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Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Celebrates Unprecedented Success in 2023
Venue Hosted 1,724 Events
The Centre’s team celebrating unprecedented success this year.
The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre), Malaysia’s premier purpose-built business events destination, is concluding 2023 on a high note, having hosted 1,724 events over the course of the year. This is the highest number since 2014 and a major bounce back for the venue which hosted just 300 events in 2021, at the height of the pandemic.
In addition to hosting these 1,724 events, the Centre, also welcomed 1,342,295 delegates to the venue throughout 2023. These visitors, both international and Malaysian, helped the Centre generate an estimated RM656 million in economic impact for Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia – well over double the figure generated in 2022. This economic impact is calculated based upon the contributions of these visitors and events to local retailers, F&B outlets, hotels, airlines, and the wider business events supply chain which, in turn, generates significant employment opportunities for Malaysians.
According to John Burke, the Centre’s General Manager, “I am delighted to confirm that in 2023 the Centre achieved one of its best years yet. We set ambitious targets at the start of 2023 yet, through the hard work and tireless efforts of our team, we surpassed these by over 30%. Our achievements in 2023 are a shared success for the entire Malaysian business events supply chain. This result is not just based upon our own hard work and initiatives, but also the contribution of many other partners who make up the business events ecosystem in Malaysia, including the efforts of the Malaysia Exhibition and Conference Bureau (MyCEB).”
John continued, “Since the Centre opened in 2005, the venue has hosted more than 20,000 events, welcomed more than 28 million guests, and generated more than RM11 billion in economic impact to the Malaysian economy – and we are just one of many business events venues in the country. This clearly demonstrates the important contribution of this sector to the ongoing prosperity of Malaysia – without even considering the value created for Malaysian businesses including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and individuals through knowledge exchange, best practices and learnings that are shared when we host major international conventions and exhibitions.”
Ravindran Sathiamoorthy, the Centre’s Director of Sales, elaborated on the Centre’s 2023 results, “In terms of our 2023 revenues, Conventions contributed 26%, Exhibitions 28% while the Corporate segment (which includes banquets and functions; meetings and events) generated 46%. During 2023 we hosted 29 entertainment events, many featuring international acts – the most we have ever hosted in a single year. Conventions and Exhibitions combined contributed 54% of our revenue, but we aim to increase that to 60% in the future. We are looking forward to a very positive 2024, having already secured 65% of our targeted revenue for the year through advance bookings.
He continued, “We have 47 exhibitions and 32 conventions (26 of which are international) confirmed over the next 12 months and expect to add more over the course of the year. These include some major events that we are looking forward to hosting such as the International Surgical Week 2024; the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) meets Asia 2024, the 12th World Federation of Chiropractic Global Education Conference 2024 and the International Union of Architects (UIA) International Forum 2024. This is not just good news for the Centre, but for the entire Malaysian business events supply chain, the Malaysian tourism industry, and the country.”
