The South-east Asia Special: Malaysia

Malaysia is benefiting from strong government directives to support the local MICE industry and a committed private sector

A view of Kuala Lumpur City Centre

In 2010, with the launch of Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme, an organisation was created and tasked with establishing the country as a leading business events destination.

That organisation was Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), whose strategic priority is to attract high-yield business travellers. Moreover, business events were recognised as a key contributor to the country’s acquisition of a developed nation status.

A view of Kuala Lumpur City Centre

From its establishment in 2010 and up to 2018, MyCEB and its strategic partners secured 1,100 international business events that contributed an estimated RM8.5 billion (US$2 billion) in economic impact. In the same period, MyCEB provided support to 2,278 events with the aim of increasing average attendance, length of stay and spending in Malaysia.

In January 2016, MyCEB commissioned a study to review the health of Malaysia’s business events industry through a series of consultative workshops and interviews with business events industry stakeholders. The goal was to evaluate gaps, brainstorm solutions and chart Malaysia’s future in business events. As a result, a national business events roadmap with clear goals, designated roles and performance measurements was drawn to power the country’s business events industry to 2020 and beyond.

According to the roadmap, by 2020, Malaysia’s business events industry will deliver 16,720 new jobs, RM3.9 billion gross national income and 2.9 million business events visitors.

Zulkefli Sharif, CEO of the bureau, told TTGmice that the roadmap is on track. He projects eight per cent of the targeted 30 million arrivals next year will be be business event visitors, from the current six per cent.

With 2020 fast approaching, MyCEB and various industry associations such as Business Events Council Malaysia (BECM) have started work on a new roadmap for the next decade.

Zulkefli revealed that MyCEB is intensifying efforts to attract more Asian business events, in line with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia’s strategic direction to attract more Asian visitors. Besides the traditional MICE markets of China, India and South Korea, the bureau is now eyeing the incentive markets of Vietnam, Taiwan and Indonesia.

“Asian markets provide quick wins, high growth numbers as well as volume,” he remarked.
The exhibitions segment is also getting MyCEB’s attention, as the country expands its exhibition spaces. Setia SPICE Convention Centre Penang opened in 2017, followed by Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) last year, while Sabah International Convention Centre is currently under development.

To fill these venues, MyCEB intends to gear up its participation in UK and US tradeshows next year, besides those that it is already investing in, such as AIME, IMEX, IT&CM China, IT&CM Asia and IBTM World. It is also encouraging and supporting local exhibition organisers to create more homegrown events.

Zulkefli said: “The future of business events looks bright as we have strong commitment and support from industry players and government agencies.

“Since this year, every ministry has been tasked to set up a dedicated focal point to facilitate requests from MyCEB on behalf of relevant associations for hosting of international events in Malaysia. This commitment from the government will help us to become a preferred business events destination in Asia.”

Alan Pryor, chairman of BECM, shares the same optimism. Illustrating BECM’s commitment to realising Malaysia’s MICE goals, Pryor said BECM is working with MyCEB to develop a terms of reference for research and data collection, as well as an advocacy kit to help it engage government and stakeholders more effectively.

“We are also re-visiting the MYCEB Business Events Roadmap 2020 and the harmonisation of industry education training, certification and accreditation. All these initiatives will have a phased approach and will take some time, but our vision is to have all materialise to deliver a concrete and sustainable impact for the business events industry in Malaysia, beyond the coming decade,” he added.

Pryor, who is also the general manager at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, projected that sustainability “will remain a primary focus and will influence where and how events are executed”, and as such future venues must be “designed to reflect sustainable design and sustainable practices”.

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