STB-SICC to attract MICE via strategic collaboration

News Date:  November 2, 2021

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Tourism Board (STB) will collaborate with the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) to better market the venue for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) both locally and globally.

This includes assisting in promoting SICC at the upcoming world travel expo in Dubai, next month.

On Tuesday, SICC delegates led by the Chief Executive Officer Datuk Rosmawati Lasuki had a meeting with STB chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai to discuss how they could work together to come up with strategic planning to attract MICE activities into Sabah.

Bangkuai said such collaborative initiative was important and necessary because STB and SICC complement each other.

“We should start planning strategically. In fact, we are planning to do an international rural tourism conference. Since Sabah is a pioneer for rural community-based tourism, we can leverage that and have the conference here.

“We can start thinking about what events we can host, bring them (MICE players) to Sabah, and introduce our convention centre. It has to come from us to initiate all the events, engage with the players about the prospect of bringing them here, and pursue what we can offer,” he stressed.

With its unique feature and strategic location facing the South China Sea and being close to the city centre, Bangkuai said SICC has the upper hand in promoting its venue for MICE and other event gatherings like weddings.

During the meeting, the need for the establishment of a State Convention Bureau was also discussed, with the goal of marketing Sabah as a destination for meetings, conferences, and business events, among other things.

Also present at the meeting were STB Deputy General Manager (Marketing and MICE) Tay Shu Lan and STB MICE unit chief Georgina Jinu. – Sabah Tourism Board