Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 191 MICE events were held in the first quarter of 2016, down by 20 year-on-year (consisting of 14 meetings & conferences and 6 exhibitions). Total number of participants and attendees decreased by 50.4% to 124,960. According to the information, 4 of the exhibitions held in the first quarter of 2015 were scheduled to be held in the second quarter of this year, resulting in a significant decline in the number of MICE participants and attendees in the first quarter of 2016. There were 187 meetings and conferences held in the first quarter, down by 7.0% year-on-year; number of participants dropped by 28.7% to 15,457. The average duration of the meetings and conferences was 2.0 days and total floor area used was 74,876 m2. Concurrently, 4 exhibitions were held, down by 6 year-on-year; number of attendees declined by 52.4% to 109,503. The average duration of the exhibitions was 2.8 days and total floor area used was 10,130 m2. The 4 exhibitions held in the first quarter were organized by non-government organizations, of which 2 exhibitions were held for the first time in Macao and 2 were repeated exhibitions. In accordance with information collected from the organizers of the 4 exhibitions, receipts of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 5.44 million, coming primarily from rental of exhibition booths (81.2%), and financial support from government or other organizations accounted for 17.2%. Expenditure of the exhibitions totalled MOP 6.17 million, which was mainly incurred on production, construction & decoration (28.4%), publicity & public relations (22.3%) and rental for venue (20.5%). The exhibitions attracted 267 exhibitors, coming primarily from Hong Kong (77.5%); professional visitors totalled 420, of which 52.4% were from Macao. Information from 121 interviewed exhibitors in the first quarter indicated that 98.4% of their receipts came from sales of products, while rental paid for exhibition booth accounted for 70.5% of their expenditure. Regarding comments about the MICE venue and services, 76.8% of the interviewed exhibitors were satisfied with the venue management, up by 1.0 percentage point quarter-to-quarter. As regards planning and organization of the exhibition, the proportion of interviewed exhibitors who were satisfied with the arrangements of the exhibition increased by 2.2 percentage points quarter-to-quarter to 64.5%; meanwhile, 35.8% of the exhibitors were satisfied with the promotion of the exhibition, down by 7.6 percentage points, while 28.3% considered that improvement was needed, up by 11.1 percentage points. Furthermore, the proportion of interviewed exhibitors who were satisfied with the work efficiency & attitude of the venue staff decreased by 9.7 percentage points quarter-to-quarter to 68.8%.
