MICE hindered by Nanjing’s pandemic but expected to rebound

The surging number of Covid-19 cases in Nanjing is expected to have an impact on Macau’s meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) sector, but the industry will bounce back soon, president of the Macao Association of Convention, Exhibition & Tourism Sectors, Alan Ho, said.
In light of the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, Ho said the MICE industry will take precautionary measures to minimize transmission risks in Macau. Such measures include requiring participants to record their travel itineraries and advising those from high-risk areas not to attend the events.
There are upwards of 100 events in Macau to be held in the second half of the year. Ho said these upcoming events, in general, received very positive feedback with high registration rates.
Some of these events have been postponed due to the situation in Nanjing but are not expected to be called off.
If the pandemic in Nanjing can be kept in check, Ho told the media on the sidelines of an event that the city’s total number of events for 2021 will be double that of 2020.
According to a report published yesterday by Xinhua, the Nanjing Municipal Government announced via a media briefing that the virus strain behind the new Covid-19 epicenter, Nanjing Lukou International Airport, is found to be the “highly infectious” Delta variant.
In 2020, there were 362 MICE events organized in Macau, with 914,000 participants and attendees, according to the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
Since several airport workers tested positive last week, Nanjing – a huge city with a population of over 9.3 million – saw a rapid rise of Covid-19 cases, now totaling over 100 locally transmitted cases.
On July 26, the Chinese mainland reported 31 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, all in Nanjing.
Ding Jie, vice director of the city’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, ascribed the rapid surge in case numbers within the region to “the special location of the outbreak” and “the highly contagious nature of the strain.” HT