The number of MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions & exhibitions) events held in Macau totalled 347, down by 9 percent from the first quarter of 2009 according to DSEC, the city’s Statistics and Census Service.
Meetings and conferences accounted for 328 events (95 percent of total). There were also 19 exhibitions. The total number of participants at the recorded events (57,423) decreased by 63 percent, compared to the first quarter of the year.
The average duration of the MICE events also fell from 2.2 days in the previous quarter to 1.8 days. The average duration of exhibitions was 3.4 days, attracting 25,376 attendees (44 percent of total). The average duration of meetings/conferences was 1.8 days, with 32,047 participants.
Most MICE events were for commerce, trade and management (105), with tourism and culture (60) and education and training (52) making up the rest. Analysed by type, most of the events were corporate meetings (131), association meetings (94) and government meetings (47).
There were 204 MICE events held in hotels, of which 194 were meetings/conferences and ten exhibitions, drawing a total of 28,546 participants. Participants to 194 meetings /conferences totalled 16,900 (59 percent of total). There were 11,646 attendees for the ten exhibitions.