Malaysia is strengthening its digital tourism push as the country prepares for Visit Malaysia 2026–2027, with content creators expected to play a bigger role in showing local destinations to wider audiences.
Tourism Malaysia, lifestyle platform rednote (Xiaohongshu) and Attitude Asia Group brought Malaysian creators together at the Malaysia Creator Meetup in Putrajaya on September 15. The programme focused on building the Malaysia travel creator ecosystem through platform knowledge, content skills and cross-cultural storytelling.
Rather than simply promoting destinations, the collaboration points to a wider shift in tourism marketing. Travellers increasingly discover food, culture and places through creator-led digital content before making travel decisions.
Reaching Audiences Across Languages
The meetup was divided into two sessions, with the morning programme focusing on Chinese-language creators and the afternoon session bringing together Malay-language creators.
The approach reflects Malaysia’s multilingual audience and the potential for local stories to travel across different communities.
Rednote is also seeking to bring more non-Chinese-language Malaysian creators onto its platform. This could give creators another channel to present destinations, food and cultural experiences to audiences beyond their existing networks.
Mia Liang from rednote’s Global Creator Growth team shared the platform’s development direction and current content trends. She also introduced community-building tools aimed at helping creators expand their reach.
Creators Join Malaysia’s Tourism Push
Tourism Malaysia officials used the event to brief participants on promotional plans surrounding Visit Malaysia 2026–2027.
Samuel Lee Thai Hung, Deputy Director General (Promotion II), addressed the morning session, while Mohd Akbal Setia, Deputy Director General (Promotion) and Head of Secretariat for Visit Malaysia 2026–2027, spoke during the afternoon programme.
The participation of creators gives the national tourism campaign another route to reach travellers. Social platforms allow destinations to be presented through personal experiences, practical recommendations and visual storytelling rather than traditional advertising alone.
Established creators also shared practical experience during the meetup.
Technology and travel creator Ke En, who has more than 500,000 followers across platforms, discussed ways to make travel content useful, clear and engaging. Evelyn, known as Travelyn on rednote and having travelled to more than 40 countries, shared her approach to planning content and telling destination stories.
Other Malaysian creators at the programme included Miko Wong, Alvin Teo, Meeki and Ceddy.
Building a More Structured Creator Economy
The partnership also has a business and talent-development dimension.
Attitude Ideology, part of Attitude Asia Group, received official certification as a Multi-Channel Network (MCN). The certification expands its role in creator management, content development and platform partnerships.
For Malaysian creators, a more structured ecosystem can mean better access to platform knowledge, professional support and potential commercial opportunities.
Kien Lim, founder and chief executive officer of Attitude Asia Group, highlighted collaboration between digital platforms, public agencies and creators as an important part of strengthening the local creator ecosystem.
Tourism Malaysia also recognised Attitude Asia Group as a Strategic Partner for Visit Malaysia 2026–2027.
Digital Storytelling Can Support Tourism Growth
The wider value of the initiative goes beyond individual creators.
Malaysia has a broad mix of destinations, food traditions, urban experiences and local cultures. Digital creators can help bring those experiences to audiences in formats that are easy to discover and share.
Encouraging content in several languages may also help Malaysia reach different traveller groups while giving smaller destinations and local businesses greater online visibility.
For the tourism sector, that matters. Increased digital exposure can support hotels, restaurants, transport providers, attractions and community-based tourism businesses that depend on visitor spending.
The Malaysia Creator Meetup shows how tourism promotion is becoming more closely connected with the creator economy. As Visit Malaysia 2026–2027 approaches, collaboration between public agencies, platforms and local creators could help Malaysia build a more diverse digital presence while developing homegrown creative talent.
