Malaysia sets its sights set on harnessing the Europe market following on from its London Meetings Show 2023 participation.
At this year’s The Meetings Show in London, back in June 2023, the Malaysian delegation reported impressive results over the two-day event. The team reported RM570m ($124.9m) in estimated economic impact into the country from the meeting appointments made on the stand,” Mr Zain Azrai Rashid, acting chief executive officer of Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), tells CMW.
“This cumulative figure is based on business opportunities from five exhibitors which were part of Team Malaysia lead by Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB). The co-exhibitors were: Business Events Sarawak, Borneo Convention & Exhibition Centre, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre,” the CEO added.
Malaysia is, more than ever, ready to explore the European market further and expand its presence among the business delegate communities. The continent is particularly attractive to Malaysia as it makes up a 50% market share of the global business events market and is expected to hold on to that firm position until at least 2030. The continent is also the largest market for international association conference participants and one that continues to experience market growth.
Collaboration with BE stakeholders
From collaboration to business event support, Malaysia’s business events industry stakeholders are leaving no stone unturned in their bid to sharpen the country’s competitive edge.
Collaboration has always been a key contributor to the business events DNA and has become an anchor and value chain to strengthen relationship in promoting a destination, and Malaysia’s team of MICE professionals are hard at work, pulling together to progress on all fronts.
Playing the role of a national bureau for Malaysia, stakeholder management is a key determinant to success of the country’s business events industry. Therefore, with the strong show of support from the individual state bureaus and venue partners at The Meetings Show 2023, the country was able to present a defined presence at the London show that could, in turn, give a boost to the vibrancy of Malaysia’s business events calendar and create new opportunities for this significant industry.
Measuring ROI
Measuring the ROI of trade show and exhibition participations will be a key goal fand will help the country to set its targets for the sector. It is also an area that MyCEB will concentrate on in terms of collaboration strategies, not least to understand the challenges faced by Malaysia’s business events industry as it aligns on key focus areas when securing international shows under the national greenbelt.
In growing the country’s stature as a leading business events destination, stakeholders will look to leverage global expertise to ensure Malaysia as a preferred destination for business events. MyCEB, on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture hopes that more key industry stakeholders from various backgrounds will be able to show their support for the country’s trade show presence by participating future events that offer an opportunity to promote the country.
Sporting events and incentives
There was a confident response from the corporate incentive and international sporting events sectors to the Malaysian presence at The Meetings Show 2023. These are two sub-sectors that reflect a particularly exclusive focus on reaping serious economic results. Indeed, according to the Incentive Research Foundation, incentive travel results in a revenue increase of more than US$12.50 for every dollar spent.
Malaysia is particularly proud of its strength in terms of international sporting events, and the country is getting strong feedback and good results from the corporate MICE sector which MyCEB believes can boost significantly business and the reputation of the country’s major cities.
The extensive list of major events that Malaysia will welcome this year includes L’ETAPE JOHOR by TOUR DE FRANCE, LIMA Langkawi, Cameron Ultra (CULTRA) 2023 and IRONMAN 70.3 Langkawi. The national CVB has underlined that the hosting of such events has had a ripple effect, attracting more international organisers from the sporting field to test the waters and explore Malaysia as a potential host destination.
From its participation in trade shows, Malaysia has received much positive reaction for work to design sporting events ranging from e-Sports, marathons, and golf events, alongside projects in other niche segments.
International sporting events and incentive meetings of various kinds and sizes attract tourists as participants as well as spectators, and destinations always try to add a local flavour to them to distinguish themselves and provide authentic local experiences. Such hosted events can be a catalyst for developing business events if successfully leveraged in terms of destination branding, infrastructure development and other economic and social benefits.
Malaysia is proud to explore such prospects and further expand this market in order to give a lift to these segments and frame the country as a new and dynamic hub for business events activities in the Asia Pacific region.
Future trade show announcement
Tapping the Europe market certainly requires consistency, transparency, presence and availability, MyCEB understands, and says The Meetings Show 2023 created a pathway of opportunities in giving the country a platform to open the floodgates of delegates from various industries. This can only be of mutually benefit to clients, the business events’ value chain and, of course, to the destination.
With the launch of The Meetings Show Asia Pacific, supported by Singapore Tourism Board and neighbouring Malaysia, there will be another opportunity to take a stand in 2024 as the state conventions bureaus, venue partners, DMCs and industry stakeholders can showcase their fast-evolving MICE offer to the world.
MyCEB figures
- From its inception (2010) until year 2022, Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), together with industry partners, staged 2,857 business events in the country. These included meetings, conventions, exhibitions, corporate incentives, and international sporting events. MyCEB managed to bring in an accumulative total of 2.39m delegates to the country and the accumulated estimated economic impact generated was put at RM17.4bn.
- As of August 2023, MyCEB and its industry stakeholders have secured 149 business events under its belt that are happening throughout the year. These events will contribute to an estimated economic impact of RM2.4bn, welcoming around 494,015 delegates to the country.
- Moving forward, as the national bureau sets out on a fresh road ahead full of opportunities, MyCEB is able to report securing future events to be hosted during the period 2023–30. With 215 business events activities in the pipeline, momentum is building and MyCEB is backing this up with more enticing packages and offerings for organisers and delegates to consider.
Get in contact:
Farah Annesa Jasmi
Assistance manager of PR & Communications
annesa@myceb.com.my
+60388934551
