MICE | Official figures show more events but fewer attendees

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the number of Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions (MICE) events held in the second quarter of 2019 increased by 9.2% year-on-year to 357, comprised of 345 meetings and conferences, 10 exhibitions and two incentives.
Nevertheless, the number of attendees dropped by 13.6% in the same period, with a total of 353,000 participants.

Meetings and conferences saw the greatest decline in attendees, with the number dropping by 46.5%. According to DSEC, the fall was mostly due to a dip in the attendance of larger events, defined as those with over 200 participants.

Due to this, the total floor area used also tumbled, more than halving year-on-year.
Conversely, the number of events held by non-government organizations rose during the period, which increased from seven to nine during the second quarter. The number of attendees also rose by 2.4% to 264,000.

According to the information provided to DSEC, the 10 exhibitions also generated a lower profit after deducting expenditure, and financial support from the government and other organizations, recording net receipts of MOP44.31 million.

This represented a drop of about 17% when compared to performance in the second quarter of 2018, in which profits reached as much as MOP53.42 million.

After adding these figures to those from the first quarter, it indicates that meetings and conferences registered a drop in attendance by 19.4% during the first half of 2019. The incentives section also shrunk, as it registered a decline in attendees of 24.9%.

The exhibitions section performed better, with growth of 5.3% in the number of events (corresponding to one more event in the first half of the year) and a 7.5% increase in the number
of attendees. RM