MICE sector posts strong results

The Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism segment posted strong results in the first half of 2017, the latest data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) shows. This means that the sector has outperformed the rise in visitors on package tours, which in the first six months of the year, grew by more than 10 percent year-on-year.

The tourism industry in Macau remains predominantly casino-orientated but the latest data is reflective of the promotional effort that has gone into diversifying the sector.

In the first half-year of 2017, a total of 699 MICE events were hosted in the city, inviting some 627,000 participants. Significant growth in the number of events and participants in some of the MICE categories was recorded, though the economic weight of the sector remains comparatively small against other tourism-based offerings.

Analyzed by category, the strongest results were recorded in meetings and conferences.

A total of 652 meetings and conferences were recorded in the first half of the year, 66 more than in the comparative period of the previous year. Participants at these events surged by more than 60 percent to 99,000, according to DSEC.

Almost 80 percent of these visitors (79,000) attended meetings and conferences lasting four hours or more, nearly double the number in the first half of 2016.

Meanwhile, the number of large exhibitions in the city decreased by 4 year-on-year to a total of 18, however the number of attendees (514,000) remained roughly the same. The number of attendees for the 17 non-government exhibitions decreased by 1.4 percent year-on-year.

Incentives fared less well in the first half of 2017. While the number of such events increased by 9 year-on-year to 29, the number of participants dropped by about 48 percent.

According to DSEC, revenue and expenditure of all MICE events in the first half of the year amounted to around MOP83 million and MOP62 million respectively.

The net revenue of the 17 non-government exhibitions held during the first half of the year reached MOP38.55 million after deducting the expenditure and financial support from the government, representing an upsurge of 158.3 percent from the MOP14.92 million recorded in the first half of 2016. DB