Ms Fan is a household name in China, with 63 million followers on social media platform Weibo. She is known for her roles in the Chinese TV epic The Empress Of China as well as her appearances in Hollywood blockbusters such as in the X-Men series.
In June, Ms Fan visited Melaka where she walked along the city’s famous street market Jonker Walk and sampled local fare. Her short visit sparked a frenzy on WeChat when the search term Melaka drew more than 320 million searches.
Ms Annie Lee from local tour group company Travel World told CNA that Ms Fan’s star power has had a “clear impact” on tourism in Melaka.
“I think we never expected or realised the influence she would have. Since she came in June, tour companies overall have seen an increase of around 20-30 per cent in business overall, and this … increase is mostly from Chinese tourists,” said Ms Lee, outlining that many of them would fly to the capital city Kuala Lumpur before taking a two-hour road trip down south to Melaka.
“Many of the itineraries are prepped for them because they involve visiting durian farms, photo sessions at Melaka town and sampling local Peranakan or Chinese food at Jonker Street,” she added.
The state government had announced that Ms Fan’s ambassadorship involves a sponsorship amounting to almost RM500,000 (US$121,000), and that the state paid only 16 per cent of this cost, with the remaining borne by “several private companies”.
It did not elaborate on what these private firms are but added that a report on the full impact of Ms Fan’s ambassadorship will be published at year-end when the campaign wraps up.
Ms Lee – from the local tour group agency – suggested that this is money well spent.
“If you consider the ROI (return of investment) in terms of tourism dollars, I think it’s a drop in the bucket,” she added.
However, Ms Fan’s appointment has not been embraced by all segments of the local population.
Melaka leaders from Islamic party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) have been vocal against her appointment as a tourism ambassador, with the information chief of its Melaka chapter Wan Zahidi Wan Ismail releasing a statement in June stressing how appointing an individual from overseas to promote Melaka to the world was a “strange” move that could “embarrass” the state.
“The icon must be from Melaka, only then can he or she paint a clear picture of the city and how it can be promoted,” he said.
Mr Wan Zahidi also highlighted that Ms Fan had been convicted of tax evasion charges in her native China and was therefore purportedly not a good role model.
In 2018, the A-list movie star was ordered to pay about 884 million yuan (US$125.98 million) in overdue taxes and fines amid a Chinese government crackdown on tax evasion in the entertainment industry.
He added that Melaka should instead appoint a local Malay to feature the state’s history as a city that was an Islamic hub under the Melaka sultanate.
“We must remember that Melaka was once an Islamic empire which was a hub for studying the religion. It is not an entertainment city like Hollywood or Hong Kong,” he posited.
Some of these sentiments are shared by local businessman Mohd Qamar Zamri, who owns hipster joint Tuju Cafe in the city centre.
