Aiming to promote the advantages of Macao as a convention and exhibition destination and to attract renowned overseas convention and exhibition organizers to hold more MICE-related activities here, a 3-member delegation from Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), led by its Executive Director Mrs. Irene V. K. Lau and Senior Manager of Promotional Activities Department Mr. Sam Lei, travelled to Frankfurt, Germany, from May 23 to 25, to participate in IMEX Frankfurt 2014, organized by the IMEX Group and having as its partner, Germany Convention Bureau.
IMEX Frankfurt 2014 is currently one of the Europe´s largest MICE-related fairs. The scale of this event is gradually expanding year after year, attracting over 3,000 exhibitors from 150 countries and more than 10,000 qualified buyers every year. Exhibitors at IMEX include tourism bureaux, conference boards, hotel operators, convention centres, technology providers, airlines, exhibition and conference centres, international business associations, destination management industry, conference and public relations industry, transport and travel industry and trade magazines publishers.
During IMEX, representatives of IPIM participated in the IMEX Politicians Forum organized by IMEX. Every year, influential dignitaries from the fields of conventions or tourism are invited as keynote speakers at IMEX, with the aim of building a communication platform for exchange between senior officers of government conference boards, conference organizers, international business associations and operators of the destination management industry from all over the world, to jointly discuss the development trend of the MICE industry and exchange information related to that sector. This year, IMEX has invited Mr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as keynote speaker. Representatives from IPIM conducted exchanges with the participants of the Fair, to actively promote the benefits of holding convention and exhibition activities in Macao and the “One-stop-Service” for MICE Bidding and Support in Macao, provided by IPIM, as a mean to expand the international tourism market and attract more international events to Macao.
IPIM set-up a promotion counter at the Macao Pavilion, installed inside the IMEX venue, to promote the “One-Stop-Service” for MICE Bidding and Support in Macao, offered by IPIM. In addition representatives from IPIM also attended more than 20 business matching sessions, to talk to potential buyers and to promote Macao as an ideal MICE destination. Other exhibitors at the Macao Pavilion included the Macau Government Tourism Office and local travel agencies, hotels, resorts, professional conference organizers and convention and exhibition venues, all of them with the objective of exploring the international tourist market and to promote Macao´s tourism environment and products.
