Resumen de Investigating the size and economic value of the business tourist market in malaysia

Kashif Hussain, Jeetesh Kumar, Suresh Kannan, Manisa Mohamed Nor

• The business tourism sector is recognized as a high-yield component of the tourism industry with hedonic economic impact on businesses, destinations, local economies, and the development of human capital. It is considered as one of the fastest developing and most profitable sectors. There fore, the current research was set out to investigate the size and economic value of the business tourist market in Malaysia by highlighting the microareas of business tourists' expenditure and their experience, and presenting a model defining the total economic impact (direct, indirect, and induded), contribution to employment, and contribution to tax revenue generated for Malaysia. A quantitative research approach was applied with two self-administered survey questionnaires used to collect the data (n=5.555) in order to observe the travel information, spending patterns, and experiences of international travelers attending business events in Malaysia, which are mainly conferences and exhibitions. The economic impact assessment in the study was made using a money generation model (MGM). The current study provides its novel findings at a national level and defines business tourists (international travelers) as conference delegates and exhibition buyers attending/joining business events in Malaysia. Along with presenting the demographics, spending patterns, and behavioral patterns of the business tourists, the results also show that in 2014 the business tourism sector contributed significantly to the Malaysian economy at MYR4.7 billion (US$1.44 billion) of direct economic value, MYR9.7 billion (US$2.96 billion) of total economic impact (direct, indirect, and induced), along with 325,437 job opportunities in the local economy and MYR416 million (US$127.2 million) in tax revenue (direct, indirect, and induced).