Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that number of MICE events held in the fourth quarter of 2019 remained unchanged year-on-year at 461, including 432 meetings & conferences, 21 exhibitions and 8 incentives. Number of participants and attendees edged down by 0.4% to 733,000. For the whole year of 2019, a total of 1,536 MICE events were held, an increase of 109 year-on-year, with 1,459 meetings & conferences (+117), 58 exhibitions (-2) and 19 incentives (-6). Number of participants and attendees totalled 2,003,000, a drop of 5.4%.
Number of meetings & conferences held in the fourth quarter increased by 3 year-on-year; number of participants grew by 22.5% to 96,000, driven by a 27.1% growth in those attending meetings & conferences with 200 participants or more (75,000). The average duration of the meetings & conferences went up by 0.1 day to 1.5 days, while total floor area used inched down by 0.9% to 460,000 m².
Number of exhibitions went down by 1 year-on-year to 21 in the fourth quarter, with number of attendees dropping by 3.9% to 629,000. Exhibitions organised by non-government organisations (19) decreased by 1 and number of attendees (513,000) fell by 3.4%. The average duration of the exhibitions extended by 0.2 day year-on-year to 3.5 days, and total floor area used expanded by 6.6% to 200,000 m². Meanwhile, number of incentives reduced by 2 year-on-year, whereas number of participants (7,190) and total floor area used (25,000 m²) leaped by 306.2% and 261.6% respectively. The average duration of these incentives was 3.0 days, up by 0.2 day.
Among the exhibitions held in the fourth quarter of 2019, information on 19 exhibitions provided by the organisers indicated that their receipts and expenditure amounted to MOP 74.96 million and MOP 137 million respectively. Receipts of the 17 exhibitions held by non-government organisations totalled MOP 71.56 million, of which 66.7% came from financial support from the government and other organisations and 29.0% were generated from rental of exhibition booths. Expenditure of these exhibitions stood at MOP 96.81 million, with 23.9% being incurred on installation, decoration & audio-visual performance, etc. and 21.1% on rental paid for the venue. After deducting expenditure as well as financial support from the government and other organisations from receipts, these exhibitions recorded a negative value of MOP 72.99 million.
For the whole year of 2019, number of participants in meetings & conferences dropped by 1.4% year-on-year to 292,000, as a consequence of a notable decline in participants in the second quarter. Total floor area used for the meetings & conferences decreased by 29.8% to 1,194,000 m², the average duration rose by 0.1 day to 1.5 days. Number of exhibition attendees dropped by 4.3% year-on-year to 1,689,000, with those participating in exhibitions held by non-government organisations (1,419,000) falling by 4.5%. The exhibitions occupied a total floor area of 370,000 m², a growth of 6.4%, while their average duration remained the same as in 2018, at 3.4 days. Number of participants in incentives totalled 22,000 and total floor area used was 151,000 m², representing a sizable reduction of 60.2% and 61.2% respectively year-on-year; meanwhile, the average duration of the incentives grew by 0.4 day to 3.0 days.
In accordance with the information on 56 exhibitions provided by the organisers in 2019, their receipts and expenditure amounted to MOP 180 million and MOP 292 million respectively. Receipts of the 48 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations totalled MOP 172 million, with rental of exhibition booths constituting 60.1% of the total. These exhibitions incurred MOP 148 million in expenditure, of which installation, decoration & audio-visual performance, etc. and rental paid for venue took up 26.7% and 20.8% respectively. After deducting expenditure and financial support from the government and other organisations (MOP 60.32 million) from receipts, these exhibitions registered a negative value of MOP 36.57 million; the difference was larger as compared to the negative amount of MOP 29.15 million in 2018.