The number of MICE events held in Macau grew by 231% year-on-year, but fell slightly sequentially, to 245 in the September 2023 quarter, according to information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). This compared with 74 events in 3Q22 and 263 in 2Q23.
The number of participants and attendees in Q3 also grew by 59.9% year-on-year to 545,000.
Of the total 245 events, DSEC said there were 221 meetings and conferences held in the third quarter, up by 262% year-on-year, with the number of participants growing by 633% to 48,000. The average duration of the meetings and conferences extended by 0.3 days year-on-year to 1.2 days, and the total floor area used expanded by 385% to 166,000 square meters.
The number of exhibitions also increase from eight to 20 with the number of attendees up by 47.3% to 493,000, while the number of incentives reached four with 5,035 participants.
Receipts and expenditure of the exhibition organisers totalled MOP$38.58 million (US$4.8 million) and MOP$97.76 million (US$12.2 million) respectively in the third quarter, representing respective growth of 279.0% and 155.5% year-on-year.
Receipts of the 16 exhibitions organized by non-government organizations totalled MOP$18.24 million (US$2.3 million), of which rental receipts of exhibition booths and financial support from government/organisations took up 81.4% and 18.4% respectively. Expenditure totalled MOP$25.43 million (US$3.2 million), most of which was spent on production, installation and decoration (30.3% of total), and publicity and public relations (17.8%). The exhibitions organised by non-government organisations recorded a loss of MOP$7.19 million (US$895,000) after deducting expenditure from receipts.
The exhibitions in the third quarter attracted 2,549 exhibitors and 21,000 professional visitors, DSEC said. The majority of the receipts of the exhibitors were generated from sales of goods (90.0% of total), whereas their expenditure was primarily incurred on rental paid for exhibition booths (58.3% of total) and booth installation and decoration (21.8%).
For the first three quarters of 2023 combined, a total of 757 MICE events were held, up by 188% year-on-year. The total number of participants and attendees rose by 50.3% to 1,220,000.
Meetings and conferences surged by 221% to 703, with the number of participants soaring by 394% to 118,000, and the number of exhibitions increased by eight year-on-year to 44 with 1,092,000 attendees.
