The 10^th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (referred to as the “Expo” or “MITE”) culminated in success on Sunday (25 September). The three-day Expo admitted 30,000 spectators and facilitated 29 contracts signed. 4,564 business-to-business meetings took place. The cumulative counts of live views hit 3.06 million for “Cloud Live Broadcast”.

The 10^th MITE was held at Halls A – B, Cotai Expo of the Venetian Macao. The exhibition floor covered about 23,000 square meters and accommodated 830 booths. The event engaged exhibitors and buyers online and offline. 454 exhibitors joined the Expo, including 199 local exhibitors and 229 Mainland exhibitors offline, as well as 26 online exhibitors (including 23 international exhibitors and 3 Mainland exhibitors). There were 306 buyers, including 225 offline and 81 online buyers.

It is a great challenge to organize mega exhibitions under preventive measures against COVID. MITE has kept striving for improvement and innovation. The total of visitors this year exceeded those of the last two editions. The Expo once again ran under a hybrid online and offline format. New elements and seven major highlights were presented to fuel integration across the sectors of “tourism +”. Under the promotional slogan “Cheers for 10^th MITE” on its 10^th anniversary, members of the tourism and related sectors were brought together from worldwide to connect, forge partnerships and explore business opportunities together.

Cumulative live view counts hit 3.06 million for “Cloud Live Broadcast”

The “Cloud Series” activities were enriched in a variety of scopes this year. Cloud invitations were newly rolled out to call for buyers and exhibitors online from different sectors and regions.

33 tourism entities, enterprises and KOLs from near and afar conducted 24 sessions of “Cloud Live Promotion”, engaging over 900 on-site spectators. On-site and online viewers were attracted to the live sessions revolving around “ten reasons to visit a destination” or “ten popular attractions in a destination”. The sessions were also live streamed on MITE’s official website.

For “Cloud Live Broadcast”, 12 e-commerce and social media platforms assisted exhibitors in promoting their products and doing live-stream sale. Live streams spanning 69 hours in total were conducted by eight Mainland KOLs and 13 Macao KOLs during the three-day Expo, participated by 40 on-site exhibitors. Nearly 100 products made in Macao or sold by local agents were on sale. The cumulative live view counts hit 3.06 million throughout the three days. Supported by MITE which partly waived KOL commissions and platform charges for exhibitors, some had all their online products sold out in the three days. The Expo fought for exhibitors’ wider reach towards Mainland and online markets.

The number of days for “Cloud B2B” was almost doubled from the last edition, offering ample time for exhibitors and buyers to discuss and reach cooperation before and after the Expo. 111 exhibitors were lined up with 306 buyers for 530 online business-to-business meetings. For on-site business matching, over 4,500 business-to-business meetings were conducted in the three days. Exhibitors and buyers took an active approach in their discussions this year, forging a range of projects and letters of intent for cooperation.

“Cloud Contract Signing”/on-site contract signing: The 10^th MITE facilitated online and offline signing of 29 contracts, involving 49 enterprises. MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, MGTO Deputy Director Ricky Hoi, and President of Macau Travel Agency Association, Alex Lao, witnessed the signing ceremonies. On 23 September, the “Agreement on in-depth cooperation between Hengqin and Macao travel trade” was signed at the Expo, witnessed by Director of the Committee on Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Liao Jingshan, MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes and Acting Deputy Director of Economic Development Bureau of Executive Committee of Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Zhang Ge.

52 presentation sessions, forums and activities led to effective promotion

There were 52 tourism presentation sessions, forums and activities, including local tourism presentations and activities as well as those held by Mainland provinces and municipalities, the High-level Forum on Greater Bay Area Tourism Development 2022 – “developing the in-depth cooperation zone and a world centre of tourism and leisure” and the 2^nd Macau Wedding Destination Forum 2022, for participants to learn more about industry trends and tourism resources of different destinations. Exchange and cooperation were enhanced.

In celebration of the 10^th anniversary of MITE, the “Stay, Dine and See Macao” project launched the ten-dollar community tour routes during the three-day Expo, encouraging residents to experience the colorful dynamic of local communities. A total of 620 residents signed up for the tours.

The Expo once again highlighted Macao’s role as a Sino-Portuguese platform. The new Lusofonia Pavilion gathered exhibitors from various Portuguese-speaking communities in Macao. Special singing and dance performances drew spectators for photos and enjoyment of the carnival vibes together, which gave full play to Macao’s role as a bridging platform for Portuguese-speaking countries. Local enterprises and distributors of food commodities from Portuguese-speaking countries promoted distinctive products of Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries at the Pavilion. The Promotion Seminar of Tourism Products from Portuguese-speaking Countries was live streamed on both MITE’s website and WeChat account to familiarize the Mainland’s travel trade with Portuguese-speaking countries and their latest trends in trade and commerce, culture and tourism. The travel trade from the Mainland, Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries were offered an opportunity to explore new possibilities for collaboration together.

During the Expo, familiarization visits were arranged for 118 hosted buyers to explore communities on Macao Peninsula and Coloane in depth, check in at the Historic Centre of Macao as a World Heritage and tourist attractions in both parts of the city. Their visits helped promote Macao’s diverse tourism resources and revitalize the community economy, giving play to the advantages brought by “tourism + MICE”.

Manifesting the glamour of the Cities of Gastronomy

17 renowned chefs from Chengdu, Shunde, Yangzhou, Huai’an — the four UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy in the Mainland — and Macao were invited to present a total of 24 “City of Gastronomy” Culinary Demonstrations — one of the Expo’s highlights — online and offline at the “City of Gastronomy Kitchen”. The “Gastronomy Pavilion” gathered 18 local catering businesses to serve wonderful delicacies and unleash Macao’s glamour as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

Enhancing tourism cooperation between Hengqin and Macao

The Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin ran its first themed zone at the Expo to introduce its development plan and progress in tourism and other sectors. Under its arrangement, hosted buyers paid a culture-and-tourism familiarization visit to Hengqin to further cooperation on multi-destination travel and march forward with the new collaborative mechanisms “one conference, two cities” and “one exhibition, two cities”. In addition, the High-level Forum on Greater Bay Area Tourism Development 2022 was held under the theme of “Developing the in-depth cooperation zone and a world centre of tourism and leisure. Participants explored the new possibilities unlocked by the development of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, especially on blending the strengths of Macao and Hengqin in cultural tourism to propel both cities’ tourism development and Macao’s transformation into a world centre of tourism and leisure.

Promoting wedding tourism  

MGTO kept promoting the Travel Stimulation Program for wedding tourism and brand Macao as a great destination for pre-wedding photography. The Macao Wedding Destination Pavilion was newly launched at the Expo this year to showcase some ten wedding businesses in Macao and from the Mainland. A familiarization visit was arranged for hosted buyers to inspect wedding travel venues in Macao to promote strategic partnerships in the wedding tourism industry. Furthermore, the Macau Federal Commercial Association of Convention & Exhibition Industry organized the 2^nd Macau Wedding Destination Forum 2022 to facilitate industry exchange and explore Macao’s charm as a wedding destination from different angles.

My Top 10 Favorite Booths

The voting activity “My Top 10 Favorite Booths” was held at the Expo for the first time. The awarded booths (listed in no particular order) are as follows: Palace Museum; the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China; Zhuhai Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau; Macao Multinational Travel Group; Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports; Wynn; Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute; Economic and Technological Development Bureau; China International Travel Service (Macao) Ltd., as well as Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. While its booth is also on the list, MGTO gave away its quota as an organizer to acknowledge exhibitors for their keen participation, so that one more exhibitor was awarded. 

To review the program and more information, please visit MITE’s official website: www.mitexpo.mo, or follow MITE on Facebook and WeChat.