Macau played host to a total of 1,011 MICE events in the first three quarters of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 232 events or 29.8 % and recovering to 94% of the number of events in the same period in 2019.
According to information from the Statistics and Census Service, a total of 943 conferences and meetings were held in the first three quarters, up 30.2% year-on-year, with attendance up by 12.7% to 136,000 visitors.
The number of exhibitions decreased by four to 40, with attendance dropping by 21.7% to 856,000 visitors.
The number of exhibitors (4,680) and professional visitors (28,295) decreased by 0.7% and 9.2% year-on-year respectively with 50.1% of exhibitors and 53% of professional visitors coming from outside Macau.
The number of incentive events increased by 17 to 28, and the number of participants rose by 16% to 12,000. The number of participants and attendees of MICE events in the first three quarters was about 1,003,000 representing a year-on-year decrease of 18%.
On a quarterly basis, there were 300 MICE events in the third quarter, an increase of 16.7% year-on-year, and 521,000 attendees, a decrease of 4.8% year-on-year.
MICE events in Q3 generated approximately MOP$2.02 billion (US$253 million) in non-gaming revenue in Macau, a 17.3% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2023 but a 36.4% increase compared to 2Q24.
Conferences and meetings increased by 19% year-on-year to 276 in Q3; exhibitions decreased by six to 14 with 1,685 exhibitors and 9,178 professional visitors; and incentives doubled to 10.