Asian markets continue to be on the radar of MyCEB

Zulkefli

Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) will intensify its efforts to get more business events from Asia, in particular South-east Asia, in line with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture’s strategic direction in attracting more regional tourists to Malaysia.

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Zulkefli Sharif, MyCEB CEO, explained to TTGmice on the sidelines after the opening ceremony of Malaysia Business Events Week held at Resorts World Genting this week, that the direction was due to direct air accessibility where more than 70 per cent of arrivals into Malaysia are from Asia.

MyCEB’s key markets are China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan. Strategy to tap these markets included conducting roadshows and sales calls as well as participating in business events tradeshows such as IT&CM Asia and IT&CM China, and working closely and supporting Malaysian business events industry partners who are also tapping these markets.

Zulkefli stressed that MyCEB will also continue to attend tradeshows in Europe and the US to court the associations meetings market as 60 per cent of association headquarters are based out of these regions.

Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik, the new deputy minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia, told reporters at a press conference that business events will continue to remain a key component to the country’s prosperity.

He said: “Business events contributed three times more revenue compared with leisure tourists and created value beyond tourism that extends also to knowledge sharing and transfer, trade and investment opportunities, social development and networking opportunities among delegates.”

In 2017, business events contributed eight per cent of total tourist arrivals to Malaysia which stood at 25.9 million. The Ministry is targeting business events contribution to grow to 10 to 12 per cent of the total 36 million tourist arrivals targeted in 2020.

The business events industry is expected to contribute RM3.9 billion (US$952,126,500) in incremental Gross National Income and 16,720 jobs in two years’ time.

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