Sarawak rolls out welcome mat for business events post-MCO

A live video broadcast of Ting delivering his congratulatory speech to BESarawak and its partners in conjunction with Tribal Gathering 2020 is shown on a screen.

By Ling Hui

KUCHING, July 9: Sarawak is now officially reopened for business events, says Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew at Business Events Sarawak’s (BESarawak) Tribal Gathering 2020 event today.

Representing Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Ting announced that business events in Sarawak are resuming while strictly adhering to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).

He noted BESarawak’s three initiatives namely the Tribe Legacy Sarawak marketing campaign, the Reactivation Guideline for organising business events and TriBE Digital Campus, were powering up after almost six tensed months for the business events and tourism sectors.

“It is hoped that they will function as a call to band the industry for a common goal which gives Sarawak a competitive edge over other destinations.

“These initiatives are also aimed at restoring the confidence of business events planners and delegates while building a stronger community of business events professionals for today and tomorrow’s generations,” said Ting in his speech at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching today.

He also noted that the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, through BESarawak would ensure the reactivation and recovery of Sarawak’s business events sectors.

In stating this, he added that BESarawak has estimated business events revenue in Sarawak experienced a loss of RM67 million due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed following the Covid-19 outbreak.

However, the state is expecting to regain approximately RM69.49 billion from business events which were originally scheduled to take place in 2020 but have been postponed to 2021.

“Thank you to the business events industry for all that you have done, and I hope that we will continue to forge stronger collaborations under the Tribe Spirit for the betterment of Sarawak,” said Ting. — DayakDaily