Sarawak
Sarawak forging a reliable legacy pathway
WE SHINE A FOCUS ON SARAWAK , THE STATE LEADING THE WAY FOR LEGACY AND ESG IN MALAYSIA ’ S MEETING FIRMAMENT
S arawak , the largest of Malaysia ’ s 13 states , is one of the few destinations worldwide where business events is counted on the government ’ s list of priority sectors for driving economic prosperity . Moreover , that economic boost that business events are delivering comes with a strong environmental , social and governance ( ESG ) element and impact in Borneo . It is an approach underlined by Amelia Roziman , CEO of the local CVB , BESarawak , who sees the unique selling point of the state as being “ its strong value in developing business events for impact on ESG agendas ”.
“ Yielding convention legacies is our key direction and will be for the next few years ,” Roziman says . “ Since Sarawak ’ s business events industry was added to the Sarawak government ’ s list as one of the key sectors to achieve economic prosperity , social inclusion and environmental sustainability by 2030 , legacy impact is even more significant than ever before .”
The Sarawak government created a strategy called the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy , PCDS 2030 . PCDS is vital to the growth of the meetings industry because there is now an alignment strategy to help event planners make an even bigger impact in the state . “ We believe that business events today should be measured by their broader impacts rather than economic impact alone ,” Roziman ’ adds .
For the conventions and exhibitions segment , the Sarawak focus is on clinching events from the 13 sectors targeted for growth as listed on PCDS ( these are branched into two groups : six economic sectors which are manufacturing , agriculture , tourism , forestry , mining and services ; and seven enabler sectors which are digital transformation , innovation , education & human capital , basic infrastructure , utilities , transport and renewable energy ).
With an alignment strategy and a sharp focus on legacy impact , the state secured 100 events in 2022 worth MYR 326.3m ( US $ 74m ) in total economic impact . These events ( for 2023 onwards ) are forecast to create 25,896 jobs in Sarawak . BESarawak exceeded its target by 111 % – evidence that planners are attracted to Sarawak ’ s legacy vision and access to government resources .
Last year Sarawak hosted 100 events which brought a total economic impact
Below : Miri ’ s Marina Bay of MYR 218.4m ; for local communities , these events supported another 15,891 jobs .
Roziman adds that , from a qualitative perspective , these events had 548 impact touchpoints – meaning that they touched on either the six economic and seven enabler sectors based on PCDS or the legacy impact pillars which are sectoral , social , economic , environmental and or political and some of the 17 UN SDGs .
BESarawak even measures the success of these events as to whether the topics align with Legacy Impact Pillars ; fall under the PCDS ’ sectors or align with the UN SDGs .
Sustainability Sustainability is also a big part of the meetings and events agenda in Sarawak . Roziman again : “ While we work our way to become an ecologically sustainable business event and tourism destination by participating in the Global Destination Sustainability Index again for 2023 , we are paying close attention to how business events
ISSUE 124 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 39