Survey showcases impact of Covid-19 on venues and associations in Malaysia

The Malaysian Society of Association Executives (MSAE) recently held a webinar, presenting the results of a survey into the impact of Covid-19 on associations and venues in Malaysia. The webinar was supported by Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) and Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre). It was conducted in August 2020. Of the 108 associations from various sectors which participated, up to 70% reported that their organisation’s activities such as council meetings, membership, community, stakeholders and government engagements had been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. At least 80% out of the 108 associations have adopted online platforms for conducting virtual council meetings, AGMs and webinars. Sunny Chee, President, MSAE said: “We would like to first and foremost thank MyCEB for sponsoring this webinar and the Centre for supporting us as well. We are delighted to be engaging with all of you virtually, live from the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, to share our survey findings. It is now a fact that associations are doing their best to navigate this challenging situation.” Dr. Lydia Abdul Latif, Vice President, MSAE added: “The survey further showed that the associations’ revenue-generating activities such as fund-raising campaigns, events such as conferences, forums and exhibitions have also been significantly impacted with at least 70% of associations reporting event cancellations and change in event format to virtual or hybrid.” Edward Lim, Sales Manager, MyCEB commented: “Since the Meet in Malaysia campaign was launched in July, with over 90 industry partners coming forward with new meeting packages, there have been up to 20 applications with over 24,000 delegates being approved. We are thrilled for such a tremendous support from our industry players and their keenness to get back to business.”