Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 213 MICE events were held in the third quarter of 2015, up by 32 year-on-year. Total number of participants and attendees rose by 40.8% to 1,009,794 attributable to an increase in large-scale exhibitions. The average duration of events was 2.4 days, and total floor area used for the events was 178,122 m2. There were 184 meetings and conferences held in the third quarter, up by 29 year-on-year; number of participants decreased by 27.1% to 15,946. Meetings and conferences with 200 participants or more increased by 7 year-on-year to 29, but number of participants (8,264) dropped by 43.5%. The average duration of events was 2.3 days, and floor area used for the meetings and conferences totalled 82,244 m2, up by 26.1%. Concurrently, 29 exhibitions were held, up by 3 year-on-year. Number of attendees soared by 42.9% year-on-year to 993,848. The average duration of events was 3.3 days, and floor area used for the exhibitions totalled 95,878 m2, up by 25.9%. There were 27 exhibitions organized by non-government organizations, of which 17 exhibitions with 20,000 attendees or more drew 756,024 attendees, accounting for 76.1% of the total. In accordance with information collected from organizers of 28 exhibitions in the third quarter, receipts of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 44.26 million, of which those organized by non-government organizations accounted for 97.6%, coming primarily from rental of exhibition booths and financial support from government or other organizations. Expenditure of the exhibitions amounted to MOP 65.29 million, of which those organized by non-government organizations shared 80.6%, which was mainly incurred on production, construction & decoration services and publicity & public relations. The 28 exhibitions attracted a total of 1,842 exhibitors, and most of them came from Macao (42.5%) and Hong Kong (24.4%); meanwhile, there were 52,325 professional visitors, with 67.5% coming from Macao. Exhibitors and professional visitors attending the exhibitions organized by non-government organizations constituted 75.2% and 97.1% of the respective total. Information from 767 interviewed exhibitors indicated that sales of products took up a predominant share (94.3%) of the receipts, while rental paid for exhibition booth and booth decoration accounted for 68.5% and 14.2% respectively of the expenditure. Regarding comments about the MICE venue and services, over 70.0% of the interviewed exhibitors were satisfied with the professionalism, language skills and attitude & efficiency of the venue staff, up from the respective percentages in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, 71.8% were satisfied with the services rendered by local companies, down by 6.1 percentage points quarter-to-quarter. As regards planning and organization of the exhibition, 6.9% considered that the arrangements of the exhibition should be improved, down by 3.3 percentage points quarter-to-quarter; moreover, 48.5% were satisfied with the promotion of the exhibition, an increase of 6.3 percentage points, while 18.9% considered that improvement was needed. In the first three quarters of 2015, a total of 637 MICE events were held, up by 77 year-on-year; total number of participants and attendees increased by 8.7% to 1,663,956. There were 582 meetings and conferences, up by 79 year-on-year, but number of participants decreased by 20.4% to 56,313. Meanwhile, there were 55 exhibitions, down by 2 year-on-year, and number of attendees increased by 10.1% to 1,607,643; exhibitions organized by non-government organizations totalled 52 and number of attendees (1,456,472) shared 90.6% of the total. Information was collected from organizers of 53 exhibitions in the first three quarters. Receipts of the exhibitions amounted to MOP 122 million, with 63.6% coming from rental of exhibition booths. Expenditure of the exhibitions amounted to MOP 152 million, which was mainly spent on publicity & public relations (26.5%), production, construction & decoration services (24.0%), accommodation, food & beverages (16.2%) and rental for venue (13.6%). A total of 3,591 exhibitors and 87,922 professional visitors were attracted to these exhibitions. Receipts (MOP 120 million) and expenditure (MOP 113 million) of the 50 exhibitions organized by non-government organizations accounted for 98.3% and 74.2% of the respective total; exhibitors and professional visitors of these exhibitions constituted 74.4% and 93.5% of the total.
