Malaysia's new face

Malaysia is one of Asia Pacific's newest entrants into the CEI arena. The country has superb natural endowments, a six-month-old, state-of-the-art convention centre (the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, already ranked as the region's fifth overall by our readers) and arguably Asia's warmest and most spontaneous brand of hospitality. No wonder that out of 384 readers in our annual industry survey, over 22 per cent say they have already made plans to stage events in Malaysia during 2006. Almost seven per cent per cent say they are attracted by the country's potential for incentives, 10.18 per cent say they would organise exhibitions, while 16 per cent are planning conferences. "KLCC is a catalyst. It's something we should have had a long time ago," says Jane Rai, director of product development at Pacific World Destination East. "We need to be more creative about tourism-related facilities. We should emphasise that Malaysia has something special that other countries do not. We have great venues and attractions, and we can provide service, stability and safety." Malaysia has a special niche by reason of its eco-friendly resorts and wilderness activities. With its East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, the country is well placed to benefit from the trend to eco-tourism and environmental activities. Since pricing is always a sensitive issue, Malaysia should be well placed to benefit. Its range of five-star hotels offer groups some of the best value-for-money deals around. Security and safety are paramount in this day and age, and Malaysia is certainly a safe destination by any standards. New venue Although KLCC was still relatively untried, respondents forecast that the capital's facilities would emerge as the region's fifth best in 2006, up from eighth place overall during 2005. Kuala Lumpur came in just behind Shanghai and just ahead of Sydney, a rather impressive performance. Convention bookings are coming in now for two to three years down the road. The ASEAN ministerial conference in mid- December highlighted KLCC, which will soon be complemented by a number of other convention centres elsewhere in the country, including Penang. Despite stiff competition, Penang (5.8 per cent) and Langkawi (4.8 per cent) emerged in fourth and fifth place respectively as providing the best resort area experience and facilities in the region. Understandably, planners stick with what they know and it seems they remain generally unaware of what Malaysia can offer in the way of corporate events. 'Malaysia Truly Asia' has proved a very successful slogan for general tourism, but perhaps it is time to retune it to highlight the new facilities along with what is perhaps the country's greatest strength — the diverse nature of its many-faceted destinations. Unlike Thailand, which has focused sharply on CEI in Bangkok and, to a lesser extent, in Phuket and Chiang Mai, Malaysia's image is perhaps still too diffused. It will take time before Malaysia can compete with mature CEI destinations like Hong Kong and Singapore. However, thanks to some excellent hotels and other infrastructure already completed or about to come on-stream, the country seems set to surprise many observers over the next couple of years. Parts of Malaysia are finding their own route to stardom by developing themselves as niche destinations, greatly helped by proximity to one of the country's many international airports. Among the most exciting hardware developments geared to incentives and small meetings are some of the new deluxe resorts like Langkawi. Hotel properties Since last April, one of Malaysia's most exclusive tropical hideaways, the Four Seasons Resort in Langkawi, with its unique Spa Village, has taken on a new dimension as a venue for corporate meetings, brainstorming retreats for senior executives and so on. A new marina and a planned conference centre will help Penang to upgrade itself into a deluxe resort island very much geared to the needs of high-end incentives and meetings business. Rasa Sayang is being transformed into a six-star resort hotel, complete with Shangri- La signature Chi Spa village and full-scale meeting facilities when it reopens later in 2006 after almost two years of work. The new look will reposition the resort and Penang as a whole as a leading Asian resort Paradise island…beach at Kota Kinabalu 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Conferences Exhibitions Incentives Any CEI events 19.42 16.19 10.76 10.18 9.97 6.79 27.82 22.45 % Base: 381 who organised any events in 2005 383 planning to organise any events in 2006 CEI performance of Malaysia in 2005/06 destination, on a par with anything that you will find in Bali, says general manager Arbind Shrestha. "We're really going after CEI at that point," he says. Another Shangri-La property, Rasa Ria Resort, is leading a quiet image makeover for Kota Kinabalu. In late 2005 the hotel officially opened its new Nature Information Centre, part of a low-key reinforcement of its position in the eco-tourism market. In April work is scheduled to begin on a 90-room extension geared for completion by the year-end peak season. The 55 sqm new rooms will each have the additional attraction of a 35 sqm balcony with an individual plunge pool. It will be the success of developments such as these that will determine whether Malaysia can make good on its potential.