KOTA KINABALU: One of the country’s leading e-wallets, Boost, has formed a partnership with Sabah Tourism Board (STB) to encourage and provide digital options for domestic travelers to purchase tourism packages and hotel stays.

       The campaign, called #MansauSabahBoostku, is expected to spur domestic tourism as Sabah opens its doors to interstate travel starting this month, said Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin.

       “Mansau in the local KadazanDusun dialect means to walk, go or travel around, while Boostku is a wordplay for the slang Bosku, a friendly or respectful way to call someone we just met.

       “So the campaign tagline means 'Let’s go to Sabah my friend'. It is also timely for us to embrace the move towards the cashless trend,” he said at the launch of the campaign on Monday (Nov 1).

       Under the campaign, which will run from Nov 5 to Nov 30, Boost users can redeem RM100 e-Wallet credits, which is valid until Feb 5 next year and can be used at more than 100 participating merchants including hotels and travel agents, with no minimum spend required.

       Boost Biz chief executive officer Eric Chong said as many Malaysians were embracing a contactless lifestyle, they can help support the recovery of local businesses within the tourism and travel industry that were badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

       He said the Boost user base has also grown by 75% to 9.4 million users since the Covid-19 outbreak last year, and their merchant base also grew by 64% to over 375,000 participants.

       He noted that Sabah is the home of their most active merchant base.

       “According to our user and merchant data, in a comparison of the first half of 2021 to the first half of last year, Sabah’s cashless adoption and use have exceeded the national average.

       “During the six-month period from Nov 2020 – April 2021, the number of transactions in Sabah exceeded the nationwide growth rate by two times.

       “The average spend per user in Sabah has been higher than the nationwide average since we started Boost in 2017, and weekly active merchant growth exceeded nationwide by 2.2 times.

       “Based on these numbers, it is clear that Sabahans are ahead in e-Wallet adoption compared to the Klang Valley,” Chong said.