MICE industry | Long road to recovery while tourism remains at a standstill

The meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) industry has been one of the
industries that has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The industry was previously considered by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) to be one of the city’s fastest-growing emerging sectors in recent years.
Official data shows that in 2019, a total of 1,536 MICE events were held, an increase of 109 year-on-year, with 1,459 meetings & conferences (+117), 58 exhibitions (-2) and 19 incentives (-6). The number of participants and attendees totaled 2,003,000, a decline of 5.4% compared to the year prior. However, these numbers are far different to this year’s figures.
Several MICE events have been cancelled since the pandemic outbreak was felt in Macau in late January, which was later on felt worldwide.
Due to the strict travel regulations put in place by the SAR government to deter the spread of Covid-19, foreigners, as well as blue card holders who were outside of Macau, have been barred from the region since March, while those coming in from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were required to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
Bruno Simões, president of the Macau Meetings, Incentives, Special Events Association (MISE), as well as the executive director of event management firm DOC & PCO, said that although large gatherings have been recently allowed by the government, this does not suffice when it comes to what the MICE industry was previously facing.

Macau Daily Times (MDT) – The 8th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo was still held amid entry bans from different regions except for the mainland and Hong Kong. What is your take on this initiative?
Bruno Simões (BS) – It was a good initiative for the government to keeping pushing for events to happen. Obviously, this expo is very direct to consumers, this time the Macau market. Of course, there are more people coming in from Hong Kong, for instance, but not this year. The recently held event was a tourism consumer show.

MDT – How did the MICE adapt to the ongoing pandemic, given that there were, for sure, many cancellations that had happened?
BS – The MICE business in Macau is essential. People are used to coming to Macau to do MICE, but all [of that] is gone. So, I think the MICE industry – like everywhere around the world – is in a deep standstill. Until the world starts traveling again and they have confidence to travel, as well as borders start to open, part of the MICE industry is [enduring] a bad moment, I would say.
MDT – Any expectations on when you think the industry would slowly recover?
BS – Most of our businesses come from abroad, but we are redirecting our target to the local market as well, also to support the government and to promote ourselves within the industry. We work with lots of hotels and agencies and so on. It’s also important to promote our company internally.

MDT – The sector has somehow adapted through hosting MICE events online. Did you see that as a big shift for Macau?
BS – Macau is not very much into that because, actually, we have a lot of freedom here. The companies and the public didn’t have to do [many of their MICE events] online. Of course, those in partnership with other countries, they conducted it online. But for Macau, it is not a big trend. For instance, our company operates in Hong Kong and Macau. In Hong Kong, we were much more virtual, as companies recommended employees to stay at home. These virtual meetings made sense but in Macau, we have had parties, exhibitions, and conferences with thousands of people.

MDT – We’re now in the fourth quarter of the year and still recording an economic downturn. As an SME, what is business like?
BS – For us, it’s been a very extreme and drastic year. We’re more or less inclined towards the hotels and casinos and they depend upon the tourists. These [last few] months, we have been at our 5% or 10% of our usual revenue and you can’t imagine the loss we had and the cost cutting we had to do. Fortunately, the last two weeks, we have seen a little bit of rebound – just a little bit. [There is] a little bit more confidence for companies to do things and spend some money. We are starting to see a very tiny light at the end of the tunnel.