Macau MICE economy soars in 1Q17

Macau saw its MICE activity soar in the first three months of 2017, with participation in meetings and conferences up by well over 100% year-on-year.

A total of 366 MICE events were held in the first quarter of 2017, consisting of 344 meetings and conferences, seven exhibitions and 15 incentives with the total number of participants and attendees hitting 222,000.

The number of meetings and conferences held during the period increased by 50 year-on-year, with the number of participants rising by 111.9% to 54,000. Meetings and conferences with 200 participants or more went up by 16 to 54 with the number of participants surging by 194.8% to 41,000 (74.9% of total).

Meanwhile, the number of meetings and conferences lasting four hours or more increased by 66 year-on-year to 247 as the number of participants soared by 206.3% to 44,000;

The seven exhibitions held in the first quarter were organized by non-government organizations – up by three year-on-year – with the number of attendees increasing by 48.9% to 163,000.

In accordance with the information collected from exhibition organizers, receipts from the seven exhibitions amounted to MOP$5.5 million, of which 78.9% was from rental of exhibition booths and 21.1% was financial support from the government or other organizations. Expenditure totaled MOP$5.6 million, which was mainly incurred on publicity and public relations (33.6%) and production, construction and decoration (31.1%). These exhibitions attracted 267 exhibitors, with the majority coming from Macau (74.9% of total). Professional visitors totaled 5,833, with those from Macau predominating at 66.7%.

Information from 160 interviewed exhibitors in the first quarter indicated that 97.7% of their receipts were generated from sales of products, while rental paid for exhibition booths accounted for 65.2% of their expenditure.

However, the proportion of interviewed exhibitors who were satisfied with MICE venue and services decreased from the fourth quarter of 2016. A relatively low proportion of exhibitors were satisfied with the promotion of the exhibition (42.8%), down by 13.9 percentage points over the previous quarter.

55% of interviewed exhibitors were satisfied with facilities, down 14.9 percentage points, and the proportion of those who were satisfied with the professionalism of the venue staff (63.9%) dropped by 16.6 percentage points in sequential quarters.