Malaysia Convention & Exhibition (MyCEB) has revealed that CEO Abdul Khani Daud will be retiring on April 21, 2023, bringing his 38 years of service in the tourism and business events industry to a close.
He began his career in Tourism Malaysia (TM) in 1985 until he was promoted to acting director general. As he earned his stripes at TM, he was posted as an overseas director to undertake global markets which include Tourism Malaysia’s offices in Australia, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand. His expertise in marketing was proven by a 60 per cent increase in tourist arrivals from Singapore between the years 2000 to 2004. During his service period, a 45 per cent growth for Latin America was recorded, opening the market for Argentina.
Abdul Khani was also the mastermind and leader of Global Meet 2006 during his tenure as the advertising director of Tourism Malaysia for more than a decade. In 2018, he was the organising chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association.
Abdul Khani was also the former director general of Islamic Tourism Centre from 2018 – 2020, where he played a pertinent role in spearheading efforts to develop a Muslim-friendly Accommodation Recognition programme and created global awareness of Malaysia as a tourism destination for Muslim travellers.
On February 5, 2020, Abdul Khani officially took office at MyCEB. He was no stranger to the national convention bureau as he had been serving MyCEB since 2017 as the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees.
During his time at MyCEB, he helped to spearhead various local and international projects, such as the Meet in Malaysia campaign, which has generated an estimated economic impact of RM1.05 billion for the country from the year 2020 to 2022.
Additionally, he created the 3R (reset, restart and responsible) initiative, which aimed to help industry players achieve maximum success. This resulted in supporting the participation of 19 industry players in international tradeshows, assisting 50 professionals in obtaining Certified in Exhibition Management, and helping 114 local partners retain their local and international association memberships.
He also played an instrumental role in the ease of travel to Malaysia where he formed Business Events Special Lane at major airports to ensure a smooth entry process, and MySafe Business Events Planner; a digital planner to assist and guide international business events planners and organisers. He was the driving force behind the 10-year plan, the Malaysia Business Events Strategic Marketing Plan 2021 – 2030 which forecasted by the year 2030, business events are expected to contribute RM42.1 billion in estimated economic impact whilst creating around 25,833 total employment.
Abdul Khani has guided the organisation through several reinventions, including working closely with various ministries to track all business events activities that are taking place in the country. This includes some major events organised by the different ministries such as Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition, Malaysia International Halal Showcase, and others. As part of a global movement, he also led MyCEB to join the Hybrid City Alliance together with other 21 cities around the world and formed Asia Convention Alliance together with Thailand, Taiwan, and Korea.
