KUCHING: Sarawak can become one of the world’s most influential destinations for business events if it has the ability to deliver first-tier excellence with a pool of international certified industry partners.

Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said this would be a giant leap for Sarawak’s business events and tourism industry players as it embraced important collaborations for the future of the state.

“Today, I am honoured to witness another groundbreaker for the two merging industries – Maceos (Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers) and Business Events (BESarawak) by Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB).

“The economic impact of Business Events creates more direct jobs than any other sector. This stems from the expenditure of delegates on hotels, flights, shopping, entertainment and such which converts into tax revenues and increased employment opportunities,” said Abdul Karim.

He was speaking at the signing ceremony of a collaboration between SCB and Maceos at one of the leading hotels here, attended by industry players, yesterday.

He said legacy impact is as equally significant for Sarawak as the state aims to impart values that will change the community.

“Delivering knowledge through Business Events will help resolve our social challenges, reform current policies and regulations and encourage new innovations that are on par with the rest of the world,” he said.

He added to develop a state or nation requires the input of a skilled workforce.

“With the collaboration between Maceos and Business Events Sarawak, we will groom and empower future leaders in the business events and tourism industry with the skills, knowledge and ideas to lead Sarawak as a competitive destination.

“Therefore, by doing this, we are aligning our human capital development with Sarawak’s seven key focus areas, namely Urban Development & Redevelopment, Social, Environmental, Agricultural and Industrial Development including SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy), Service Industry and Digital Economy,” he said.

He said to become a high-functioning state, the people must be ready to take up life-long learning about the industry.

“Maceos will strengthen the purpose of the professional development programmes by incorporating Continuous Education Unit points, which can be used to pursue a professional certification at international level.

“Business events and tourism go hand-in-hand, and to achieve our five million tourists target in 2019, we must urge all industry partners to take another step forward in their professional development,” he said.

Among those present at the signing ceremony were Maceos Sarawak Chapter chairperson Gracie Geikie, BESarawak chairman Tan Sri Muhammad Leo Michael Toyad, BESarawak chief operating officer Amelia Roziman, Maceos president Dato Vincent Tan, Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports permanent secretary Hii Chang Kee and BESarawak deputy chairman and president of Sarawak Business Federation SBF and Sarawak Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Datuk Abang Abdul Karim Tun Openg.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Leo said BESarawak is on a historic journey to strengthen its role in developing Sarawak by diversifying its values and return of investments from business events into more than just economics.

“What we are doing is strengthening our economic impact through tourism, and expanding the intangible values of business events in legacy impacts,” he said.

Tan, who also spoke, said for Maceos, as a certified training provider for various programmes such as the Congress Certification Programme, Total Event Management and Exhibition Management Programmes, to be recognised by the Events Industry Council, Malaysia needed to be an attractive destination for international conferences and exhibitions.

“According to a recent Maceos Industry Survey, in 2018 alone, Malaysia hosted a total of 66 trade exhibitions, 222 consumer exhibitions, 126 conferences, 333 incentives/corporate meetings and many others. Sarawak succeeded in 83 bid wins totalling RM89 million in direct delegate expenditure attracting 38,287 delegates staying over 114,000 delegate days,” he added.