New committee charged with turning Sibu into an ‘event city’

Malaysia’s recently formed Sibu Business Events Committee (SBEC) has set itself the task of liaising and collaborating with industries and sectors in the State of Sarawak to further develop the city of Sibu’s business events reputation. The new committee’s target is to secure at least 33 business events by the end of the year. SBEC’s main role is to help association, government, academia, and industry partners engage better and develop and implement strategies in the areas of stakeholder development, business development, capacity building and human capital, as well as destination marketing and communication, and product development. Sub-committees were also formed to facilitate activities in these five areas. SBEC’s chairman, Councillor Clarence Ting, is confident that Sibu can become ‘an event city’. “Sibu,” he says, “is included in the Sarawak government’s Post Covid-19 Development Strategy because there is definite potential in our city to host business events as well as other major events too.” SBEC’s formation is the second in the State since the first committee, Business Events Committee in Miri, was established by Business Events Sarawak to execute core statewide strategies for business events development. “Besides tactical planning to secure more business events, SBEC will take lead on marketing and industry development activities for Sibu,” says Business Events Sarawak’s CEO, Amelia Roziman. “We are empowering committee members to propose plans and make decisions for the good of their city and Sarawak’s business events sector as a whole.” Sibu’s target for 2022 is to secure at least 33 business events with an expected total economic impact of RM93.7m (US$21.27m), approximately RM50m from delegate expenses and RM5.6m from tax revenue. At least 7,345 long and short-term job opportunities are expected to be created for the local community.