On 4 July, the Committee for the Development of Conventions and Exhibitions (CDCE) convened its First Plenary Ordinary Meeting of 2023, chaired by Chairman of CDCE and Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong.
Sustained recovery of MICE industry giving a boosting effect on SMEs’ development
At the Meeting, Secretary Lei Wai Nong noted that due to the sustained recovery of local MICE industry this year, the number of MICE activities increased by 10% in the first quarter compared to last year, and in the number of participants and visitors grew by 20%. A number of MICE events held in the first half year brought business visitors with a higher spending power to Macao, benefiting SMEs in various sectors, and leveraging the boosting effect of MICE industry to promote Macao’s appropriate economic diversification.
Further collaboration facilitating the qualitative development of MICE industry
In line with the rolling out of “1+4” appropriately diversified development strategy of the Macao SAR government, local MICE industry, as an integral part of the strategy, has fostered a professional team which is competent to hold top-tier international MICE events, with its international-standard software and hardware facilities as well as world-class venue resources. It is believed that local MICE industry will speed up the transition from quantitative accumulation to qualitative leap and further promote the “Industry+MICE” cross-sectoral synergy through in-depth government-industry collaboration, with full support of CDCE, the “MICE Bidding and Support Team” and other mechanisms.
Over one thousand MICE events expected to be held in Macao this year
CDCE Secretary-general and President of Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) Vincent U said, according to the statistics of the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), a total of 208 MICE events were held in the first quarter of this year, attended by nearly 200,000 participants. Since the upcoming seasons will be the peak seasons for the sector, we have reasons to believe that more than 1,000 MICE events are expected to be held in Macao in this year. In addition, local integrated tourism and leisure enterprises progressively launch a variety of leisure, cultural and MICE projects, with a total investment exceeding MOP 100 billion, which can stimulate the development in MICE industry as well as other industries.
Highly recognised strength of Macao as an ideal MICE destination
In the first half of 2023, IPIM held and followed up more than 200 conferences or exhibitions, such as the 14th International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum (IIICF), and a number of annual corporate congresses held in Macao with a thousand participants and even ten thousand participants. Besides, the number of themed conferences related to high technology, finance and big health increased gradually in line with the “1+4” appropriately diversified development strategy. The “One-stop” Service for MICE bidding and support provided by IPIM brought over 21,000 exhibition visitors into various communities of Macao for sightseeing and consumption. Known as a city of gastronomy and a world heritage city, with current exhibition venues spanning 240,000 square metres and a smooth traffic, Macao has spared no effort to introduce more international MICE events to be held in Macao.
MICE sector feels fully confident in its development prospect
The CDCE members approved Macao’s MICE industry has got off to a good start. The first half of this year witnesses continuous efforts in attracting international business visitors with more spending power to attend the MICE events in Macao, and booming development of community economy facilitated by the “MICE+Tourism” synergy and other driving forces.
In the wake of the Macao-Hengqin MICE collaboration, local MICE sector is fully confident in the Macao-Hengqin integration and development, believing that the competitive edge of local MICE industry could be sharpened by wisely leveraging Hengqin MICE space in the future. Coupled with the further implementation of “MICE Bidding and Support Team”, team building of MICE practitioners and other related tasks, local MICE sector is also optimistic about its overall development prospect, having a faith in achieving the development goals such as “quantitative and qualitative growth”, market-orientation, professionalism and internationalisation.
Promising Macao-Hengqin MICE synergy
Moreover, the Macao-Hengqin MICE synergy is well-performed. In the first half of this year, international science and technology exhibitions were held in both Macao and Hengqin to collaboratively promote the interactions between the two places, attracting more business visitors for each other. After releasing a brand-new logo, it is more favorable for both sides to promote the Macao-Hengqin MICE destination, and introduce more potential projects to be held in Macao and Hengqin via the mode of “multi-venue event”, with their influence enhanced.
In order to help its members keep abreast of the policy supports and development trends of the MICE industry in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Co-operation Zone in Hengqin (the Co-operation Zone), CDCE invited the Economic Development Bureau of the Co-operation Zone for the first time to attend the meeting and brief on the Three-year Action Plan for MICE development of Hengqin (2023-2025) and the support policies for MICE industry.
