Putrajaya has agreed to allow meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) events in Movement Control Order (MCO) areas, and industry players are hoping that this will be the start of a more significant recovery for the business events industry starting March 5.
President Of The Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS), Francis Teo said as long as the travel restrictions are in place, the green light to hold business events will not be of much benefit to industry players
“The vaccination programme is only expected to be completed by early next year and if they have to wait until then, that may mean another year or so of the travel ban.
Health-Director, DG Hisham recently stated that the travel ban between states and districts may go on until at least 70 percent of the population have been vaccinated for Covid-19.
“The vaccination may save us, but it may be too late as the travel ban will make it unreasonable to hold events and to limit event participants from only one district, Teo said.
Teo cited a recent survey of MACEOS members in which nearly 64 percent said they would not be able to survive another three months if the MCO was not lifted soon as they could not organise events.
Teo willingly offered to work closely with the Government in coming up with guidelines that would facilitate the re-opening of business events according to reasonable SOPs
“We noted that the restriction on inter-district and inter-state travel would limit the success of the re-opening of business events.
“We want to continue working closely with industry players and the Government to look into the details of the SOPs so that further progress can be made and the re-opening of business events can be implemented safely and successfully,” Teo said.
