BE @ PENANG OPENING CEREMONY
SPEECH BY THE CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG YAB TUAN CHOW KON YEOW FOR THE BE @ PENANG OPENING CEREMONY
8 December 2022
SPICE Convention Centre
The Honourable Mr. Yeoh Soon Hin
Penang State Exco for Tourism & Creative Economy
Mr Jonathan Freddy M. Bagang
Director, Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture
Mr Ashwin Gunasekeran
Chief Executive Officer, Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau
Mr Cheah Weiyong
Director, Anderes Fourdy (Penang)
Mr Senthil Gopinath
Chief Executive Officer, ICCA
Prof Dr. Ishkandar Baharin
Founder & Managing Director, Malaysia Robotics & Automation Society (MyRAS)
Mr Yoganthiran
Deputy Director, Tourism Malaysia (Northern Region)
Mr Vergis Matthew
President, MATTA Penang Chapter
Mr John Kim
Hon. Secretary, Malaysian Association of Hotels (Penang Chapter)
Our distinguished BE @ Penang 2022 speakers
Members Of the Media
Ladies And Gentlemen
A very good morning to everyone and Selamat Datang ke Pulau Pinang. I am delighted to extend a warm welcome to all of you to BE @ Penang 2022 themed “BE FORWARD” for its 7th edition organised by the Penang Convention &
Exhibition Bureau (PCEB).
First and foremost, I would like to thank the tourism and business events industry for your constant perseverance and always coming together to brave through various challenges for the past couple of years.
Penang has always been a popular destination for both holidays and conferences, and we intend to keep that momentum going as we continue to welcome travellers from all over the globe.
Ladies & Gentlemen,
Kickstarted in 2016, the BE @ Penang conference aims to position Penang as the hub for knowledge exchange for the Business Events industry. Starting from its inaugural theme of BE ENGAGED, the conference has successfully set a benchmark for an intellectual conference within this industry for the past 6 years despite the pandemic.
In 2020, the conference was held virtually although the pandemic was at its peak then. The PCEB team managed to gather 25 speakers from 7 countries and over 132 delegates from India, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Italy, USA and many more. In 2021, the conference was held through a hybrid format due to travel restrictions in some countries. Nevertheless, it still managed to attract a mixture of 454 delegates through physical and virtual platforms, 16 partners and 25 speakers from the Asia Pacific region. I am glad that this conference allowed Penangites to keep abreast with the trends and best practices in the industry. It enabled the upskill and reskill of our stakeholders in Penang industry as well as those from elsewhere.
For this year, BE @ Penang 2022 is themed "BE FORWARD," as it aims to breakdown and further discuss the opportunities to level up business events in Malaysia, while at the same time, allowing them to gain industrial knowledge in technology advancements in the business events sector.
Some of the topics that caught my attention are:
1) Sustainability
This session will uncover how organisers, venues and destinations can gain more support, publicity, and advocacy from their target audience before, during, and after the event – all of which contributes to greater profits and success by adapting trending sustainable practices. The state has also been actively implementing green practices and our very own Penang Green Council has taken milestone efforts to lead Penang as one of the green states in the country.
2) “The Events Game Theory’
This tech-filled session will generously share on how the future will challenge the paradigm of event concept and the rejuvenated automation of the events industry. As you are aware, Penang has always been adopting technological advancements, especially in the manufacturing industry. This will be a good knowledge sharing session to further explore automation possibilities in the service industry.
And most importantly,
3) Nurturing the Young Padawans
A thought-provoking session that is about to uncover the minds of youngsters, employers and the educational leaders to create a better business events ecosystem. It’s crucial to understand and nurture our future leaders and I hope this session will help the employers and the younger generation to work closely together.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I commend the continuous efforts by PCEB to put Penang on the world map for business events. Though the market was quiet for the past 2 years, its international marketing team never gave up trying to reach out constantly.
According to PCEB's most recent industry review, Penang hosted 77 business events in 2021 and successfully recorded RM 14 million in Estimated Economic Impact, or EEI. As for next year, 2023, the bureau is forecasting about 2500 events with 260,000 delegates, which will generate an Estimated Economic Impact of RM 1 billion.
This is to convey a strong message of confidence and resilience to our existing clients and target markets that Penang is always on par with the global standards of tourism and business events.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Since the pandemic, technology has become an essential component of our lives, allowing us to discover new opportunities to remain in touch with friends, family, customers, and delegates in every industry, including tourism and business events.
In accordance with the Penang2030 vision, the state government of Penang is dedicated to promoting the development of the state's information and technology industries especially in the field of manufacturing. Penang is investing substantially in the latest technology and adopting smart digital solutions into our everyday lives.
Distinguished guests,
In complementing the state’s vision by initiating efforts to enhance technology and automation in the hospitality industry, PCEB will be signing an MOU with Malaysia Robotics & Automation Society (MyRAS).
I believe this effort will further catalyse a favourable transformation for the travel and service industry, as well as generating more business opportunities for the community.
With that, I wish you all successful conference, and I hope all the speakers and delegates will have a fantastic time exchanging knowledge and make the most out of the networking opportunities.
Thank you.