Sarawak Wins Most Business Events in Single Year

Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) by Sarawak Convention Bureau announced that Sarawak has made history in the business events industry by securing its highest bid wins to date at the annual BESarawak Appreciation Dinner last night.

Sarawak’s business events industry has secured the highest number of business events in a single year and is estimated to anchor more than RM90 million in direct delegate expenditure (DDE) manifested from the spending of flights, accommodation, meals and entertainment.

Asides from assessing the economic value to Sarawak, the secured collective of meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions were assessed under the Legacy Impact Assessment which pointed 965 potential impacts for Sarawak. The assessment matches the event’s theme and topic components against the 7 Key Focus Areas (7KFA) of urban development/redevelopment, social, environmental, agricultural and industry development (including Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy – SCORE) plus service industry and digital economy.

BESarawak’s Chairman, Tan Sri Dato Sri Dr. Muhammad Leo Toyad, speaks of business events as economic catalysts “By the end of 2019, we are expecting to rake in 76 events and over RM90 million in DDE alone. This indicates the actual strength of Business Events on our economy and going forward, we are confident that the figures will increase exponentially.”

In addition to celebrating the triumphant wins and scoring, BESarawak has also announced that the figures associated with the bid wins such as delegate attendance, days and expenditure has surpassed the bureau’s expectation and target. According to the survey, 72.4% of delegates extended their stay post-convention with a satisfaction scoring of 98.4%.

Head of Business Development and Research, Anedia Kahar, explains why. “Besides the leisure factors of a destination, meeting planners place a high value on knowledge capital - which is what Sarawak’s 7KFAs are. Sarawak has provided their meetings and conventions with intangible values that are appealing to delegates from all continents and backgrounds.”

With this being said, there’s another factor that is not to be ignored, according BESarawak’s Chief Operating Officer Amelia Roziman. “This industry is one of the most effective platforms to drive social and economic transformations. We want all business events to be community-conscious that instigates maximum impact. The Legacy Impact Programme will bring this message home.”

The bureau’s newly devised Legacy Impact Programme is made to empower every meeting and convention in Sarawak to drive socio-economic impacts under its 4 pillars of Legacy Impacts being Advancing the Field, Community Benefits, Economic Outcomes andPublic Policy.

With the above being said, the bureau is also introducing 2 new reward programmes which are BESLegacy made to maximise global visibility for conventions & exhibitions (C&E) and BESTribe for corporate meetings & incentives (CM&I) with attractive rewards supported by airlines and local Destination Management Companies (DMC).

Another huge milestone is by BESarawak’s education arm, TriBE: INNOVATION, with its MACEOS-endorsed Masterclass for the Industry. 22 industry partners graduated from the course and are now eligible to sit for the internationally acclaimed Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) certification.  

Finally, outlining marketing efforts; the bureau won 2 awards namely the BrandLaureate Award for Nation Branding – MICE and; the Chief Minister’s Industry Excellence (CMIE) Award, earning the Sarawak Business Federation’s (SBF) Recognition Award.