Sarawak is a newly emerging MICE destination

KUCHING - Maintaining its 80% bid success rate in 2012, Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) have set their sights on securing 45 bid wins for 2013. Recording 22 international conferences to Sarawak as of press time, these events are expected to welcome 7,411 delegates and an estimated RM 14.7 million in direct delegate expenditure from 2013 to 2019.

Among the bid wins include:
1. 9th ASEAN Hakka Convention 2013, Miri, 1000 delegates for 2 days

2. East Plant Variety Protection Forum 2013, Kuching, 118 delegates for 4 days

3. 2nd International Conference on Alfred Russel Wallace - His Predecessors and Successors Naturalists, Explorers and Field Scientists in South-East Asia and Australasia 2013, Kuching, 250 delegates for 3 days

4. The Pacific-Rim Conference on Multimedia 2014 (PCM), Kuching, 200 delegates for 4 days

5. International Symposium on Biomedical Data Infrastructure (BDI 2014), Kuching, 250 delegates for 2 days

6. 55th ICCA General Assembly 2016, Kuching, 700 delegates for 5 days

7. 13th Asia Pacific Orchid Conference and Show 2019 (APOC), Kuching, 600 delegates for 7 days

Mr. Mike Cannon, Managing Director of SCB commented, “Sarawak is rapidly gaining in popularity as an international meetings destination. We have had a significant amount of returning clients who are continuously bidding for new events to Sarawak.”


Big boost for business events in Sarawak
Since appearing in the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Asia Pacific & Middle East city ranking in 2010, Kuching now shares the 38th spot with Colombo, Chennai, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta and Tel Aviv; bettering the performance of many established second tier cities such as Canberra, Nagoya, Chengdu and Osaka.

The ICCA Statistics Report is the Global benchmark for international association convention business and a sales and marketing resource for its members to target future international association meetings. To qualify for ICCA ranking, a meeting must attract over 50 delegates, with the event to be held over a minimum of three days duration and rotate between at least three countries.

To add another feather to the cap, Sarawak will play host to the 55th ICCA General Assembly in 2016. The event will see over 700 business events industry professionals convening for 5 days of education sessions, regional chapter meetings and business exchange opportunities. The winning bid was clinched as a result of the team effort by Malaysian ICCA members: Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK), Malaysian Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB), KL Convention Centre and UCSI Communications Sdn Bhd. The bid presentation and announcement took place a day before the start of the IMEX tradeshow in Frankfurt, Germany. Sarawak’s competitor was the beautiful and historic city of Prague in the Czech-Republic.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews