The Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) president, Vincent U, has said that the local MICE sector is going to bloom in the second half (2H) of this year, with many events to take place in the second part of the year.
U’s unveiling came in the context of the first plenary meeting of the year from the Commission for the Development of Conventions and Exhibitions (CDCE) for which he is also the Secretary-General.
According to the official, during the first quarter of 2023 there were 208 MICE events in Macau, with nearly 200,000 participants, with the 2H of the year being considered the peak season for conventions and exhibitions. U said that he is confident that Macau will reach the end of the year with over 1,000 MICE events held this year.
He also announced that in the bid to diversify the economy, the gaming concessionaires will gradually start developing projects including leisure, culture and sports, as well as MICE events, which represent a total investment of over 100 billion patacas.
At the same meeting presided over by the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, he noted that he was pleased by the results so far of the MICE industry which has been “continuously recovering since the beginning of this year.”
Lei also noted that in the first half of the year, several international-level exhibitions were held in Macau which “brought business tourists with higher spending power to Macau, benefiting the small and medium-sized enterprises in various fields.”
For the first time, the CDCE meeting also counted representatives from the Economic Development Bureau of the Hengqin cooperation zone, who participated in the meeting to introduce the first 3-year-plan (2023-2025) for the development of the MICE industry in Hengqin, as well as the planned measures to support the development of this industry in the cooperation zone.
Just last month, the bureau announced that the summer holiday will see 35 MICE events being held in or followed up by Macau.
The aforementioned 35 events – which will include some professional meetings with over 1,000 participants – are expected to draw over 240,000 cumulative participants.
The IPIM has former emphasized the confidence in more events in the rest of the year, reaching the target of having 1,000 MICE events in this year.
