Macau has climbed five places in an international ranking of top convention cities to place 12th in the Asia-Pacific region.
The ranking was published by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) in its “International Meetings Market 2019 Report”. It sorts territories by the number of recognized association meetings held within a calendar year.
The ranking also showed rapid improvement in a global context, where Macau soared 23 places to place the 48th top convention city worldwide.
The conferencing and events industry is one of several sectors earmarked by successive Macau administrations for its potential to drive economic diversification. According to the government’s latest state of diversification report, the sector represented less than 1% of gross domestic product in 2018.
The Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) said that the city “has considerable advantages and is apparently appealing in the international convention market.” To back up this claim, IPIM highlighted a 38% year-on-year increase in the number of ICCA-recognized international conferences held in Macau last year.
Among these international conferences recognized by ICCA, science and technology-themed conferences represented the largest proportion (just over one-quarter) among which topics of electronic science and engineering account for the most.
An authority in the global convention industry, ICCA counts more than 1,100 government organizations, convention-related companies, and convention centers from about 100 countries and regions around the world among its partners.
Each year, ICCA collects statistics of international association conferences held in different territories around the world. The statistics are used to compile the ICCA Annual Report, which is taken as an authoritative indicator of the global convention market and an important reference for convention organizers in selecting conference destinations.
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