The Business Events Forum 2018 (BE Forum), organised by the Malaysian Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers (MACEOS), will be happening on 10 October 2018 at the Setia City Convention Centre in Setia Alam.

Spurred by global growth of the business events (Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition, or MICE) industry, there have been some challenges to overcome in order to emerge at the forefront. However, the BE Forum is optimistic that Malaysia has the potential to be a leader in the region's business events. The forum will bring together industry players and stakeholders to share and deliberate latest trends, developments and the challenges faced by practitioners. "As Malaysia paves her way for another buoyant journey to increase tourism arrivals, business events will play an integral part in supporting the initiative. The average length of stay for conference and exhibition delegates are over four days, and with a higher delegate spend per conference, we see this as a major contributing factor to improve the growth curve for Malaysia's tourism industry," says MACEOS President Dato' Vincent Lim.

He added that from 2015 to 2017 Malaysia hosted 5.86 million business visitors, who produced a direct expenditure of RM48.8 million and created an economic impact of RM114.2 billion for the country. Efforts to boost incoming business travelling by the BE industry would complement the recent government's goal of increasing tourist arrivals to the country from 26.1 million contributing 14.9 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to 30 million contributing 15.1 per cent GDP by 2020. The one-day BE Forum will feature sessions designed for heads of associations, venue providers, and professional conference organisers who are keen to understand how to win or entice conferences to Malaysia.

Among the speakers confirmed for the Forum are: Gracie Geikie, Place Borneo Group Director / Principal Consultant, who will conduct a session titled 'Guide to Winning Conferences to Malaysia'; Dato' Muzammil Mohamad, Qatar Airways Group Country Manager for Malaysia and Brunei, who will speak on the topic of 'Business Travellers: Trends and Opportunities'; as well as, M Gandhi, UBM Asia Group Managing Director of ASEAN Business, who will discuss 'Latest Insights on Global Exhibition Industry'.

The forum expects to bring in over 200 delegates made up of senior personnel from government-linked companies, government agencies, non-governmental organisations, as well as, organisations from the private sector in Malaysia and the Southeast Asian region. Aside from talks, associations will also be able to stay abreast of the services and government support available to help them bring in conferences, to not only benefit their members in the related disciplines and fields of their expertise but also consumer development at large. For more information and delegate registration, visit beforum.maceos.com.my, contact BEF Secretariat at beforum@maceos.com.my or contact via WhatsApp 019 854 0101 for forum registration, corporate booth reservations and group benefits.