, whose goal is to give the impression to be a little closer to Malaysia, are

means to allow us to captivate the target groups attention and to involve them in the

event so that we can communicate our message and receive the response that we are

expecting from the audience.

The visual aspects of our event play an important role to catch the attention of our

audience, in fact young people between 18 & 25 years are more attracted by visual

stimuli than by audio ones. In order to better transmit the inner message of our event

and so to stimulate our target group, we believe we have chosen the most effective

channel to reach them.

-25-


Part 6: The Budget

l. Sources of income with fixed costs.

i. Sources of income

Our main source of income is from the Malaysian Tourist Promotional Board. Initially we

tried very hard to find sponsors, however after contacting numerous companies we came

to the conclusion that finding sponsors within a few weeks was an extremely difficult task.

We contacted over 30 different companies and unfortunately not one of them was willing

to sponsor our event. For a copy of all the responses we received from the organisations

we approached, please see appendix.

We have chosen not to charge an entrance fee for the event because the venue of the

event is the main entrance of the Haagse Hogeschool and therefore it will be almost

impossible to charge as there will be both students who want to visit the event as well as

students who are at school solely for the purpose of going to classes.

We therefore stopped looking for sponsors, as the responses we received were all

negative, and concentrated on the budget and tried to keep it as low as possible.

ii. Fixed costs

University Hall fl. 859 Euro 390(Including tables, chairs, stands, security,

sound equipment and cleaning service)

Marketing costs fl. 3.950 Euro 1.792

Flyers + puzzle (double sided) fl. 1.650 Euro 749

Posters (100) fl. 300 Euro 136

Napkins (2000) fl. 2.000 Euro 908

Promotional activities fl. 480 Euro 218(Students who hand out flyers)

-26-


Decoration of the University Hall fl. 500 Euro 227(This includes flowers etc.)

Entertainment fl. 3.200 Euro 1.453

Silat fl. 500 Euro 227

Dance fl. 700 Euro 318

Fashion show fl. 2.000 Euro 908

Catering (500 people) fl. 3.500 Euro 1.588(This includes 5 waiting staff)

2 tickets to Malaysia fl. 4.000 Euro 1.815

TOTAL fl. 16.489 Euro 7.482

-27-


Part 7: Sponsoring

m. The sponsors we contacted

i. flight agencies

When initially thinking of sponsorship for our event, our first thought was to ask airlines

that travelled to Malaysia from Amsterdam. This was the most obvious solution to our

problem of a small budget, because for people to travel to Malaysia they will no doubt

have to fly there, therefore we contacted the following airlines asking for some form of

funding from them:

Contacted by e-mail:

Lufthansa

Alitalia [email protected]

Singapore Airlines [email protected]

Royal Jordanian [email protected]

Garuda Indonesia [email protected]

Royal Brunei Airlines

Swissair

Sri Lankan Airlines

Air India [email protected]

Thai Airways Internationals

Cathay Pacific Airways

Contacted by fax:

British Airways +31 20 346 9559

Malaysian Airlines +31 20 638 1189

KLM +31 20 648 8537

British Midland +44 1332 854 255

Alitalia +31 20 675 6286

-28-


Contacted by letter:

British Midland

Donington Hall,

Castle Donington,

Derby,

East Midlands

DE7 42 SB

England

Cathay Pacific

Triport 1, Room 5134

Evert van de Beekstraat 18

1118 CL Luchthaven Schiphol

ii. travel agencies

Travel companies were also an obvious business group to ask for sponsorship, as most

people who will travel to Malaysia will have to go through a travel agent and as such tour

operators. We contacted the following companies:


Holten holten2oad.nl

holten@[email protected]

Neckermann [email protected]

Kilroy Student Travel Agency [email protected]

Contacted by telephone:

Kilroy Student Travel Agency

020-524 51 00

-29-


iii. Insurance companies

As travelling to any holiday destination will require travel insurance, we asked the

following companies for some form of sponsorship as they are all companies that offer

travel insurance, some of which specialise in student travel insurance:


OMNI-polis [email protected]

CentraalBeheer [email protected]

Generali [email protected]

ELVIA [email protected]

Geové

Rabobank-Enschede www.rabobank-enschede.nl

Shell Polis

Ohra

iv. Food & drink suppliers

Most events include catering, and because our target audience is students- they will

prefer to have complimentary food and drink when they attend an event. Therefore we

wrote to the following companies to ask for sponsorship in the form of food and drink:


Unilever [email protected]

Riedel [email protected]

Vrumona

Pisang Ambon

Heineken

OceanSpray [email protected]

-30-


Part 8: Results of the survey

n. Interpretation and Conclusion of the survey

Our primary research question was about students’ travel preferences. This broad topic

has been turned into five subsidiary questions in order to examine relevant aspects and

obtain information on how students perceive Malaysia, what they like to see when they are on holiday, how often they go on holiday and how long they stay, with whom do they normally go and how do they decide on their destination. All the

results are closely linked to these six questions and they all form the results of student

travel preferences.

i. Analysis of the questions

Question 1: What’s your age?

The vast majority of the students who filled in the questionnaire were between 18 and 25

years old. This matches with our target group to a great extent and therefore can be

representative of a general trend among students in The Netherlands.

Question 2: How many times a year do you go on a holiday abroad?

45% of the respondents travel abroad only once a year. This result informed us that a

good proportion of students will eventually be influenced by our campaign because they

are already interested in travelling abroad. However, 32% of the respondents do not travel

abroad at all, which is actually the group of people that our promotional campaign have to

focus on, since our main aim is to involve as many student travellers as possible. In later

questions, reasons for not travelling so often will be shown very clearly. Finally, 19% seem

to travel abroad twice a year and a small proportion (4%) of the participants go abroad

more than twice a year.

-31-


Question 4 : What do you expect to find in an ideal holiday?

We found that most students (55%) want to have sun and sea in their holiday. We

shouldn’t forget that our target audience is mainly Dutch students who are constantly

seeking for some good weather and especially sunshine. Second favourite are adventure

and sports holidays (15%), and thirdly nightlife and the other types of holidays. The way

students prioritise their expectations is of course clearly indicative of their preferences.

What we need to do further is promote the sun and sea of Malaysia as the perfect

incentive for potential young tourists. Malaysia already has tremendous natural assets,

including beaches and sea resorts, as well as numerous opportunities for water sports

and other activities.

Question 5 : How much money do you approximately spend on a holiday?

This is one of the questions that can show us what sort of holiday packages students are

likely to choose. Most of the respondents (60%) answered that they spend about 1000 to

3000 guilders (453 to 1,361 Euros) for their holiday, another 20% answered less than

1000 guilders (453 Euros) and a 21% answered between 3001 to 5000 (1,362 Euros to

2,269 Euros). If we want to penetrate the younger market we have to bear in mind their

budget and provide them with cost effective solutions. Money, as we can also see in

Question 9, is the most decisive factor for choosing a holiday destination.

Question 6 : How long do you usually travel for?

Most of the people (58%) travel for 1 to 2 weeks. This is a good result for holiday agents,

but if we look at the dynamic of answer three (3 – 4 weeks) we can conclude that students

are willing to stay longer than one or two weeks, especially if the costs are reasonably

low. Time in this context needs to be associated with money and be evaluated as such.

Part of the aim of MTPB is also to extend the average length of their stay, in order to

increase Malaysia’s tourism revenue.

-32-


Question 7 : What type of accommodation would you prefer?

Here we have two outcomes which were numerically very close. 43% of those surveyed

prefer to stay in an apartment or bungalow and 36% prefer to stay in a hotel.

Accommodation is usually an issue that causes a lot of complaints on behalf of the

tourists. Good accommodation facilities can play a vital role in the promotion of Malaysia.

And students are willing to pay for a good hotel room or an apartment, as the results

show.

Question 8 : With whom do you usually spend your holiday?

Definitely most students (58%) spend their holiday with their friends. After that comes 26%

of them who spend their holiday with their partner. This gives information on how we can

organise better holiday packages in relation to the number of people that travel together

for a holiday.

Question 9 : What factors are most important for deciding on your holiday?

Here the outcomes are again close numerically. 33% think firstly about the costs of a

holiday in order to make a decision. So we should try to keep the costs as low as possible

to attract the younger market. Second factor with 24% is the distance, however this is

something we cannot change as many tourists would chose not to travel a great length.

Malaysia is situated in the Far East, but we can try to bring it closer by giving as much

information as possible or we can focus our efforts on presenting it as an exotic and

tropical destination - a fair distance away but with a lot to offer! Also with 22% another

decisive factor is the destination. Here it is up to us to promote Malaysia as a perfect

holiday destination.

Question 10 : Where do you get your travel information from?

It appears that most students (39%) obtain their information from travel agencies. We

might conclude that we should focus on traditional communication channels, because for

a holiday, students seem to trust reliable sources such as travel agencies. Second with

27% is ‘mouth to mouth’ information, which actually means that they will trust someone

who had been there already and can tell them all about it. Finally, Internet gets 10% of the

answers and television 13%. Both mediums are necessary for MTPB’s promotion.

-33-


Question 11 : “When I think of Malaysia, I think of….”

Most of the respondents (38%) think of it as an exotic resort when asked about their

perception of Malaysia. Our campaign should be centred on this fact and promote the

natural assets of Malaysia in order to attract more tourists. Additionally, more than 15 %

choose Sun, Beach & Sea and also Nature & Wildlife. It is more than clear that Malaysia

has a great chance of winning a lot of potential tourists because it already comprises all

these natural assets. Although Malaysia has a rich culture and tradition, only 18% chose

history & culture, which translates into more effort needed on behalf of MTPB to promote

the cultural products of the country.

Question 12 : Have you ever been to Malaysia?

Here the outcome is really clear. With 97% it appears that they have not been to Malaysia

yet! We put this question to have an idea of how many students of our sample have been

there already. Their feedback is the most essential one and can be the base for further

planning of the promotion. However, the percentage of the despondence who have been

to Malaysia turned out to be so small, that no real conclusions can be drawn from this. We

do, though, get an idea of what they liked or disliked during their stay in Malaysia.

Question 13/14 : Would you want to visit Malaysia again?

We would advise you to take a look at the graph of this question to get an idea of how

these four students have rated seven variables that represent different factors that make a

holiday one to remember. In question 14 two respondents said that they would visit

Malaysia again, one said maybe and the other one did not want to visit Malaysia again.

Question 15: Why have you never visited Malaysia?

Here most respondents (54%) have no idea of why they have not visited Malaysia before.

We think that they do not know enough and therefore they need to be informed about the

country and it’s dynamics. 25% believe that it is too expensive, so we really must try to

keep the costs as low as possible. Other percentages prefer to proximity reasons or the

‘exoticness’ of Malaysia.

-34-


Question 16:

This question was designed to show us what sort of information (or infotainment) students

would like to be provided with in a promotional event on Malaysia tourism. Their answers

will help us plan and organise the event better, since we get an insight into what would

really be interesting for them to experience! Most answers included cultural information,

which shows us the lack of promotion in this area. A lot of students also answered costs

and prices, which is indicative of what they really want to know. Our event is based on this

feedback and so far we have plans to make the event a showcase of cultural activities.

ii. Conclusion

The answer to our central question ‘What are the students’ travel preferences’ consists of

variables that range from money, time, distance and accommodation to natural assets,

culture, nightlife and the similar aspects. Taking into account all the variables and the

answers given, we can have a ‘map’ of student travel preferences and use it according to

our purposes.

Working on this survey, we found out that students know very little about Malaysia, this

could be a possible answer to the reason why only 4 out of 150 students we surveyed

have already been there. However, their interest seems to be relatively high on holiday

issues and they seem to know exactly what they want. Not only do the great majority of

students travel regularly abroad, the amount of money they spend is also relatively high

and the period they spend abroad does not really extend to more than two weeks. This

makes this target group suitable for our promotional campaign and Malaysia a great

destination.

-35-


iii. Swot-analysis

Strengths

- Warm and comfortable climate

- Presents of high quality nature

- Undamaged Landscape

- Divers landscape (Lots of

possibilities as a destination;

climbing, sun & sea etc)

- Relatively cheap whilst there.

Weaknesses

- Other holiday destinations,

therefore high competition.

- High travel costs

- Tropical diseases

- Small target group

- Distance

Opportunities

- Changing needs of the consumer &

Developing possibilities

- Political changes

- It is a Relatively unknown

destination, therefore it is

something new.

Threats

- Changing needs of the consumer

- Growing competition

- Sensitive to Economic situation

- Sensitive to political/social changes

-36-

Internal analysis External Analysis

iv. SWOT Analysis

With the help of the swot analysis we are trying to make a correct analysis for Malaysia as a

holiday destination.

Strengths

One of the strongest points is perhaps the warm and comfortable climate of Malaysia. The

result of the survey pointed out that a very important factor is the presence of a warm climate

(most people want a sunny holiday). So Malaysia already has a big advantage. When you

look geographically at Malaysia one other noticeable aspect is the presence of high quality

nature in combination with unspoiled landscape. A large part of the Malaysian landscape is

dense jungle and magnificent forests. This could be an attractive point for potential tourists

because these days untouched nature is hard to find. Malaysia can make use of these

natural resources to attract tourists, but they have to keep in mind that the advantage can

only be used if they make use of the landscape in a durable way. The diverse landscape of

Malaysia also offers a lot of possibilities to attract tourists. For example diving, hiking, jungle

tours, extreme sports, water activity etc. Hence Malaysia has multiple options for a number of

different and exciting attractions for their tourists. One other very important strong point is

that Malaysia is relatively cheap compared to other holiday destinations, such as New

Zealand. This is also a very important aspect when choosing a holiday destination. This is

especially very important if you want to make Malaysia appealing for a younger target group

e.g. students.

Weaknesses

A few weak points in the analysis of Malaysia as a holiday destination are other (competitors)

of cheap and warm countries that offer similar possibilities to Malaysia. If we look for

example at Spain, we can conclude that Spain also has a nice warm climate and also many

attractions. So we have to focus on the unique aspects of Malaysia that other comparable

countries don’t have. Another point, but maybe not as important, is that the tourists who go to

Malaysia, and the surrounding countries, still need vaccines against possible tropical

diseases and this can scare off potential tourists. Another important point is that the travelling

distance to Malaysia is very big and this can be an obstacle for people when deciding where

to go on holiday. Because of the long distance to Malaysia, the holiday becomes

automatically more expensive, so at this moment the people who have more than an average

income are the people who can afford to go to Malaysia.

Opportunities

A few good opportunities are the constantly changing needs of the consumer, every year

people want to go somewhere else and want to do something new. Malaysia has to try and

become involved in these choices, so that Malaysia can be more attractive and ‘different’ (in

a positive way) as other countries. Therefore Malaysia has to come up with a unique aspect

and try to emphasise and promote it. One point that was also a result from the questionnaire

was that Malaysia for a holiday destination was relatively unknown to most of the people we

questioned, so our aim is to try and make Malaysia more ‘familiar’ and well known. One good

step to do this is with the proposed event in this assignment, but advertising specially aimed

at a young target group, or “holiday packages” also for the younger public would also be a

good promotional tool. By holiday packages, we mean for e.g. active holiday camps with all

kinds of activities (Hiking, climbing, scuba diving etc). Another point we want to emphasise is

that political changes can influence people a lot, so if the surrounding countries of Malaysia

are not in a politically stable situation, this can result in a decreasing number of tourists. So if

these countries for example the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are politically very stable

it can have a positive result on the whole region, including Malaysia.

Threats

A number of threats are also very important, the changing needs of the customers can also

be a threat to Malaysia. If Malaysia doesn’t respond to the demand and the changing need it

can lose potential customers to other countries that responded on time. The competition is

also growing very quickly because Malaysia isn’t the only country that is trying to attract a

younger target group. So as mentioned earlier Malaysia has to emphasise the unique

aspects of it’s country. When the economic situation in a country is changing it can have

negative results for Malaysia, when the economy is decreasing in the Netherlands people are

going to likely be less interested in going on holiday. This is also the same if the economic

situation in Malaysia is deteriorating, people will be less willing to go on holiday because of

the unfavourable situation. And also when the political or social situation is changing it can

have negative influences on the tourist, when for example the country isn’t politically stable

tourists are going to be more careful in their choice.

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