Fan Bingbing's Gig As Melaka Ambassador Cost RM500K But Private Companies Paid Most Of It
The actress's three-day activities as Melaka's tourism ambassador have generated 1.2 billion searches online.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 10 Jul 2024, 01:36 PM
The Melaka state government paid only a fraction of RM498,347 for the sponsorship of Chinese actress Fan Bingbing as the Visit Melaka Year 2024 (TMM2024) ambassador
According to Bernama, Melaka State Tourism, Heritage, Art, and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Razak Abdul Rahman said the state government only spent RM77,850, or 16% of the total cost.
Several private companies, he added, covered the remaining expenses.
"The cost borne by the state government is only for promotion and organising the programme in Melaka, while RM420,497, which included flight tickets, accommodation, transport, 'ground handling', the cost of professional services, and 'projector mapping' at Encore Melaka, was sponsored by several private companies," he said during the Melaka state assembly sitting yesterday, 9 July.
Abdul Razak said a report on the impact of Fan's ambassadorship will be published after the TMM2024 campaign ends on 31 December.
So far, Fan's three-day activities as Melaka's tourism ambassador have generated 1.2 billion searches online, with 'Melaka' alone recording 445 million searches
The searches mostly originated from WeChat, a popular instant messaging service in China.
"This is a high return [of investment for] the state government," said Abdul Razak.
He also mentioned that Melaka expects to receive six direct flights from China daily in September and October.
Appointed as Melaka's tourism ambassador in late May, Fan toured the state in mid-June, wearing various traditional local attires.
The award-winning actress, who has 63 million followers on Weibo and 4.1 million followers on Instagram, is often touted as the global icon of Chinese culture.
