Malaysia Moves up 5 Notches in ICCA’s 2014 World Ranking and Ranks 7th Place in Asia Pacific

Kuala Lumpur, May 2015 - Malaysia has jumped five places from 2013 in world convention country rankings and two places in Asia Pacific ranking based on the number of international association meetings held in 2014 as per the recently released ICCA report.

World Ranking                                        Asia–Pacific Ranking

  2013 / 2014                                           2013 / 2014

                     ___________________________________________________________________________

MALAYSIA           35      30                                                       9           7

Major cities in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR      33      28                                                      10         8

KUCHING               136   101                                                     28        20

KOTA KINABALU     371   354                                                     80        79

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International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Rankings Country World Ranking Asia Pacific Ranking

“Malaysia’s promising increase in number of meetings is a result of the growing strength, collaboration and commitment between the government ministries, MyCEB and our industry partners to bid for, secure and deliver successful international meetings for the country. We are also very proud to announce that other than Kuala Lumpur, other Malaysian cities like Kuching and Kota Kinabalu have also improved their ranking in 2014 reflecting a growth in Malaysia’s association meetings business amidst a competitive and challenging market”, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), Zulkefli Haji Sharif, said today.

Malaysia played host to a number of distinguished business events in 2014 and, some of them being “a first” for Malaysia and Asia. The roll call of prestigious conferences held such as the 2014 Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), Offshore Technology Conference Asia 2014 (OTC), XXV FIG Congress 2014 and Toastmasters 2014 International Convention, 61st UICH Les Clefs d’Or International Concierge Congress just to name a few. These international business events are an endorsement of Malaysia as a top-of-mind destination for meetings and events.

More Growth and Bid Wins in 2014

From January to December 2014, MyCEB together with industry partners have secured 152 conventions and corporate incentive bid wins, which will bring in 100,754 delegates to Malaysia between 2014 and 2020, an increase of 25% in delegate numbers compared to same period in 2013. The bid wins will create an estimated economic impact of RM970 million (USD262 million or Euro242 million).

“Such achievements would not be possible without the support of the local Malaysian industry players, such as the “Kesatria (MyCEB’s ambassador programme), PCOs and all industry leaders alike who have worked so hard in winning and staging the international or regional meetings in Malaysia. As we all know, it is not easy to stand up to bid for an international meeting, let alone to organise them and making sure it went well and the bottom line is met. Their efforts must be recognised and this would be the most suitable occasion,” added Zulkefli.

MyCEB will be leading a delegation of 11 Malaysian industry partners comprising convention venues, hotels and destination management companies to participate in the IMEX Frankfurt on 19 to 21 May 2015 under the Malaysian Pavilion at booth number B200.

-MyCEB.