KUALA LUMPUR: The government has allowed the reopening of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) sector in Movement Control Order (MCO) areas from March 5.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the reopening of MICE is only allowed to 25 per cent of the premises capacity or a maximum capacity of 250 people, or less.
"The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry has tabled the MICE industry report as of last year which showed a downward trend of RM2.25 billion or 90 per cent reduction compared to 2019 which contributed RM9.25 billion to the economy.
"More than 5,000 workers in the industry lost their job and industry players are going bust.
"After discussions with the special technical committee and Health Ministry, we decided to allow this sector to operate which include face-to-face meetings with the capacity of 250 attendees or 25 per cent of the premise capacity or lesser than that with compliance to the standard operating procedures (SOP) including physical distancing.
"This is to ease the monitoring and controlling situation in the closed area. It (MICE) should not start earlier than March 5," he said in his daily Covid-19 enforcement press conference here today.