Sarawak’s poor accessibility a unique selling proposition — Conference organiser
MIRI: Corporate meeting planners in Sarawak should take advantage of the lack of accessibility due to poor connectivity in the state to contribute towards the growth of their business events.
In stating this, Sarawakian professional conference organiser Mona Abdul Manap points out that poor accessibility is truly the state’s unique selling proposition.
“Sarawak is a second-tier destination and many may say our biggest challenge is connectivity, and that is why we may lose out to Kuala Lumpur because of that one additional flight business event participants have to take. But that is exactly our unique selling proposition,” said Mona when delivering her address during a panel discussion session at BE @ Penang in Penang recently.
“The fact that we are less accessible means our destination is less touristy, our people friendlier and our culture less polluted.
“This is something we should capitalise on, but also complement it with relevant infrastructures and facilities to accommodate business event needs,” she explained.
Thus, she said apart from playing up on Sarawak’s strengths as an emerging destination for business events, the state could also collaborate with other cities in a joint destination marketing effort.
Organised by Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau, the BE @ Penang, deemed as the largest business events conference in Malaysia, was held at Setia SPICE Convention Centre, Penang.
The event aimed at discussing business events or MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events) was participated by over 20 speakers including Mona who represented Sarawak business events.
Designed as a conference to engage and educate the industry players on the importance and potential of business events, BE @ Penang also served as an educational platform for the exchange of ideas and knowledge on the business.
Several panel sessions were held during the conference including those which discussed how corporate meeting planners choose a destination to organise their business events and on what millennial want in their meetings.
During one of the discussion sessions, Mona said Sarawak is the example of ‘an ultimate destination for the up-and- coming millennial market of business event tourists.’
“This is because Sarawak is exotic, less travelled and therefore more Instagrammable, which is exactly what the millennial look for,” she opined.
Adding on to the opinion, Sarawak Convention Bureau former chief executive officer Mike Cannon said that although the millennial seem different in their needs and preferences, in fact, they want the same things as any other generations, except that maybe they express it in different ways.
“Instagrammable moments are just brag factors to the other generations. Basically, everyone wants to show to their friends and family what they have experienced via photos or videos, but in this era that happens on a different platform, that’s all,” he said.
Both Mona and Mike concurred that millennial ‘is a power to be reckoned with’ and business event marketeers need to understand their needs, preferences and lingo in order to reach them.
Other speakers included Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau chief executive officer Ashwin Gunasekeran, International Congress and Convention Association ( ICCA) president Nina Freysen-Pretorius, Taiwan leading meeting solution provider GIS Group chief executive officer Jason Yeh, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau senior vice president Nichapa Yoswee, Anderes Fourdy co-founder Rahul Bharadwaj and CT& IT magazine (UK) editor Calum Di Lieto.