Kuala Lumpur refocuses

Kuala Lumpur as a conference and meeting (C&M) destination is like any city in the region and the world right now - trying to deal with the global downturn in corporate travel since September 11. As with many other capital cities in the region, it has had a change of focus. While forward bookings for big-ticket long-haul events appear to have dried up for the immediate future, Kuala Lumpur is turning to its regional neighbours to attract business. It has also been confirmed the city will have a new purpose-built convention centre by 2004 with around 100,000sqm of space. It will be the largest convention centre in Asia and will be built within the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, which also comprises the landmark Petronas Twin Towers. Asian Overland Services managing director Mr Anthony Wong has been a strong supporter of the project which, he says, will provide Kuala Lumpur with a distinct advantage over its regional rivals. "It is definitely a fantastic development for Kuala Lumpur and right in the middle of the city too," he says. "It is still a few years away from being built but with the right marketing and the right people to manage it, it will provide Kuala Lumpur with a very strong international selling point." But before the centre opens, Kuala Lumpur needs business in the short-term and there has definitely been a change in attitude as to where this business will come from in the post-September 11 period. World Express executive director Ms Cherry Lee is pitching strongly to short-haul markets. "My long-haul business is still there although there has been some cancellations and there has to be some doubt as to whether it will continue for 2002," she says. "We will definitely be changing our focus and concentrating more on short-haul markets for C&M business." Ms Lee adds she would like to see Malaysian Airlines increase capacity to Manila as she believes Kuala Lumpur offers great value to that marketplace. "There is value to be found in Kuala Lumpur right now but I think it is going to get even better," she says. East West Executive Travellers (Kuala Lumpur) general manager Ms Christina Lim says the changing economic landscape has helped Kuala Lumpur-based organisers in negotiations with suppliers. "Facilities in this city have done very well in the past two years in this sector but they have become even more flexible recently," she says. "They are prepared to go out of their way to do things, anything, as long as they get the business." But Ms Lim also agrees suppliers and C&M organisers in Kuala Lumpur will be selling to markets a lot closer to home. "There will definitely be more of a focus on regional and domestic business for Kuala Lumpur," she says. "A lot of domestic businesses have taken their meetings off-shore in the past but we are trying to get them to stay at 'home', especially in the IT, financial, pharmaceutical and auto sectors." Ms Lim says Kuala Lumpur's C&M organisers who did not have a change of strategy did so at their own peril. "We are definitely seeing this trend already for an increase for regional and domestic business and we are just trying to be proactive rather than sit around and do nothing and lose business," she says. The Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur is one supplier which also believes providing value-for-money with high service levels to regional corporates will help the city attract business. "We taking the view that it is important to move ahead as we continue to promote our business and maintain an environment which is safe and comfortable for our guests," general manager Mr Christian Hassing says. "As of now, there is a stronger focus on key geographic market segments from Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia in top producing industries (petrochemical, banking and financial) and local and corporate social events. "Malaysia is good value for money, particularly the meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition segments." "Our focus is on intra-regional in the middle-term to counter the current decline and as well the application of flexibility in negotiations for short lead (time) business. "Our core business has mainly been concentrated in Asia Pacific, short-haul will continue to fare better, being the growth area to focus on." But Mr Hassing adds discounting is not a solution to kick start the market and attract business. "In periods of weak demand, cutting prices severely will result in long recovery periods and only serves to reduce revenues as a whole," he says. "Yes, it will be more difficult to maintain rates as clients will be more aggressive in their negotiation of rates. "Generally, we do not include many value-added items or discounts but offer competitive rates in maintaining our advantage to match our product and service and deliver what the meeting planner, company and delegate require, tailor-made to his needs. "However, we may consider special meeting contract rates for our top 20 corporate clients for long-term events as well as customised convention packages." Asian Overland Services' Mr Wong also agrees the industry in Kuala Lumpur will be looking closer to home for corporate groups. "Business is definitely developing in Asia Pacific from within," he says. "There will still be the need for companies to meet face to face but some people just assume long-haul business is the only business to chase but we should be looking closer to home, especially from places such as China, Vietnam and India." Mr Wong says the industry in Malaysia should be promoting the country's safety record for visitors. "Yes, Malaysia is a Muslim country but a very moderate one and one that is very safe with strict laws, in fact we are one of the safest countries in the world and this should be promoted to regional corporate groups. I do not think people should be concerned about coming here." While plans have been confirmed for a new purpose-built convention centre in Kuala Lumpur's central business district, the Sepang F1 Circuit is now also promoting itself as a venue for corporate events outside its motorsport races. Sepang senior manager marketing and communications Ms Shuhainie Shamsudin says there is ample space for conferences and meetings at the track's facilities and there are ample on-site venues and activities - such as go-kart racing - for post-event functions. "For the past three years, we have been concentrating on getting our Formula 1 and Motorcycle Grand Prix races up and running and we have not been ready to move into other areas," she says. "But we have been doing a lot more product launches, especially from automotive companies, but would like to move into the C&M market. "We do not have all the facilities there yet but we have a great venue and we have space that can be converted to accommodate these events." Ms Shuhainie says the rooms above the pit garages can be converted for meetings and breakout rooms and the roof above those rooms can be converted under marquees to host 1,500 people for a cocktail or dinner. "Obviously we do a variety of corporate hospitality functions during motor-racing events and can propose many options," she says. To offset the travelling time between downtown Kuala Lumpur Ms Shuhainie said there will be a shuttle bus operating between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Sepang (travelling time is ten minutes) to meet people from the new express train service, between downtown and the airport, opening next April. World Express' Ms Lee says this will be vital for Sepang to be attractive to corporate groups using downtown hotels. "At this point, Sepang is just a little bit far out of town for those hotels and there are many other venues closer to town," Ms Lee says. Malaysia Airlines incentive and convention manager Mr Michael Yong also says the airline was ready to provide more support to the industry. "Obviously, the airline recognises this sector as very important and we are always happy to work with corporates whenever they want to bring groups to Kuala Lumpur," he says. "We are happy to work with conference organisers bringing groups into Kuala Lumpur and we are quite active in this area to promote the destination as I believe the facilities we have in Kuala Lumpur deserve this support." He said organisers in Kuala Lumpur would be able to achieve better deals from the airline if they were prepared to supply more data on how reliant they are on airlines. "We have a tracking mechanism in place (for corporate delegates) but an accurate one is really the holy grail for airlines to accurately track conference delegates from around the world," he says. "If it was in place, it would make things a lot easier for organisers and planners to do deals with us." Mr Yong is involved with an International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) initiative called Data On Meetings and Exhibitions (DOME). He adds DOME is an internet-based programme that relies on input from organisers and delegates through six short questions. It was tested for the first time at ICCA's annual conference in Cancun, Mexico in November.