Tourism Malaysia will once again participate in the 12 th Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME), one of the largest and significant business travel, incentive and meeting exhibitions that attract exhibitors and buyers throughout the world to be held on 17 and 18 February 2004 at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

Tourism Malaysia's stand partners consist of Kuala Lumpur Tourism Action Council, Melaka Tourism Promotion Division, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, KL Tower, 11 hoteliers and six destination management companies. Making their debut under Tourism Malaysia's pavilion will be the Sabah and Sarawak Tourism Boards.

In conjunction with AIME 2004, Tourism Malaysia will be organising roadshows at three Australian cities namely Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane from 19 to 21 February 2004 to promote its `Meet and Experience Malaysia, Truly Asia Campaign'. Among the participants are five state governments, seven hoteliers, five destination management companies and two other organizations.

The campaign is a two-year targeted business venture that offers potential event organizers top-of-the line MICE products and services at great prices that are guaranteed over a period of time by Tourism Malaysia and its supporting partners.

The unique feature of the ‘Meet and Experience' campaign is that comprehensive support and benefits from Tourism Malaysia and its partners await event organizers who confirm their events in Malaysia from now till the end of 2004. The support and benefits include promotional and publicity drive, hotels, venues, dissemination of information, preferential airfares to facilitation on custom and immigration clearances.

Malaysia has played host to many worldclass events, meetings, conventions and exhibitions. Its success to date can be seen in the hosting of annual events like the F1 Grand Prix, the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) plus a number of international conferences such as the 13 th NonAligned Movement Summit, the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Conference and the 10 th Organization of Islamic Conference held last year.

Among the major events to be hosted in 2004 are the Commonwealth Tourism Ministers Conference and the 13 th Annual Congress of International Society for Gynaecology and Endoscopy (ISGE) to be held in March and April respectively. In 2005, Malaysia will host the ASEAN Tourism Forum and the PATA Travel Mart.

Hosting such events has raised Malaysia's stature as a popular choice venue in the region for international events. In 2002, it attracted a total of 699,924 MICE delegates compared to 473,486 in 2001.

Malaysia has positioned itself to be a choice venue for the MICE market due to many favourable factors. These include the country's overall safety, friendly and peace loving people, political stability, good foreign exchange rate, benign weather, excellent venues for pre and postconference travel, easy accessibility and modern infrastructure. The country also boasts two newly built MICE venues namely the Putrajaya Convention Centre and the Melaka International Trade Centre.

For more information on MICE facilities, convention and exhibition visitors are welcome to visit Tourism Malaysia's booth (No: 2413) or contact Tourism Malaysia Convention Division at 60326935188 or email: mice@tourism.gov.my

Issued by: Communications Division, Tourism Malaysia
Date: 11 February 2004
For more information, please call Anis Shabirin at 0326935188 or
email aniss@tourism.gov.my