Data collection top priority for Malaysia’s MICE stakeholders

Malaysia plans to collect data as a leveraging tool to better its MICE industry

Malaysia’s MICE sector aims to build a more compelling case for government agencies to focus on efforts to draw more business events, through information collected from data analysis of international business events held in the country.

Zulkefli Sharif, Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau’s (MyCEB) CEO, revealed that MyCEB will be collaborating with Business Events Council Malaysia (BECM) on data collection.

Malaysia plans to collect data as a leveraging tool to better its MICE industry

There are plans to start the collection of data this year, Zulkefli said, but first both MyCEB and BECM had to determine the kind of data needed by association meetings and the industry as a whole.

This data, Zulkefli revealed, will then be “used to explain the benefits of business events”, as well as “convince relevant ministries on the importance of business events and how it will complement their efforts in achieving their goals”.

Alan Pryor, BECM’s chairman, supported the data collection, and said that this was required for Malaysia to move forward and become the preferred destination in Asia for business events.

“Data will give us access to ministries and government departments, (allowing us) to present our case on the importance of the sector which includes legacy building, knowledge transfer and capacity building,” Pryor noted. He added that this was required as not all in the government sector could differentiate business events from leisure tourism.

Isham Ishak, secretary-general at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia, noted that data will also enable BECM to build a strong case on how they are planning to grow the MICE industry in the next decade, in order to obtain support and incentives from the government.

Both Isham and Pryor were panellists in a session entitled, The Collaboration of Business Events and International Trade, at the recent-concluded Malaysia Business Events Week.

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