Malaysia leverages convention centres, local culture to drive business tourism


The LICC is a popular event space for the international market. — Photos: Handout

Last year, Malaysia was awarded “Best Mice Destination” at the Global Tourism Forum 2025. It is an accolade that strengthens the country’s standing in the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (Mice) sphere.

This shows that Malaysia has the facilities and venues to attract more international business events.

In fact, as of June 30, the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) has secured 416 local events. These are scheduled to be held from now until 2030, delivering RM3.98bil in estimated economic impact.

Building on this momentum, several organisations have come together to create a platform that is set to further boost the country’s Mice growth.

Called Destination Convention Malaysia (DCM), the platform is a collaborative effort between Marriott International, MyCEB, Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) and Sabah Convention Bureau.

Through DCM, regional and international event organisers will get a broader view of the country’s Mice experiences.

It highlights local Mice locations, including Marriott Putrajaya International Conven-tion Centre, Renaissance KL Hotel & Convention Centre, Courtyard by Marriott KL South, Desaru Coast Conference Centre (Johor) and Langkawi Internatio-nal Convention Centre (Kedah).

“KL remains an important international gateway and conventional hub, while destinations across the country offer their own distinctive strengths and experiences,” said Tan Mei Phing, CEO of MyCEB, during the DCM launch at St Regis KL recently.

She stressed that the new platform is an opportunity to bring the different strengths together in order to present Malaysia to regional and international markets with a more unified voice.

“The question is no longer whether Malaysia can host major international business events. We have already proven that.

“The question now is how do we take Malaysia to the next level? I believe one of our greatest strengths lies in Malaysia’s diversity,” she shared.

The diversity in culture is a major draw, especially for international market. From the food to the traditions, these experiences serve as a motivator for combining business with leisure.

Meanwhile, the diversity in destinations means various event settings to choose from, be it by a beach or in the heart of a bustling city.

As Malaysia has decades of experience in developing its Mice sector, the country has no shortage of venues to choose from, including major convention centres that can easily support large-scale Mice events.

The most known is undoubtedly the KL Convention Centre, as well as the Malaysia Internatio-nal Trade and Exhibition Centre, and World Trade Centre KL.

Outside of the Klang Valley, there’s the Sabah International Convention Centre in Kota Kinabalu, the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching in Sarawak, and the Setia Spice Convention Centre in Penang, among others.

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