BECM leads charge in securing safe certification for MICE venues

Business Events Council Malaysia (BECM), Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), and Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Organisers (MACEOS) are driving an initiative to encourage venues to opt-in to a Safe Business Events Venue Certification.

The certification programme has been endorsed by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and an internationally-recognised certification body has been approached to undertake the venue auditing and assessment and the implementation of the safety certification process.

Pryor: This certification will create an end-to-end safe and secure event journey for event organisers and participants, and is part of continued efforts to mitigate the challenges posed by Covid-19

BECM chairman, Alan Pryor, said in a press statement: “The certification programme will assess venues adaption to the government-endorsed new norm Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and the team’s knowledge in areas such as overall operations, food service, hospitality and operational standards.

“We urge all venues to consider obtaining this certification as it will reflect on the premise’s reliability, credibility and expertise in delivering a safe and controlled event environment, thus increasing public and business confidence in the international standard of venue operations in Malaysia.”

Earlier in 2020, the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) and Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) initiated a similar safety certification standard called ‘Clean and Safe Malaysia’ and ‘Travel Safe Malaysia: Hygiene Excellence and Safety Label’ respectively. Both MAH and MATTA are part of the business events supply chain that make up BECM.

“We have been very encouraged by the steps taken by our BECM Alliance Partners to secure additional safety certification that elevates Malaysia’s profile as a safe destination for business events, and these enhanced measures demonstrate the commitment of the industry supply chain to collaborate to strengthen our value proposition as a safe destination.”

Pryor elaborated that this certification is “part of a broader strategy to ensure business recovery and continuity, and to instil trust in the industry’s commitment to its clients, stakeholders and the community.”

“And, when national, regional and global travel resumes, there will be pent-up demand and we will be ready to compete actively, and confidently welcome international business events,” he concluded.