Penang’s MICE campaign aims to instil sense of belonging

From left: PCEB's Ashwin Gunasekeran and Yeoh Soon Hin, Penang state exco for tourism, arts, culture and heritage at the BElong campaign launch in Kuala Lumpur

The Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) has rolled out a new business events campaign, BElong in Penang, shortly after the announcement of reopening Malaysia’s borders was made.

The campaign’s concept revolves around three key messages – its readiness to receive business events warmly, provide uncompromising hospitality, as well as ensure all safety and hygiene measures are in place for peace of mind.

From left: PCEB’s Ashwin Gunasekeran and Yeoh Soon Hin, Penang state exco for tourism, arts, culture and heritage at the BElong campaign launch in Kuala Lumpur

PCEB’s CEO, Ashwin Gunasekeran, explained that the first two letters BE, which are abbreviations usually associated with business events, also mean ‘belong’, where Penang hopes to provide corporate groups with a sense of belonging.

The goals of the campaign are to maintain destination awareness, and increase destination confidence in Penang being able to hold events safely. This will in turn increase RFPs, as well as bring about more job opportunities to the greater tourism sector, elaborated Ashwin.

PCEB has also expressed that it will continue funding hybrid domestic events in the run-up to international clients and events returning.

The opening of Malaysia’s borders will not jeopardise this support, Ashwin opined, as he indicated that hybrid events will continue to be run in the next few years or so.

Currently, there are 28 domestic conferences confirmed in Penang for this year, with Ashwin adding that the business events calendar was looking “very good” until 2026.

 

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