Held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre), MyCEB’s Kesatria 1Malaysia Programme Gala Evening was attended by Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit, MyCEB chairman Datuk Dr Ong Hong Peng and MyCEB chief executive officer Zulkefli Sharif.
Also present at the event were the pioneering batch of Kesatria, stakeholders, association leaders, strategic partners as well as the media. Launched in 2012, the Kesatria 1Malaysia Programme is modelled on the best of similar programmes operating internationally.
The Kesatria comprise leaders of key industry sectors such as the president or past president of national associations or industry leaders who have previously hosted or will be hosting large scale international events in Malaysia. The role of these notable leaders is to assist in identifying and encouraging other potential local hosts to bid for and stage international conventions voluntarily under the programme.
They also actively promote the benefits of hosting and inaugurating international conventions to their industry peers and colleagues.
“The tourism industry remains as one of the major contributors to the country’s Gross National Income, foreign exchange earnings and employment. “We acknowledge that this success is also a result of the continuous support that we receive from all tourism sectors — including business events under MyCEB.
“All of the honourable Kesatria play a very important role for us to achieve our 2020 goals, that is by incubating the next generation of bids and to promote Malaysia as a business events destination through their professional networks.
“Through their expertise, knowledge, flair and influence, we are confident that we would be able to achieve our goal to grow business tourism arrivals from 5% to 8% which translates to an increase of 2.9 million by year 2020,” said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen in her speech which was read by Dr Mamit.
This year, the Kesatria come from various key economic sectors identified in the nation’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) such as science and medical research and innovations, education and even law.
At the event, Zulkefli said, “There is currently a strong, core group of associations in areas such as medical sciences and technology who are actively engaged with their respective communities internationally and are experienced in hosting their own national and regional meetings. “It is our hope to expand this committed group through the MyCEB Association Support Programme, which includes the Kesatria 1Malaysia Programme.”
“Since its inception, the Kesatria 1Malaysia Programme has generated 22 conference opportunities for the country. These represent a potential for Malaysia to receive 46,000 delegates’ arrivals and RM552mil in economic impact for the country,” he added.
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