PENANG is aiming to host more international business events, as MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) industry players step up their game.

Penang Convention and Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) chief executive officer Ashwin Gunasekeran said the goal was to enlarge the industry by getting players to move out of their boundaries to land more business.

“With Qatar Airways starting direct flights between Penang and Doha thrice weekly from February, there will be greater opportunities in the European and the American markets,” he said.

Now that it was proven Penang has what it takes to host the World Seafood Congress in 2019, Ashwin said PCEB and its partners have their eyes on new significant and premium international events.

“PCEB is working on bidding for a number of events right up to 2024. (The bidding process for) some events takes years, and we also face heavy competition.

“Our partners like the hotels, PCOs (professional conference organisers), venues and others are also bidding (for major events). PCEB is supporting them,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Penang’s business event (BE) blueprint for 2018 and 2019 is already dotted with a number of big events, including medical and pharmaceutical conferences and the World Seafood Congress, Ashwin said, adding that more would be added and  announced.

Ripe for the picking

He said the business was there for industry players to pick up but they needed to be empowered and educated.

Data collected by PCEB last year revealed that Penang has 1,251 business planners in the industry, which has an estimated economic impact of RM808 million.

“When we showed the hotels all the segments that Penang was attracting, they were taken aback. They did not know there were opportunities in some segments, like education. Some had thought that the target was limited to the medical, IT and a few other segments. 

“General managers were looking at the marketing people, wondering how it had escaped them. Now every segment is a target.

“This shows that the business is out there. We just need to move in to get it. It means we need to empower the players to be more creative.”

Ashwin said not just PCEB but individual players must be able to sell Penang as a business event destination and speak on behalf of their industry partners.

“For instance, a hotel should be able to speak for the venue owners, the bureau and the other components to attract conferences, congresses or meetings to the state.”

Selling Penang

Penang is known as the home of George Town, a Unesco World Heritage City; natural attractions; and food. It offers what PCEB calls an “unfiltered experience”.

“People can experience the destination in its raw form. Nothing is crafted to fit and it is so easy to have themed events. 

“We could close a heritage site for an event, bring in lion dancers and Chingay performers who are still part of Penang culture and tradition.

“As an eco-tourism destination, we could host conferences at The Habitat on Penang Hill. These are all readily available for us to utilise,” he said.

Penang has many specialties, Ashwin said, and improvements were underway to further encourage growth.

Money was being poured into building, maintaining and improving convention facilities while new hotels were being planned, he said.

“Products and services will grow because everyone who wants to be part of the industry faces pressure to improve,” he said.

There is big money to be made in the industry.  The Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), the national body for MICE, said business tourists spent about RM6.8 billion in Malaysia between 2010 and 2015, which was at least 3.5 times more than leisure tourists.

First-year growth spurt

For all its ambition, PCEB is only two years old; it was set up last year to develop the MICE industry in Penang.

Ashwin said it took PCEB four months to get the stakeholders, who were operating in silos and chasing their own goals and agendas, to see the greater picture of the industry’s huge economic impact and spillovers.

At the end of the four months, some 80 players – hotels, venues, travel agencies, event organisers and anyone involved in business events - were onboard, supplying PCEB with data and helping to put together a BE blueprint for Penang. 

“Next task was getting everyone to work together. It led to the idea of holding a conference for all the industry players,” Ashwin said. 

The first BE@Penang conference last year, themed “Be Engaged”, drew about 100 participants from around Malaysia, allowing them to engage, network, and share notes and experiences.

Many from out of state, like PCOs, also participated for insight into business opportunities in Penang.

“Participants saw the bigger picture – the bigger pie that they could all share in the industry,” Ashwin said, adding that the inaugural conference also led to the setting up of Team Penang.

“There is no division between PCEB, the hotels, you and me; it is Team Penang, where we go in as a team to bid to host events and win.

“The team works on a case to case basis. A hotel can come forward and say it wants to try to bid for a particular event. The team then comes in to see who else from the industry is needed to send in a good bid,” he said.

Team Penang scores

Team Penang proved its capability when Penang won the bid to host the World Seafood Congress in September 2019 at the Setia Spice Convention Centre. It will be the first time the premium event is held in an Asian city.

“We had put together our Team Penang. The state government, hotels, venue and suppliers were all onboard, moving in the same direction.

“We were shortlisted and went to Iceland, where this year’s congress took place in September. On the second day of the conference, we were announced winner, becoming the first Asian city to host the event,” Ashwin said.

Knowing that Team Penang worked, he said they would move forward in the same fashion to bid for other international events that had been identified.

“We have been told that we are ambitious and aggressive. But this is a very aggressive industry,” he said.

Ashwin said PCEB was also exploring the possibility of Penang building alliances with other international BE destinations. 

Round two

PCEB is returning with the second BE@Penang at the Setia Spice Convention Centre tomorrow and Friday.

Themed “Be Empowered” and co-organised by PCEB and Anderes Fourdy, one of Malaysia’s leading PCOs, the conference will feature big names in the international and Malaysia BE industry.

Among them is specialist international conference facilitator and former BBC broadcast journalist Roy Sheppard, the keynote speaker who will talk about empowering the Penang BE players to move independently and collectively to win more business events.

Others are international events specialist CAT Publications’ editorial and marketing boss Martin Lewis;ecotourism expert and Place Borneo CEO Gracie Geikie; and Anderes Fourdy co-founders Fu Kei Cheong and Rahul Bharadwaj.

Among the topics to be covered are why industry players must collaborate, how to woo the European market, industry challenges and future, the role of technology in the industry, trends in experiential travel, utilising the media, and grooming talent.

Over 200 participants, including those from Kuala Lumpur, Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore, and the Philippines, have registered to attend, doubling last year’s head count.

“Industry players look at the conference as an educational and networking platform. We are moving forward in making this a regional conference,” Ashwin said.

For details and registration, visit www.beatpenang.com. PCEB welcomes walk-in registrations tomorrow at the venue. Participation is capped at 250. – December 6, 2017.