‘BESarawak has succeeded in attracting business events’

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MIRI: Since the establishment of BESarawak in 2006, Sarawak has welcomed up to 900 business events and more than 310,000 delegates, which equal to 1.1 million delegate days.

BESarawak chairman Tan Sri Dato Sri Dr Muhammad Leo Toyad, who stated this, said the economic value of business events for the last 13 years was over RM720 million in direct delegate expenditure (the amount spent in total on accommodation, transport, meals, shopping and the likes).

“The social value is as important as the economic. Business events have the power to give back to communities in terms of finding solutions to community issues, upgrading our public policies and services as well as improving infrastructure and CSR programme,” he said when launching the Business Events Consortium of Miri (BECom) held at Pullman Hotel here yesterday.

His text of speech was read by permanent secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Hii Chang Kee.

According to Dr Muhammad Leo, Miri has great potential for business events due to its core focus in agriculture, oil and gas.

“As we know, these sectors are highly influential in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and beyond.

Therefore, in business events, the possibilities are endless as long as we can unlock the magic of this city.”

With this, he urged everyone in Miri to share the common goal in building this city into a chosen destination for business events “so that not only can we share the best of Miri’s abilities to hold such events but also to share the beauty of Miri in its culture and hospitality”.

“Today also marks an important growth for the industry as we explore greater opportunities to place Sarawak on the minds of meeting planners by magnifying the legacy impacts of business events and utilising the knowledge compiled by experts to change and better our communities.

“We will dive deeper into why every conference and exhibition is a game-changer for these four identified legacy impacts; namely Advancing the Field, Community Benefits, Economic Outcomes and Public Policy,” he added.

At the same time, he congratulated the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and all other supporting ministries, industry partners in Miri and BESarawak for expanding Sarawak’s abilities as a preferred business events destination.