TEN more individuals have joined Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau’s (MyCEB) successful Kesatria 1Malaysia ambassador programme to help bring the country closer to its long-term target of growing business tourism arrivals from the current five per cent to eight per cent by 2020.
Launched in 2012, the programme started off with 17 kesatrias (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 2, 2012) or knights in the Malay language. Since then, it garnered some 22 conference leads, translating to at least 46,000 delegate arrivals and RM552 million (US$177.7 million) in economic benefits for the country.
The newly knighted appointees come from various key economic sectors, including science and medicine, research and innovation, education and law.
Mary Easaw, new to Kesatria 1Malaysia, is the chief dietician, dietetic & food services at the National Heart Institute and country representative of the American Overseas Dietetic Association. She said: “With MyCEB’s support, we hope to bid for the Asia Congress of Dietetics 2016 or 2017 to be held in Malaysia. It will be so affordable and convenient for local nutritionists and dieticians to attend, gain knowledge and present their findings. It will be a great avenue to nurture personal and professional development, skills and competencies.”
Zilfalil Alwi, a kesatria for the past one year and head of the Malaysia Node of Human Variome Project, said: “With experience (gained from) the successful bid for the Human Genome Meeting 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, I shared pointers with other associations on how they can get support from MyCEB to bid for international meetings and conferences.
“I am also encouraging them to appoint a professional conference organiser. From my past experience, (manage the conference myself) can be very stressful and taxing.”
