Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 312 MICE events were held in the fourth quarter of 2014, down by 34 year-on-year. Total number of participants and attendees increased by 7.7% to 1.06 million. Total floor area used for the events was 335,780 m2, and the average duration of events was 1.9 days.

There were 282 meetings and conferences held in the fourth quarter of 2014; number of participants decreased by 36.8% year-on-year to 35,309 on account of a decrease in number of conference participants. Concurrently, 30 exhibitions were organized, up by 6 year-on-year; number of attendees increased by 10.4% year-on-year to 1.03 million. The average duration of exhibitions was 3.4 days, and the floor area used totalled 219,734 m2.

In accordance with information gathered from 30 exhibition organizers, 9 exhibitions were held for the first time in Macao, while the other 21 were repeated exhibitions having held in 2013. The interviewed organizers had 287 full-time staff engaged in the organization of these exhibitions. Receipts of the exhibition organizers amounted to MOP 162 million, up substantially by 37.1% year-on-year. Receipts mainly came from financial support from government or other organizations (MOP 120 million) and rental of exhibition booths (MOP 38.83 million), up by 26.0% and 73.7% respectively year-on-year. Expenditure increased marginally by 1.0% year-on-year to MOP 201 million, of which expenses on production, construction & decoration services (MOP 50.42 million) dropped by 22.3%, while expenses on publicity & public relation (MOP 32.32 million) and accommodation, food & beverages (MOP 29.32 million) increased by 1.2% and 19.9% respectively.

There were 2,626 exhibitors participating in the exhibitions, with those from Macao, Mainland China and Hong Kong accounting for 27.0%, 25.1% and 24.6% respectively. Professional visitors totalled 68,696, coming mainly from Mainland China (34.3%) and Macao (32.0%). Information from 286 interviewed exhibitors indicated that sales of products took up a predominant share (87.7%) of the Receipts, while rental paid for exhibition booth and construction & decoration services accounted for 48.1% and 31.7% respectively of the Expenditure. Regarding interviewed exhibitors’ comments about the MICE venue and services, 73.8% were satisfied with the language skill of the venue staff and 69.6% were satisfied with their attitude and efficiency. However, 18.5% and 10.8% of the exhibitors considered that promotion of the exhibition and ease of access to the venue should be improved.

For the whole year of 2014, a total of 1,055 MICE events were held, comprising 968 meetings and conferences and 87 exhibitions, up by 4 and 21 respectively year-on-year. November is the peak month for MICE events, with 114 meetings and conferences and 14 exhibitions. Total number of participants and attendees reached 2.61 million, up by 28.6% year-on-year. There were 130 meetings and conferences having 200 participants or more; meanwhile, 19 of the exhibitions had 40,000 attendees or more, representing an increase of 6 exhibitions year-on-year.

In 2014, Receipts of the exhibition organizers totalled MOP 278 million, up by 52.7% year-on-year, coming mainly from financial support from government or other organizations (MOP 165 million) and rental of exhibition booths (MOP 109 million). Expenditure increased by 15.0% to MOP 344 million, of which expenses on production, construction & decoration services (MOP 87.02 million), publicity & public relation (MOP 68.82 million) and accommodation, food & beverages (MOP 52.39 million) shared 25.3%, 20.0% and 15.2% respectively of the total. In accordance with the information from 858 interviewed exhibitors, 84.3% of the Receipts came from sales of products, while 60.9% of the Expenditure was incurred on rental of exhibition booth.