‘RM106 mln in tourism revenue from business events this year’

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(From second left) Ting, Abdul Karim, Yii and Abdul Aziz holding the Business Events Tribal Meet@Miri t-shirts.

MIRI: Sarawak has received an estimated RM106 million in tourism revenue from business events from January to September this year.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the amount constituted RM58 million in direct delegates expenditure and RM6.4 million in tax revenue.

Besides that, he added, the industry also opened up 8,480 jobs in various sectors.

He said in spite of Covid-19 and its harsh effects on the business events and travel sector, there was a cause for celebration given the latest business events performance figures.

“What attributed to these 31 total secured business events from years 2020 to 2024 with 39,356 delegates days are the Business Events Planners Incentivised Packages,” he said at the Business Event Tribal Meet at Pullman Hotel Miri yesterday.

Present were Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Hii Chang Kee and Miri mayor Adam Yii.

Also present were acting Miri Resident Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusuf, Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) acting executive officer Amelia Roziman, Professor Ir Ts Dr R Badlishah Ahmad, Professor Beena Giridharan and Business Events Consortium of Miri (BECom) chairwoman Cr Warziedea Ahmad.

According to Abdul Karim, the government’s stimulus packages and extensive support as well as other financial incentives had helped the organisers to get back on their feet and continue their planned activities.

He said the effectiveness of the stimulus packages and other financial incentives was proven by the low number of cancellations of business events; with just three cancellations, leaving 95 per cent of
events ongoing under the business events calendar this year.

“I would also like to add that the benefits of the incentivised packages extend to our industry partners too. Through BESarawak, we will ensure that industry partners get a slice of the pie via the value boosters,” he added.

“Another development that I am pleased to see is our corporate meetings and incentives segment that can be described as a transformative economic strategy, especially from incentive groups as the yield is far larger than other segments of business events,” he pointed out.

Abdul Karim disclosed that business events bring far greater values that can ultimately change Sarawak’s economic sectors and communities for the overall good of the state, better known as legacy impact.

He said legacy impact is the new mindset in the global business events sector that is bringing vast quantities of knowledge that stimulates investments, business connections and addressing societal challenges.

He said Sarawak will benefit from harnessing the legacy impacts of business events.