Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 304 MICE events were held in the third quarter of 2017, including 279 meetings & conferences, 15 exhibitions and 10 incentives. Total number of participants and attendees was 581,000.
Number of meetings & conferences held in the third quarter increased by 22 year-on-year, and number of participants rose by 33.9% to 60,000. The growth was driven by increases in the number of meetings & conferences with 200 participants or more (+18) and the corresponding number of participants (+45.7%). On the other hand, meetings & conferences of 4 hours or more increased by 12 year-on-year to 183, with number of participants (51,000) growing by 37.7%. The overall average duration of the meetings & conferences went up by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.5 days.
Number of exhibitions held in the third quarter decreased by 2 year-on-year to 15, bringing the number of attendees down by 12.9% to 503,000. Among the exhibitions, 11 were organised by non-government organisations, with number of attendees dropping by 16.9% year-on-year to 354,000. The average duration of the exhibitions was 3.4 days, down by 0.1 day year-on-year; total floor area used decreased by 12.6% to 52,000 m2. Number of incentives increased by 7 year-on-year to 10, with number of participants (18,000) soaring by 220.4%. The average duration of the incentives went down by 0.9 day to 2.8 days, while total floor area used jumped by 740.2% year-on-year to 168,000 m2.
In accordance with information provided by the exhibition organisers, receipts of the 15 exhibitions expanded by 100.8% year-on-year to MOP 24.71 million, with rental receipts of exhibition booths accounting for 58.4% of the total. Expenditure rose by 19.5% year-on-year to MOP 52.65 million, which was mainly incurred on production, construction & decoration (24.6%) and publicity & public relations (17.5%). With regard to the 11 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations, receipts amounted to MOP 21.91 million, of which 53.1% was generated from rental receipts of exhibition booths; meanwhile, financial support from government and other organisations constituted 46.2% of the total. Expenditure totalled MOP 19.35 million, of which production, construction & decoration and accommodation, food & beverages took up 23.5% and 19.0% respectively. The exhibitions in the third quarter attracted 1,876 exhibitors, with 25.1% coming from Mainland China and 32.6% from Macao. Meanwhile, professional visitors totalled 21,000, with those from Macao making up 65.3%. The exhibitions organised by non-government organisations drew 1,030 exhibitors and 17,000 professional visitors, and most of them were from Macao, accounting for 40.1% and 73.0% of the respective total.
Information from 355 interviewed exhibitors in the third quarter indicated that 89.6% of their receipts were generated from sales of products, while rental paid for exhibition booths accounted for 65.4% of their expenditure. Regarding comments from the exhibitors, 83.8% of the interviewed exhibitors who had used services rendered by local companies were satisfied with their services, the highest rating across all aspects. The proportions of interviewed exhibitors who complimented on the professionalism (80.9%), work efficiency & attitude (80.3%) and language skills (80.0%) of venue staff reached 80.0% or more. However, only 63.6% were satisfied with the promotion of the exhibition, which was the lowest rating among all aspects.
In the first three quarters of 2017, a total of 1,003 MICE events were held and total number of participants and attendees was 1,208,000. Number of meetings & conferences increased by 88 year-on-year to 931, and number of participants rose by 50.1% to 159,000. Meetings & conferences of 4 hours or more went up by 89 year-on-year to 625, with number of participants (130,000) expanding by 69.1%. Number of exhibitions decreased by 6 year-on-year to 33, bringing the number of attendees (1,017,000) down by 7.1%. There were 28 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations, with number of attendees decreasing by 8.4% to 859,000. Meanwhile, number of exhibitions organised by the Government remained at 5, the same as in the first three quarters of 2016, with number of participants edging up by 0.7% to 157,000. Moreover, number of incentives went up by 16 year-on-year to 39, and number of participants rose by 1.4% to 31,000. In accordance with information collected from the organisers of 33 exhibitions in the first three quarters of 2017, receipts and expenditure of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 108 million (+28.5%) and MOP 115 million (-2.5%) respectively. Receipts of the 28 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations totalled MOP 104 million. The net receipts of these exhibitions after deducting the expenditure (MOP 58.01 million) and financial support from government and other organisations (MOP 14.82 million) amounted to MOP 30.98 million, an improvement from the net receipts of MOP 11.00 million in the same period of 2016.