Penang’s new SPICE Convention Centre, the flagship events space in the Setia SPICE complex, opened its doors in early March. The impressive new facility marks the first step in turning the Malaysian state, known for its multicultural identity and the heritage of its capital George Town, into an international business events destination.
Penang has long done well with incentives and smaller meetings, due in no small part to the charms of George Town’s architecture and food. According to the Penang Convention and Exhibition Bureau’s 2016 review, the state hosted 1,251 events over the year, with a total of 142,000 participants having an estimated economic impact of about RM808 million (US$184 million).
Now it wants to up its game, to handle more – and bigger – events. In realising that dream, SPICE – Subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre – is merely the appetiser. Next on the menu is an even bigger centre, to be called The Light. Due to open in 2121, it will be up to three times the size of the 8,000-capacity Setia SPICE Convention Centre.
The step change in built infrastructure is being matched by organisational developments. The state was one of the first in Malaysia to open a dedicated MICE office – the Penang Convention and Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) – which today works closely with its national counterpart, MyCEB, while also reaching out to form alliances with regional and international event planning bodies.
Careful progress
Datuk Abdul Malik Abdul Kassim, State Minister for Islamic Affairs, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, explains that it all began in March 2008, when the present state government came to power. “We looked at diversifying the economy,” he says. “We saw something that was missing in Penang – an international-level expo and convention centre.”
Focusing on the potential of the spacious site around the dilapidated, 10,000-capacity Penang International Sports Arena (PISA), the government opened the project to tender. However, they quickly ran into problems. “We faced a lot of criticism from the public that we were taking away the park,” says Malik. “We were taken to court actually.”
The proposal was amended, mandating that the winning bid should maintain the acreage of greenery found in the park. Malaysian construction company SP Setia was awarded the project, with a design that included burying the new convention centre, roofing it with grass and adding a children’s play area and spice garden. The latter is intended as an on-site incentive area for conference attendees, as well as a resource for the facility’s kitchens.
Though Setia had wanted to knock down the old arena itself, the state government was loathe to lose the capacity to host events while the convention centre was being built, so they opted for refurbishment instead. The Aquatic Centre has also been upgraded and a 59-lot retail space known as the Canopy added.
The development’s own hotel is slated to open in 2019, adding to the accommodation already close at hand. That includes the Olive Tree Hotel, right across the road, and the venerable Equatorial, with its own history as an events hub, sitting in leafy seclusion alongside a golf course, yet less than ten minutes’ drive away.
At the same time, piles are already being driven into the ground at The Light, a sprawling complex a little farther north up the coast. “We want to think big,” says Malik. He cites Bangkok, Jakarta and even Singapore as competitors and highlights medical and environmental events as specific targets.
Building bridges
Other Malaysian states are also looking to exploit events industry potential. “More and more state bureaus are being formed – in the next year, there will be maybe three more,” says Ashwin Gunasekaran, CEO of PCEB, but he stresses the role of the national bureau, MyCEB, in encouraging cooperation.
“Assuming Penang does not win the bid, I’d rather that piece of business stays in Malaysia,” says Gunasekaran. “But we have also moved on to other regional countries where we have several alliance partners, because we know that if we win [an event], we won’t win that business for the following years, and I would rather forward that business [to an ally].”
Adelaide, a sister city of Penang, is especially close. “Adelaide is very strong on association business, and they have been sharing with us how they approach and target this business,” he says, adding that it’s been a similar learning process with incentives, as both sides discuss challenges such as winning over the strong India and China markets.
“I’d very much say incentives are a given for Penang,” Gunasekaran says. “As that has grown, we’ve moved into meetings and conferences. A few international hotel brands are now coming in: all are catering for meeting spaces within the hotel, so it’s very clear they want a piece of the pie.”
More than 20 hotels have joined PCEB’s Industry Partner Programme, alongside local PCOs and DMCs. “We are training hotels to go ‘Penang first’,” says Gunasekaran, describing an approach whereby the hotel seeking event business pitches “the DNA of Penang” – ease of access, good accommodation and venues, pre- and post-meeting activities – and only then do they mention where the hotel is and what it has to offer.
“One of our responsibilities is to inform people of the scale of connectivity we have,” he says. “We can capitalise on direct flights from Singapore and Bangkok and Hong Kong.”
In all, Penang has more than 200 international flights a week and almost twice as many domestic services. The city is already talking to airlines about more connections to India, and through Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Europe.
“People have been looking forward to our convention centre being ready,” concludes Gunasekaran. “SPICE’s calendar is already full. With the amount of road shows we go to, the number of bid processes we get into, winning business into Penang… I think probably we need more venues.”
By Steve White
