KUCHING: “Meet In Malaysia @ Sarawak”, the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau’s (MyCEB) annual business events conference, came to a close this afternoon.
For those who didn’t catch it, here are the biggest talking points from the event:
Nancy Shukri
The tourism, arts and culture minister, who was one of the guests of honour, announced that despite the pandemic, Malaysia, through MyCEB and its partners, had attracted 15 international conferences to be held in our country from 2022.
She said Malaysia was expecting to see around 16,000 international delegates, contributing RM140 million to the economy.
She said with delegates of such business events spending a total of RM4.45 trillion annually, it was a sector that Malaysia needed to capitalise on to boost economic recovery.
“This amplifies the significant impact of the business events industry and Malaysia must tap into this lucrative market segment in a strategic manner.”
Abang Johari Openg
In an interview with FMT, the Sarawak chief minister said the state has all the right ingredients to attract international events, like safety, friendly people, world-class facilities and good language skills.
Launching Kuching as a member of the Hybrid City Alliance, he said embracing events that blended physical and virtual attendance was an important adaptation driven by the pandemic.
It also aligned with his government’s push for digitalisation.
“The new world requires us to adopt methods that will increase productivity and efficiency, and create a conducive enabling environment,” he said during a speech.
“Hybrid events will enhance the event experience and engagement, allowing greater reach to disseminate knowledge and create new regional and cross-continental partnerships while supporting the state government’s efforts under the Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030.”
Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah
Sarawak’s tourism, arts and culture, and youth and sports minister said the state had remained active in pursuing business events even during the pandemic.
“The Covid-19 pandemic never deterred our drive to grow. Instead, it fuelled our desire to become a stronger and more resilient destination by forging important collaborations, not just within the local industry but with the national and international business events industry.”
He said that state agency Business Events Sarawak could offer incentives and subsidies to encourage organisers to bring their events to the state.
This year alone, it had secured deals to host 105 future events, which would generate an estimated RM332.1 million in total economic impact and create over 26,000 new jobs.
“I am looking forward to seeing more collaborations in the future to further develop the business events industry for Sarawak and for Malaysia,” Karim said.
Nancy Visits Batong Sadong
The minister returned to her constituency to deliver baking equipment to Rumah Usahawan Batang Sadong in a bid to help female entrepreneurs become more financially independent by boosting their capacity to earn.
Commercial ovens, mixers and weighing scales were donated to help local businesswomen as part of MyCEB’s MyCSR initiative.
“This is another programme to motivate the locals, especially those who are already starting to do some small business,” she said.
“It will also help to boost the economy of their families. Here we can see that they are really very serious about wanting to do better in the economy and they want to generate income for their families.”