PENANG Convention & Exhibition Centre (PCEB) and The Meetings Show (TMS) of London signed a strategic partnership today, making TMS as the official show partner for the upcoming BE @ Penang 2019.
BE @ Penang, which is Malaysia’s largest business events conference, will take place on Dec 5 and 6 concurrently with the ICCA Asia Pacific Summit at Setia SPICE Convention Centre.
The Meetings Show is the premier event for the UK inbound and outbound meetings industry, taking place at Olympia London annually in June.
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between PCEB chief executive officer Ashwin Gunasekeran and TMS commercial director Ross Barker was witnessed by state Tourism Development, Arts, Culture and Heritage Committee (PETACH) chairman Yeoh Soon Hin at the newly-opened Prestige Hotel.
“I believe PCEB has taken another effort to grow Penang presence in the UK market for business events by establishing a partnership with The Meetings Show,” Yeoh said in his speech.
“UK is a significant market for Penang business events and The Meetings Show is one of the platforms in the UK for the meetings and events industry.
“In the long run, we are looking at positioning Penang as a desirable destination for business events in UK.”
Yeoh added that as tourism is an important sector for Penang, PETACH had launched the Experience Penang Year 2020 (EPY2020), with the tagline ‘The Diversity of Asia’, early this year.
“What we are trying to achieve from the initiatives and activities via the campaign is to ensure that we add value to our tourist experiences.
“Regardless of whether they are here for cruise, medical treatment, leisure, tour groups or even business, we want to make Penang a destination of choice so that they return to Penang to explore more of it.”
Ashwin said the United Kingdom is an important segment in terms of corporate meetings and they would like to further grow the market for Business Events Penang.
“I believe that with this partnership, we are able to look at a long-term market establishment for Penang,” Ashwin said.
Barker said the relationship between PCEB and TMS runs deep and TMS is honoured and privileged to be involved with the BE @ Penang.
“Since its inception in 2016, BE @ Penang has quickly become an integral gathering for those in the business events sector looking to strengthen relationships and build new connections within the region,” Barker said.
Story by Siti Humaira Mohamed Yasin
Pix by Law Suun Ting