The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) says it anticipates a return to pre-pandemic levels of business next year with 50% of its 2023 events target already confirmed. The venue also reports achieving 40% more than its 2022 target, having hosted close to 1,350 events with over 750,000 delegates welcomed in 2022. These events were worth around RM285m (US$64.4m) in economic impact to Malaysia.
KLCC has also reported that, since opening in 2005, the venue has hosted over 18,300 events and welcomed close to 27 million participants, with these events generating over RM10.6bn in economic impact.
KLCC general manager Alan Pryor said he was “delighted” with the positive bounce back of the Malaysian business events industry this year. “It is great to see how enthused people have been to attend in-person events again. Accomplishing 90% of our record-breaking 2019 performance is a great achievement by our entire team considering the circumstances,” he said.
Ravindran Sathiamoorthy, the Centre’s director of sales, added: “Of the events hosted in 2022, the corporate meetings and banqueting events (corporate sales segment) was the biggest contributor with 50%. This was followed by 26% conventions and exhibitions with 24%. We also hosted a record number of 21 entertainment events this year featuring popular international acts. Out of the 1,350 events hosted, 30 were regional and international events. With about 100 events or 50% of our 2023 target already confirmed, we anticipate the industry returning to pre-pandemic levels sooner than expected and hope this positive trajectory continues for business events moving forward.”
Pryor added that the Centre was also receiving more international requests for site visits and reported six new bid wins recently added to the calendar of events which will be held between 2024 and 2026. “We look forward to welcoming more high-profile international meetings and events next year, including the IEEE International Instrumentation & Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC) 2023; IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP) 2023; and E-Mobility Asia (EMA) 2023, to name a few,” concluded Pryor.
