MICE results in H12023 tops full year of 2022, exhibitions lose money

In the first half (H1) of 2023, a total of 493 MICE events were held in Macau, according to information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) notes.

According to figures released by IPIM, the figure topped the number of MICE events held during the whole of 2022, when 477 events were held.

The number of participants and attendees at events in H1 of this year rose by 50.8% to 710,000.

Analysis by the DSEC shows that growth in the number of MICE events is correlated with the number of meetings and conferences, which surged year-on-year from 158 last year to 463. The number of participants at this type of MICE event also followed a similar trend, soaring by 297.9% to 70,000.

As for the number of exhibitions, it remained the same (24) year-on-year, but the number of attendees has recorded a growth of 40.7% to a total of 636,000.

Receipts and expenditures of the exhibition organizers totaled MOP57.50 million and MOP72.36 million respectively, up respectively by 238.8% and 374.1% year-on-year. From these, the receipts and expenditures of the 23 exhibitions organized by non-government organizations totaled MOP57.50 million and MOP62.64 million, respectively.

This means that the events suffered a loss of MOP5.14 million, a value that grows to MOP10.65 million when excluding financial support from government or organizations, according to the DSEC.