Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that number of MICE events held in the second quarter of 2019 increased by 30 year-on-year to 357, including 345 meetings & conferences, 10 exhibitions and 2 incentives. Meanwhile, total number of participants and attendees dropped by 13.6% to 353,000.
Number of meetings & conferences held in the second quarter increased by 29 year-on-year; however, number of participants (53,000) declined by 46.5% as a result of a 55.2% reduction in participants (38,000) attending the 70 meetings & conferences with 200 participants or more. The average duration of the meetings & conferences remained unchanged year-on-year at 1.4 days, while total floor area used tumbled by 53.8% to 212,000 m2.
Number of exhibitions went up by 1 year-on-year to 10, whereas number of attendees dropped by 1.8% to 299,000. Exhibitions organised by non-government organisations increased by 2 to 9, with number of attendees rising by 2.4% to 264,000. The average duration of the exhibitions shortened by 0.8 day to 3.0 days, and total floor area used decreased by 3.3% to 78,000 m2. Number of incentives remained at 2; number of participants (1,072) and total floor area used (4,128 m²) saw obvious decline of 80.1% and 82.8% respectively year-on-year. The average duration of these incentives stood at 6.0 days, up by 2.2 days.
According to the information of the 10 exhibitions provided by the organisers in the second quarter, their receipts and expenditure amounted to MOP 74.47 million and MOP 57.75 million respectively. Receipts of the 9 exhibitions held by non-government organisations totalled MOP 71.52 million, of which 89.8% were generated from rental of exhibition booths (MOP 64.24 million), while financial support from the government and other organisations (MOP 1.95 million) accounted for merely 2.7%. Expenditure of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 25.26 million, which was mainly incurred on production, construction & decoration (MOP 6.87 million) and rental paid for the venue (MOP 6.18 million), constituting for 27.2% and 24.5% of the total respectively. After deducting the expenditure as well as financial support from the government and other organisations from the receipts, these exhibitions recorded net receipts of MOP 44.31 million, which represented a less desirable performance as compared to the second quarter of 2018 (MOP 53.42 million).
In the second quarter of 2019, there were 1,166 exhibitors participating in the exhibitions, with most of them coming from mainland China (21.4%), Hong Kong (26.7%) and Macao (21.4%). Professional visitors totalled 12,000, with local visitors accounting for 24.9%. There were 714 exhibitors who participated in the exhibitions organised by non-government organisations and 42.4% of them were from Hong Kong; meanwhile, number of professional visitors totalled 11,000, with 25.6% being local visitors. According to the information collected from the 628 interviewed exhibitors in the second quarter, 97.6% of their receipts were generated from sales of products, while 54.4% of their expenditure was incurred on rental paid for exhibition booths.
In the first half year of 2019, a total of 734 MICE events were held, an increase of 79 year-on-year; total number of participants and attendees held stable at 685,000. Meetings & conferences (707) increased by 77 year-on-year, with number of participants (137,000) decreasing by 19.4%; meanwhile, number of incentives (7) went up by 1, with participants (14,000) dropping by 24.9%. Exhibitions increased by 1 year-on-year to 20, and number of attendees rose by 7.5% to 534,000. In accordance with the information of the 20 exhibitions provided by the organisers in the first half of 2019, receipts and expenditure of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 83.89 million and MOP 91.85 million respectively. In addition, receipts of the 18 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations totalled MOP 80.23 million; after deducting the expenditure (MOP 33.03 million) as well as financial support from the government and other organisations (MOP 3.48 million) from the receipts, these exhibitions recorded net receipts of MOP 43.73 million, a decrease was observed as compared to MOP 51.19 million in the first half year of 2018.