Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total number of MICE events increased by 7 year-on-year to 311 in the third quarter of 2018, including 283 meetings & conferences, 19 exhibitions and 9 incentives. Number of participants and attendees rose by 19.9% to 697,000.
Number of meetings & conferences held in the third quarter grew by 4 year-on-year, while number of participants dropped by 20.3% to 48,000. The decrease was attributable to a drop of 26.1% in participants (32,000) attending meetings & conferences of 4 hours or more with 200 participants or more, though the number of these meetings & conferences (46) recorded an increase of 4. The overall average duration of the meetings & conferences went down by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.4 days; total floor area used dropped by 32.5% to 187,000 m2.
Number of exhibitions held in the third quarter increased by 4 year-on-year, with number of attendees rising by 22.0% to 613,000. Exhibitions organised by non-government organisations totalled 16 and number of attendees grew by 42.4% to 505,000. The overall average duration of the exhibitions was 3.3 days, down by 0.1 day year-on-year; nevertheless, total floor area used rose by 8.1% to 56,000 m2. Number of incentives decreased by 1 year-on-year whereas number of participants surged by 94.6% to 36,000. The average duration of these incentives dropped by 0.5 day year-on-year to 2.3 days, while total floor area used increased by 36.9% to 230,000 m2.
According to the information provided by the 19 exhibition organisers in the third quarter, receipts of the exhibitions amounted to MOP 18.29 million, with 61.8% generating from rental of exhibition booths (MOP 11.30 million). Expenditure totalled MOP 46.92 million, which was mainly incurred on production, construction & decoration (MOP 12.40 million) and publicity & public relations (MOP 9.65 million), accounting for 26.4% and 20.6% respectively of the total. Meanwhile, the 16 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations generated MOP 16.25 million in receipts, of which 59.6% came from rental of exhibition booths (MOP 9.69 million), and 38.8% from financial support from government and other organisations (MOP 6.30 million), down by 7.1 percentage points from 45.9% in the third quarter of 2017. Expenditure of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 18.99 million, which was mostly spent on production, construction & decoration (MOP 5.57 million) and publicity & public relations (MOP 4.95 million).
The exhibitions in the third quarter attracted 1,503 exhibitors; among them, 50.1% were from Macao and 21.3% from Mainland China. Professional visitors totalled 25,000, and 71.8% of them were local residents. Regarding the exhibitions organised by non-government organisations, 990 exhibitors were registered, with those from Macao and Hong Kong constituting 57.6% and 22.9% respectively; professional visitors totalled 23,000 and 74.6% of them were from Macao.
Information from 878 interviewed exhibitors in the third quarter indicated that 94.6% of their receipts came from sales of products, whereas rental paid for exhibition booths accounted for 65.1% of their expenditure. Regarding comments from the interviewed exhibitors, their satisfaction towards all of the facilities and services recorded decreases quarter-to-quarter. Among the exhibitors who had used services rendered by local companies, the proportions of those who were satisfied with the services and arrangements of the local companies were both 74.8%, representing a decrease of 8.2 percentage points and 5.8 percentage points respectively quarter-to-quarter. With respect to the planning & organisation of exhibition, 57.8% of the exhibitors complimented on the promotion of the exhibition, down by 7.6 percentage points quarter-to-quarter, and the proportions of those who were satisfied with the hospitality (73.7%) and coordination (70.2%) of the exhibition dropped by 5.8 percentage points and 5.6 percentage points respectively.
In the first three quarters of 2018, a total of 966 MICE events were held, a drop of 37 year-on-year; while total number of participants and attendees increased by 14.8% to 1,385,000. Meetings & conferences decreased by 18 year-on-year to 913, and number of participants grew by 37.0% to 217,000; meetings & conferences of 4 hours or more totalled 622 (-3), with number of participants surging by 49.7% to 194,000. Exhibitions increased by 5 year-on-year to 38, and number of attendees rose by 9.5% to 1,114,000; exhibitions organised by non-government organisations totalled 33, with number of attendees increasing by 11.1% to 955,000. Incentives dropped by 24 year-on-year to 15, whereas number of participants soared by 73.6% to 55,000. In accordance with the information collected from the 38 exhibition organisers in the first three quarters, receipts and expenditure of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 108 million and MOP 125 million respectively. Rental of exhibition booths (MOP 92.49 million) constituted 85.4% of their receipts, whereas production, construction & decoration (MOP 28.52 million) and publicity & public relations (MOP 27.20 million) made up 22.9% and 21.8% of their expenditure respectively. Receipts of the 33 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations totalled MOP 102 million, corresponding to net receipts of MOP 52.23 million after deducting the expenditure (MOP 49.94 million). In order to analyse the marketisation of the exhibition industry, financial support from the government and other organisations (MOP 10.07 million) was excluded from the net receipts to yield an amount of MOP 42.16 million, which was larger than MOP 31.00 million in the first three quarters of 2017.