AVIATION INTERVIEW

 

AVIATION INTERVIEW WITH ASHWIN GUNASEKERAN

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB)

An industry veteran with over 17 years of experience, Ashwin Gunasekeran, 42, brings to PCEB his accrued expertise in tourism and hospitality management, revenue analysis, yield management, turnaround strategy, business development and business tourism. His wealth of networks, built over the years, comes as a strength when our Penangite was appointed CEO to helm PCEB when it was started in 2016. His responsibilities include developing and growing the business event (BE) industry in Penang.


What are some of the milestones that PCEB has achieved thus far?
I am proud to say that BE @ Penang, birthed by PCEB, has grown over the past five years, featuring numerous expert speakers and hundreds of delegates from across the globe. Our goal is to position it as an internationally recognised and must attend conference by the BE fraternity.

PCEB’s inaugural Penang Roadshow to India in 2018 marked our activation to one of Malaysia’s largest travel markets. The roadshow has now become an annual event. Another milestone was when PCEB led a delegation from Penang to win the bid to be the first Asian destination to host the World Seafood Congress in September 2019.

The Penang International Travel Exchange (PITE), our homegrown BE tradeshow saw us successfully hosting travel agents and business owners from India as well as its leading travel product Global Panorama Showcase India during our first year in 2018. PCEB has since expanded its buyers’ market to Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States. We aim to continue growing the market segments further.

When PCEB launched our first ever “Next Normal Guidelines for Business Events Penang” last July, we were the first state in Malaysia to establish a taskforce that comprised 29 industry partners to ensure that every safety and standard operating procedures in organising BE was covered. These guidelines prove that Penang is taking the recovery phase seriously and that we are ready to welcome back events.

Can you provide some insights into PCEB’s new global marketing campaign BELong to position Penang as a preferred BE hub?
We play with the word, belong, which generally signifies having an affinity for a specific place or situation such as a sense of belonging. The campaign’s goals include sending a positive message that Penang is open for business beginning 2022 while maintaining its destination awareness and increasing confidence in the destination’s health and safety measures for corporate events, among other things.

PCEB aims to expand and strengthen its presence in new market segments such as Europe and the United Kingdom. Our strategy is also to position Penang as the leading destination for world-class conferences, especially in medical science and the pharmaceutical sector. While Penang has always been a predominantly incentive- driven market, PCEB is now actively engaged in the meetings sector.

In PCEB’s recent joint collaboration with PATA Malaysia Chapter (PMC) to organise the Tourism Reconnect Conference, what were some of the activities organised to showcase Penang’s potential as an incentive destination?
As a well-known incentive destination, Penang has always been reinventing new incentive programmes for delegates to experience the Pearl of the Orient at its best. In our hosted familiarisation tour for the PMC members, our objective was to give them an extraordinary experience of Georgetown. The group started from Penang Hill, which has been recognised by UNESCO as Malaysia’s third biosphere reserve. The tour continued with a nature walk at The Habitat, which recently won the ASEAN Sustainable Tourism Award Urban Category 2022-2023.

We also gave the PMC members an experiential trishaw excursion, flagged off by Penang State Exco for Tourism and Creative Economy, Yeoh Soon Hin, which took them to many of the state’s prominent attractions such as Khoo Kongsi along the streets of Armenian Street, Street of Harmony and Acheh Street, just to name a few. This familiarisation tour also marked the reactivation of Penang’s tourism sector from the global Covid-19 pandemic over the past two years.

Now that Malaysia’s international borders are open and as you have stressed, “Penang is ready” at PCEB’s recent BElong campaign launch in Kuala Lumpur, what are your observations?
The news on our borders reopening on April 1 have been welcomed and celebrated by the players in the travel trade fraternity, conference owners in various associations and meeting planners from the corporate and education industry. Despite the pandemic, Penang has never shied away from its regional and global visibility and we have been constantly in touch with our clients to resume their international BE here when our borders reopened.

Please share with us an international event that will be taking place soon.
In June, Penang will be hosting SEMICON 2022, Southeast Asia’s largest semiconductor and microelectronics trade show with 200 booths. Occupying entirely the SPICE Convention Centre and Arena, this event will be participated by Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan. Our industry players, including the immigration and airport, are prepared not only to assist with the participants’ seamless journey but also to ensure that they benefit from the event and have a wonderful time in our state.

You mentioned 156 events were held in Penang in 2020 with delegates totalling 19,823. What was it like in 2021?
The disruption to the BE industry extended from 2020 into 2021 with interstate travel only resuming last October. As such, total events reported last year were relatively low compared to 2020. Many of the physical events held were transformed into either virtual or hybrid events, which represented a new reality, unlocking exciting possibilities for many organisations to leverage on the power of BE while also promoting the host destination.

How do you view the prospects for 2022 and beyond?
We are looking at staggered arrivals this year although Penang has been receiving many enquiries since the closure of the international borders in 2020. With the borders reopened, we are hoping for more business travellers, especially from Asia Pacific. Penang has many world-class conferences secured up to 2026. We believe we can return to our pre-pandemic days of glory slowly but surely.

While the BElong campaign places value on face-to- face meetings, you also believe that hybrid events will continue to thrive for the next five years. Care to elaborate on this?
While the pandemic has given birth to flexibility in event planning and management, we cannot deny that physical events will remain crucial for the benefit of the destination. Nevertheless, hybrid events will continue to dominate the BE landscape as our industry partners have heavily invested in the latest technology and platforms to facilitate the shift.

Hybrid events are here to stay as they cater to the needs of both the physical and virtual attendees, offering flexibility on how the audience can connect, how exhibitors can participate, how attendees can network with one another and how contents will be made available. They have many dimensions that can help event organisers and the host achieve their goals.

PCEB is also involved in the turtle conservation programme, promotion of batik and living heritage. How do you reconcile this with the BE industry?
Penang Turtle Cares is part of PCEB’s corporate social responsibility programme where we partner with conference organisers to help the Penang Turtle Conservation Centre set up by Malaysia’s Department of Fisheries to protect and conserve the dwindling turtles population due to rising development in the region.

As part of our efforts to promote Penang’s creative economy, PCEB has been supporting locally made batik souvenirs and masks. For the past two years, I have been adorning batik to all events as a gesture of support.

How do you describe your style of leadership?
I believe in continuous engagement and destination presence strongly. Partnership and collaboration will remain at the heart of PCEB’s initiatives and the BE industry can only get better from here.

Lastly, how do you unwind after a hard day of work?
I like to stargaze during clear, good weather and enjoy watching my reef tank, accompanied by a good drink. Life’s simple pleasures bring me joy.

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