Dear members
Greetings, as the newly elected President, together with the committee for 2024-2026, I am both honoured and grateful to helm and lead our association for the next two years.
Our heartfelt gratitude to our Immediate Past President and now Advisor, Tan Sri Teo Chiang Kok for his strong leadership over the past six years. With his intuition and astute perception of industry matters, Tan Sri Teo has not only left a strong foundation to build on but a remarkable industry leadership to emulate. We promise to try our utmost to follow in his footsteps.
Looking ahead, the path of recovery we have embarked on since emerging from the pandemic years is inevitably not a bed of roses, but full of bumps and diversions along the way. Footfall to malls has recovered, with some even surpassing pre-pandemic levels although others are still in the midst of their recovery journey.
Our statistics show that despite the negative effects of the pandemic, the number of malls and retail centres in 2022 has actually increased by 3.7% compared to 2020, with the Central Region having the largest number of malls nationwide. Shopping malls are resilient and the outlook for the shopping mall industry is still optimistic as several large malls have since extended their premises manifold, with yet others opening their doors during the past two years.
We will continue to work harder on this journey towards better performance for retail sales but at the same time, also seek the assistance and support of the public sector. We look forward to work with the authorities to boost our efforts, especially to manage the costs of doing business and to spearhead incentives and promotional programmes to attract international tourists for shopping tourism at our malls.
For PPKM, our guiding principles remain focused on Professionalism, Networking, Info- sharing, Representation and Education and Training. These will be achieved through our events, seminars and conferences, study trips and training programmes etc and our calendar of activities will continue in the same exciting pace. To achieve all these, we will need members’ support, so do continue to stay closely beside us.
Shopping malls must also continue stay agile in response to the ever-changing market trends and rapidly advancing technological changes, and together, we will work closely to sculpt the future of Malaysia’s shopping malls industry to contribute even more to the nation’s economic growth.
Thank you.
PHANG SAU LIAN
President
