Rising to the Challenges of the Malaysian Business Events Industry from Experts’ Perspective: Emerging Themes during COVID-19

• Published in: Asia-Pacific Journal of Innovation in Hospitality and Tourism
• Main Author: Nasir H.M.; Alagas E.N.; Ismail K.
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor's University Sdn Bhd 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85186863855&partnerID=40&md5=6171040217399b28c889bf8430ffb5d2

The recent COVID-19 pandemic posed extraordinary circumstances to the vulnerable business events industry. The extremely contagious coronavirus substantially disrupted the Malaysian business events industry, prompting critical concerns regarding the industry’s current and potential survival. This paper explores the challenges of the Malaysian business events industry during COVID-19. A qualitative methodology was adopted to collect primary data from semi-structured interviews. The informants included 12 experts from the Malaysian business events industry. The data collected were then grouped using ATLAS. ti (Version 8) software for thematic analysis. Trustworthiness was applied to increase credibility and ensure the rigor of the qualitative findings. Final themes that emerged from the thematic analysis of interview responses related to the COVID-19 pandemic were condensed and then presented. The findings reveal the following challenges: the rise of COVID-19 and three inductives: recovery plan, virtual event, and hybrid event. The findings support the holistic concept of the future business events industry post-COVID-19. Critically, this study explored prominent topics in view of current literature arguments and focused on the implications for various business events industry stakeholders in Malaysia. The limitations of the current study and scope of future studies are also highlighted. © 2023 Taylor's University Sdn Bhd. All rights reserved.