Amidst the rapidly transforming landscape of the nation spurred by the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and the Entry Point Projects (EPP) that have been identified as key movers, Sarawak is gradually starting to reap the benefits in various sectors.
One prime sector that has been earmarked to contain enormous potential is business tourism and over the next ten years the federal government is pumping in RM800 million to support the international convention bids and to fund the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB).
This augurs well for Sarawak as the state can capitalise on what it has already achieved but now on a larger scale. Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) chief executive officer (CEO) Jill Henry traced the Bureau’s five year history in an exclusive one-on-one interview with Biz Hive Weekly.
“This year is the fifth anniversary of SCB and we are indeed pleased with our achievements in this short span of time winning more than 150 new events in total and securing international awards for our destination marketing campaigns and short films to pitch for Sarawak as a major venue for Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE),” Henry revealed.
“What makes us successful is that we leverage on the strong international appeal of the Borneo brand in the global market and the unique selling points of Sarawak which we also pitch to stimulate the domestic demand. The Sarawak MICE experience is unique and we make efforts to ensure this stays true,” she added.
According to the CEO, conventions play an important role in the state government’s ambitious agenda to transform Sarawak into a developed state by 2020 and double the population by 2030, thereby creating 1.6 million more jobs and increasing gross domestic product (GDP) fivefold.
She highlighted that a major portion of the growth was expected to come from the central and northern region under the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) that involved an estimated RM334 billion derived 80 per cent from the private sector and the remaining from government coffers.
With this in mind, holding conventions linked to the state’s trade and industry priority areas would attract potential investors by showcasing Sarawak’s new investment opportunities first hand.
“SCB gives priority to conventions linked to SCORE and ten other key sectors namely fishing and aquaculture; livestock; palm oil; tourism; aluminum; steel; oil-based industries; marine engineering; timber and glass,” Henry pointed out.
Since its inception five years back, the bureau has won 156 major bids involving predominantly international and regional conventions. The conventions span from late 2006 to 2016 with the highest number of registered delegate arrivals currently in 2010.
In its four years, the bureau’s bid success rate averaged at 64 per cent and has been improving year on year reaching an all-time high of 80 per cent in 2010. To date, SCB has managed to bring in a total of 74,444 registered delegates from over 156 conferences held.
The bureau is currently on track to achieve its 2011 sales targets and has bid for a further 49 conferences with 24 bids due for decisions this year.
Among the few big conferences that were secured were the ‘42th Annual Scientific Meeting of Malaysian Orthopaedic Association 2012’, ‘9th Combined Pediatric and Spine Congress 2013’ and the ‘9th World Congress of Chinese Medicine 2012’ as well as 16 more, confirming more than 10,890 delegates.
“Among the 119 conventions held in Malaysia, nine were held in Kuching last year. This makes us the second best state in the country surpassing Penang, Kota Kinabalu and Langkawi. It has taken us five long years to even make the ranking and it has been a tough challenge,” Henry highlighted.
“MICE is a long term business and we are working on bookings for 2016,” she added. “The biggest contribution from the state government to Sarawak is us as an organisation. In 2006, it recognised that MICE is not about building something physical, it is all about tactical marketing operations and understanding what needs to be done in order to secure the businesses.”
She pointed out that the state government also got behind conferences financially.
“SCB decided to support conventions by way of entering into a contractual agreement with the host organisation and assisting them to source funding. That is when subvention funding comes into play.”
‘Subvention funding’ to further drive growth
In order for Sarawak to transform as a MICE gateway, SCB successfully managed to convince the state government to grant the bureau a total of RM5 million in subvention funds each year. This is becoming a major asset for the Sarawak MICE industry to prosper.
Based on the data given, funding requests would generally range from relatively small requirements for amounts of between RM5,000 and RM50,000 sponsoring elements of conference programme, to much larger commitments of up to RM1.5 million for high profile regional or international conventions.
As it was likely there would not be adequate funding for the state to support all convention sponsorship proposals, the role of the committee was also to prioritise funding applications, taking into account factors such as linkage to trade and investment priorities as well as economic return on investments.
Henry explained that regular committee meetings were held to discuss applications. The joint committee was chaired by the state secretary of Sarawak with member representatives from the Chief Minister’s office, the state financial secretary’s office, state planning unit, Ministry of Tourism and Heritage as well as the SCB.
What makes us successful is that we leverage on the strong international appeal of the Borneo brand in the global market and the unique selling points of Sarawak which we also pitch to stimulate the domestic demand. The Sarawak MICE experience is unique and we make efforts to ensure this stays true
On the strategy front, SCB is intensifying its domestic marketing efforts and focusing heavily on Kuala Lumpur this year.
“With the MyCEB also aggressively targeting the international association market, we need to ensure that Sarawak continues to be proactively promoted as an alternative venue option to peninsula based meeting planners,” highlighted Henry.