Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 307 MICE events were held in the first quarter of 2024, including 289 meetings & conferences, 12 exhibitions and 6 incentives. The number of MICE events rose by 31.2% (+73) year-on-year. MICE-driven receipts of the non-gaming industries in Macao was estimated at MOP900 million in the first quarter of 2024, up by more than 50% from the same quarter of 2023 (MOP600 million) attributable to an increase in the spending of MICE visitors.
A total of 289 meetings & conferences were held in the first quarter, an increase of 30.2% (+67) year-on-year; the number of participants grew by 39.1% to 34,000. In terms of meeting size, meetings & conferences with less than 50 participants (146, accounting for 50.5%) predominated in the first quarter; however, meetings & conferences with 200 participants or more recorded the highest growth, rising by 58.6% year-on-year to 46. As regards duration of event, meetings & conferences of 4 hours or more totalled 166 (57.4% of total), and those of less than 4 hours totalled 123 (at 42.6%). Meanwhile, the number of exhibitions went up by 2 year-on-year to 12, while the number of attendees (143,000) dropped by 18.3%. The exhibitions attracted 979 exhibitors (non-locals accounting for 38.8%) and 4,305 professional visitors (non-locals at 50.5%); the proportion of non-local exhibitors and professional visitors increased significantly by 32.2 percentage points and 39.5 percentage points respectively as compared to the first quarter of 2023. Besides, the number of incentives rose by 4 year-on-year to 6, while the number of participants dropped by 31.5% year-on-year to 1,575. The total number of MICE participants & attendees dropped by 11.5% to 178,000 due to a decrease in the number of exhibition attendees.
Analysed by subject, the majority of the events held in the first quarter were centered on "Commerce & Management", at 127 (41.4% of total); events about "Finance" (39), "Information Technology" (36) and "Medical & Health" (26) accounted for 12.7%, 11.7% and 8.5% of the total respectively.
DSEC releases data on MICE-driven receipts of the non-gaming industries in Macao on a quarterly basis for the first time in order to reflect the economic contribution of MICE events. MICE-driven receipts include spending of MICE visitors in Macao, direct receipts generated from the provision of goods/services by local MICE-related industries, as well as receipts generated from the provision of support services by related industries in the industry chain. The estimation is done by using data on receipts and expenditure provided by MICE venues and event organisers, expenditure data collected from MICE visitors, as well as other economic data.