The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia’s premier purpose-built venue, welcomes the recent Government announcements surrounding domestic travel and the success of tourism bubbles in its effort to fully revive the country’s economic sectors based on the National Recovery Plan (NRP), on the back of its closure as a mega vaccination centre (PPV). Between 7 June and 22 September 2021, over 800,000 people in Kuala Lumpur were vaccinated at the Centre’s PPV.

The Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri recently announced the much-anticipated update allowing domestic and overseas travel for all fully vaccinated Malaysians from 11 October.

Alan Pryor, the Centre’s General Manager, said, “This is certainly a reflection of the collective effort by all Malaysians in battling the COVID-19 pandemic. We, at the Centre, are keeping optimistic that this positive news will steer us towards the full resumption of business events (BE) in the near future. With small meetings with 50% physical capacity currently allowed, we are hopeful that the domestic travel relaxation, the continued success of the travel bubbles and the closer we get towards reaching the national immunisation goal, will all soon pave the way towards allowing the BE sector to fully operate, based on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).”

The business events industry, as detailed in the NRP, is currently slated to re-open in Phase Four, resulting in the prevailing temporary closures of most of its supply chain.

“It has given us a great sense of pride and purpose to serve the country and our people as a PPV and to have contributed to a national cause during a time of great trials and tribulations. We were able to put our collective resources, knowledge and expertise in helping the government make the best use of the venue. Now, we must look forward and be ready to serve the business and trade community and hope that the re-opening of our industry will be expedited based on the progress we have made and are making,” concluded Pryor.

As part of its readiness strategy, the Centre recently became the first venue in Malaysia to acquire the “Safe Business Events (BE)”, a hygiene label by Bureau Veritas, which serves as a reassurance and guarantee towards the Centre’s expertise in providing a safe, controlled and regulated event environment by way of compliance to and implementation of the government-approved SOPs.

The safety and hygiene level of the venue is further enhanced by additional finer filters in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to regulate and maintain good air quality within the Centre.

The Centre has also deployed a series of virtual solutions for event organisers ranging from remote site-visits and artificially-intelligent digital concierge (website chatbot) to providing virtual and hybrid event studios with groundbreaking technologies accompanied by a team of experts and all supporting services and infrastructure for a digital event pivot, all under one roof.