Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) was awarded the ‘Best MICE Development Program’ during the recent Malaysia Tourism Industry Award (MTIA) 2022.
Held at Royale Chulan Hotel Kuala Lumpur on 16 December 2022, MTIA 2022 was attended by various industry leaders from reputable companies with strong brand presence in the country, tourism associations, travel agencies, hoteliers and organisations and individuals involved in the country’s tourism industry.
“I am honoured to receive this award on behalf of the MyCEB team. As the national bureau, we have worked consistently hard to steer the direction of Malaysia’s business events sector by playing a proactive role that would demonstrate our readiness to welcome international business events back to the nation. To ensure a robust recovery for the business events sector, MyCEB has developed several development programmes and initiatives that is in line with Malaysia Business Events Strategic Marketing Plan 2021 – 2030,” says Dato’ Sri Dr. Abdul Khani Daud, CEO of MyCEB.
Even during the bleakest time in modern history, when the world was introduced to the deadly coronavirus, the business events industry remained a beacon of hope for many industry partners and stakeholders in the sector. “Business events was brought to its knees in early 2020, with many major events around the globe were disrupted. Even smaller-scale business events were unable to take place, and networking in-person had to be brought to a halt. We at MyCEB took this opportunity to utilise the downtime by developing fresh value propositions, recovery packages, and digital solutions, which went a long way towards keeping the destination as top-of-mind,” added Dato’ Sri Dr. Abdul Khani.
In 2020, MyCEB unveiled its ambitious business events campaign called Meet in Malaysia. in ensuring a quick revival of the sector, the campaign is supported with various programmes to strengthen MyCEB and Malaysia’s profile and credentials, both regionally and globally, such as ‘Let’s Meet Now’, ‘Let’s Meet Locally’, and ‘Let’s Meet Tomorrow’.
MyCEB encourage and assist its industry partners to restart the economy whilst gaining momentum by coming up with the Restart and Responsible programme. The initiative involves MyCEB absorbing all necessary cost for its industry players to take part at international tradeshows namely IMEX Germany, ibtmWorld Spain and IMEX America. the Bureau also assist its industry players to obtain professional qualification such as CMP, CEM or any other international qualifications that is available for the industry. Just recently, around 50 industry professionals were privileged to undergo the CEM Learning Programme under the International Association of Exhibition and Events. The programme elements comprise of a nine-part adult learning and certification program designed to provide industry professionals an in-depth understanding of the overall operations of the industry.
As part of global movement, MyCEB has joined with 21 cities around the world under the Hybrid City Alliance and together with Thailand, Taiwan and Korea formed the Asia Convention Alliance. These two initiatives are aimed at strengthening the business events industry for Malaysia and for the region. MyCEB is honoured to be working closely with the founding members to build a stronger and resilient region for international conventions.
MyCEB has also rolled out several initiatives to boost the market and cushion challenges faced by industry players such as development of the special BE lane at major airports to ensure smooth entry process to delegates and to elevate positive image and reputation towards Malaysia; MySafe Business Events Planner, a step-by-step digital planner to assist and guide international business events travellers and organisers through the safety measures as well as to rebuild public confidence in our business events industry; and the recently held KPI development training, to name a few.
In order to stay relevant and ensure Malaysia welcomes consistent and prestigious events, MyCEB had initiated the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the involvement of Malaysian business events stakeholders represented by Malaysian Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers (MACEOS) and Indonesian business events stakeholders represented by Indonesian Exhibition Companies Association (IECA-Asperapi). This collaboration aims to amplify the promising future in trading businesses activities to expand and pursue opportunities in both countries. While this is the first MoC signed with another country, MyCEB intend to extend similar collaboration with Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and India in 2023 to create more B2B opportunities which will also contribute to the quicker recovery of Malaysia’s business events industry.
MyCEB on behalf of Malaysia has successfully signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UFI (Global Association of the Exhibition Industry) whereas both parties have decided to enter into a co-operative relationship for the general purpose of providing access for the Malaysian business events workforce to the UFI Certified Professional designation (the “UCP”).
MyCEB is currently embarking on the development of Malaysia Business Events Standard (BE My Standard). The vision is to ensure Malaysia has high quality standards for products and services in business events Industry, in order for Malaysia to become international business events destination of choice.
In MyCEB’s pipeline, the bureau is in the final stages of designing a holistic support that can be sure to entice new high-profile business events come 2023. It is crucial that Malaysia stays ahead of the game and showcase the country with our unparalleled offers for an organisers future hosting.
Held by Malaysia Tourism Association (MATA) and Santai Travel Magazine, the MTIA award helps to dignify the tourism industry in Malaysia. This effort is a smart collaboration between the tourism industry and the media in fuelling the country’s tourism industry.