Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 366MICE events were held in the first quarter of 2017, consisting of 344 meetings & conferences, 7 exhibitions and 15 incentives. Total number of participants and attendees was 222,000.
Number of meetings & conferences held in the first quarter increased by 50year-on-year, with number of participants rising by 111.9% to 54,000. Those meetings & conferences with 200 participants or more went up by 16 to 54, and number of participants surged by 194.8% to 41,000 (74.9% of total). Meanwhile, meetings & conferences of 4 hours or more increased by 66 year-on-year to 247, and number of participants soared by 206.3% to 44,000; the average duration of these meetings & conferences was 2.1 days, up by 0.1 day year-on-year. The overall average duration of the meetings & conferences was 1.7 days, up by 0.3 day.
The 7 exhibitions held in the first quarter were organised by non-government organisations, up by 3 year-on-year; number of attendees increased by 48.9% to 163,000. The average duration of the exhibitions was 3.0 days, up by 0.2 day year-on-year, and total floor area used rose by 39.1% to 14,000 m2. Furthermore, number of incentives went up by 3 year-on-year to 15, drawing 4,432 participants, up by 135.9%; the average duration of the events was 3.3 days and total floor area used was 16,000 m2.
In accordance with the information collected from the exhibition organisers, receipts from 7 exhibitions amounted to MOP 5.50 million, of which 78.9% was rental of exhibition booths and 21.1% was financial support from government or other organisations. Expenditure totalled MOP 5.60 million, which was mainly incurred on publicity & public relations (33.6%) and production, construction & decoration (31.1%). These exhibitions attracted 267 exhibitors, with the majority coming from Macao (74.9% of total); professional visitors totalled 5,833, with those from Macao 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. Regarding comments, the proportion of interviewed exhibitors who were satisfied with MICE venue and services decreased over 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; meanwhile, 18.2% of the interviewed exhibitors considered that improvement was needed, up by 6.0 percentage points. About the venue, 55.0% of the interviewed exhibitors were satisfied with facilities, down by 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 quarter-to-quarter. Among the interviewed exhibitors who had used services rendered by local companies, the proportion of those who were satisfied with the arrangements of the companies (66.4%) dropped by 2.1 percentage points quarter-to-quarter.