Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that number of MICE events held in the third quarter of 2019 increased by 30 year-on-year to 341, including 320 meetings & conferences, 17 exhibitions and 4 incentives. Number of participants and attendees totalled 583,000, a drop of 16.3% year-on-year.
Number of meetings & conferences held in the third quarter rose by 37 year-on-year, with number of participants rising by 17.9% to 56,000. Meetings & conferences with a duration of 4 hours or more (230) increased by 53 and number of participants (47,000) surged by 21.6%. The average duration of the meetings & conferences extended by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.5 days, and total floor area used expanded by 25.4% to 237,000 m².
Number of exhibitions went down by 2 year-on-year to 17, and number of attendees dropped by 14.3% to 526,000. Among the exhibitions, those organised by non-government organisations (13) decreased by 3 and number of attendees (416,000) reduced by 17.5%. The average duration of the exhibitions went up by 0.2 day year-on-year to 3.5 days, and total floor area used rose by 9.4% to 61,000 m². Meanwhile, number of incentives fell by 5 year-on-year; number of participants (980) and total floor area used (7,243 m²) declined notably by 97.2% and 96.9% respectively. The average duration of these incentives stood at 1.8 days, down by 0.5 day year-on-year.
According to the information on the 17 exhibitions provided by the organisers in the third quarter, their receipts and expenditure amounted to MOP 21.87 million and MOP 63.55 million respectively. Receipts of the 13 exhibitions held by non-government organisations surged by 37.7% year-on-year to MOP 21.14 million, of which 52.8% came primarily from rental of exhibition booths (MOP 11.16 million); financial support from the government and other organisations (MOP 9.97 million) accounted for 47.1% of the total, up by 11.9 percentage points year-on-year. Expenditure of these exhibitions fell by 2.7% year-on-year to MOP 18.47 million, with 38.7% being incurred on installation, decoration & audio-visual performance, etc. (MOP7.14 million). After deducting expenditure as well as financial support from the government and other organisations from receipts, these exhibitions recorded a negative value of MOP 7.30 million, a slight improvement as compared to the negative amount of MOP 9.04 million in the third quarter of 2018.
There were 1,582 exhibitors participating in the exhibitions in the third quarter, and 46.1% of them were locals and 21.7% came from mainland China. Professional visitors soared by 53.6% year-on-year to 39,000, with those from Macao and mainland China accounting for 49.7% and 29.3% of the respective total. Exhibitions organised by non-government organisations attracted 876 exhibitors, with local exhibitors comprising the majority at 60.2%; professional visitors totalled 34,000, and 51.7% of them were locals. According to the information collected from the 977 interviewed exhibitors in the third quarter, 95.7% of their receipts were generated from sales of products whereas 64.3% of their expenditure was incurred on rental paid for exhibition booths.
In the first three quarters of 2019, a total of 1,075 MICE events were held, an increase of 109 year-on-year; yet, total number of participants and attendees decreased by 8.3% to 1,268,000. Meetings & conferences grew by 114 year-on-year to 1,027; meanwhile, number of participants fell by 11.2% to 193,000, as a consequence of a plunge in number of those attending meetings & conferences with 200 participants or more in the second quarter of 2019. Number of exhibitions went down by 1 year-on-year to 37, and number of attendees (1,060,000) dropped by 4.5%. There were 11 incentives (-4), and number of participants (15,000) tumbled by 72.1%. In accordance with the information on the 37 exhibitions provided by the organisers in the first three quarters of 2019, their receipts and expenditure amounted to MOP 106 million and MOP 155 million respectively. Receipts of the 31 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations totalled MOP 101 million. After deducting expenditure (MOP 51.50 million) and financial support from the government and other organisations (MOP 13.44 million) from receipts, these exhibitions registered net receipts of MOP 36.43 million, a decrease of 13.6% from MOP 42.16 million in the first three quarters of 2018.