Business Tourism to be the biggest growth category after drawing significant interest in annual China Roadshow
Malaysia has seen continued growth in China and the corporate meeting and incentive groups market. The country has generated a staggering RM436 million in estimated economic value from the China market, which now represents 62% of the corporate meeting and incentive market from 2015 to 2016.
The marked success of the 7th China Roadshow 2017 in Beijing (18 April) and Shanghai (20 April) have positioned Malaysia as the go-to Asia business destination. Driving momentum in the business events market, Malaysia will continue its initiatives to other major cities including Chengdu (24 April) and Guangzhou (27 April) to promote Malaysia as a preferred corporate meeting and incentive destination to the China market.
For seven years, Malaysia has welcomed and hosted an impressive number of corporate meeting and incentive groups from China and to further uphold the Ministry of Tourism and Culture’s target under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), Malaysia is expected to welcome 36 million tourist and 168 billion in receipts by 2020.
The China Roadshow 2017 is led by Datuk Zulkefli Hj. Sharif, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) and supported by 23 industry partners comprising of Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB), Sabah Tourism Board (STB), hotels, state bureaus, unique venues, destination management companies, event suppliers and convention centres.
“The mission trip to China is a great opportunity to maintain strong top-of-mind presence among key incentive agents and corporate buyers. The support we have received from China’s business events thus far has been tremendously encouraging and is growing,” said Datuk Zulkefli Hj. Sharif, Chief Executive Officer of MyCEB.
“We are on track to position the country as one of the top destinations in Asia Pacific for corporate meeting and incentive travels and business events. Given its importance to our economy, we will continue to nurture the sector and drive increasingly impactful and collaborative strategies and programmes,” added Datuk Zulkefli Hj. Sharif.
The jump in China’s interest in Malaysia comes on top of a resurgence of the Chinese groups which have significantly increased their activities in the business events sector in the last few years and the top six amongst them are Perfect China Incentive Tour & Seminar to Malaysia 2015, Infinitus Jiyang Overseas Training 2015, Shanghai Weina Cosmetic Co. Ltd, Vmartcn Group, Oppo Incentive Series Group and JOYMAIN (JM) China Co. Ltd. This business-to-business engagement of closer proximity will also result in Malaysia being profiled as a top-of-the-mind country of choice regionally for business tourism.
