MALAYSIAN EXHIBITORS ATTRACT ATTENTION AT AIME 2011

MELBOURNE, Feb 19 (Bernama) -– Malaysian exhibitors at the recent Asia
Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME) 2011 here, were encouraged by the
large number of trade enquiries on holding multi-million dollar international
conventions and meetings in the country.

With about 800 exhibitors and more than 500 buyers from the region at the
two-day show, competition was keen with the record number of 34 Malaysian
exhibitors attracting a lot of interest and business.

The consensus was that AIME 2011 was a little quieter but there was an
increased awareness and interest in the east Malaysian states of Sabah, Sarawak,
the island of Langkawi in Kedah state and Kuala Lumpur.

As usual Sabah, which had the largest Malaysian contingent with nine
exhibitors, captured much attention and the Borneo state said it was pleased
with the positive enquiries received.

Sabah Tourism's Noredah Othman said it was the 10th year the state was
taking part in the AIME and the benefits in tourism and convention dollars had
been enormous over the years.

"Sabah Tourism will continue to push and promote our wonderful eco-rich
state as a great destination for incentives and conferences for the
Australia-Pacific market," she added.

Noredah said Sabah was most enthusiastic about the three-weekly direct
Malaysia Airlines flights from Perth to Kota Kinabalu.

"Sabah has been campaigning for direct flights from Australia for many
years. Now that we have the flights from Perth, we can look forward to an
increased passenger traffic from Australia which is an important market," she
highlighted.

Angeline Lee, from the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) commented on
the increased level of interest for incentives.

"Buyers were requesting for new product offerings and looking for
experiences that combined nightlife,entertainment, good accommodation and island
experiences," she said.

Ho Yoke Peng, from the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau said
Malaysia's presence at the tradeshow, highlighted the country's potential
for business tourism.

"We found there is a growing level of interest in Malaysia, especially for
Borneo and island destinations, which make for unique corporate and incentive
programmes," she said.