Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the number of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions) events held in various venues in Macao totalled 310 in the third quarter of 2009, down by 11% quarter-to-quarter, with 289 meetings & conferences (93% of total) and 21 exhibitions. Total number of participants and attendees soared by 2.8 times from the second quarter to 217,241, on account of a 659% surge of the attendees (192,642) to several large-scale exhibitions in the third quarter. The average duration of the MICE events increased from 1.8 days in the previous quarter to 2.0 days, with an average of 1.9 days for meetings & conferences and 3.5 days for exhibitions. As regards subject of MICE events, the majority focused on Commerce, Trade & Management (122), Tourism & Culture (48) and Education & Training (40). Analyzed by type, most of the events were Corporate Meetings (160) and Association Meetings (54). There were 216 MICE events held in hotels, of which 210 were meetings & conferences and 6 were exhibitions, drawing a total of 23,878 participants and attendees. Participants to meetings & conferences totalled 16,728 (70% of total) and attendees to the 6 exhibitions were 7,150. Meanwhile, 94 MICE events were held in convention & exhibition centres and other conference venues, bringing in 193,363 participants and attendees, of which 15 exhibitions attracted 185,492 attendees. In the first three quarters of 2009, a total of 1,040 MICE events were held in Macao, with an average duration of 2.0 days, attracting 428,528 participants and attendees.
