Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that number of MICE events leapt by 231.1% (or 171) year-on-year to 245 in the third quarter of 2023. The number of participants & attendees surged by 59.9% year-on-year to 545,000.

There were 221 meetings & conferences held in the third quarter, up by 262.3% (or 160) year-on-year; number of participants soared by 633.1% to 48,000. The average duration of the meetings & conferences extended by 0.3 day year-on-year to 1.2 days, and the total floor area used expanded by 385.1% to 166,000 m². Number of exhibitions went up by 8 year-on-year to 20, and number of attendees increased by 47.3% to 493,000. The average duration of the exhibitions held decreased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 3.2 days, while the total floor area used leapt by 53.4% to 103,000 m². Besides, there were 4 incentives, with 5,035 participants. The average duration of these incentives was 2.5 days and the total floor area used was 12,000 m².

Receipts and expenditure of the exhibition organisers totalled MOP38.58 million and MOP97.76 million respectively in the third quarter, representing respective growth of 279.0% and 155.5% year-on-year. Receipts of the 16 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations totalled MOP18.24 million, of which rental receipts of exhibition booths and financial support from government/organisations took up 81.4% and 18.4% respectively. Meanwhile, expenditure totalled MOP25.43 million, most of which was spent on production, installation & decoration (30.3% of total) and publicity & public relations (17.8%). The exhibitions organised by non-government organisations recorded a loss of MOP7.19 million after deducting expenditure from receipts.

The exhibitions in the third quarter attracted 2,549 exhibitors and 21,000 professional visitors. The majority of the receipts of the exhibitors were generated from sales of goods (90.0% of total), whereas their expenditure was primarily incurred on rental paid for exhibition booths (58.3% of total) and booth installation & decoration (21.8%). Regarding comments from the exhibitors, the share of exhibitors who were satisfied with the promotion (71.6%) of the exhibition organiser rose by 7.7 percentage points quarter-on-quarter, while the proportion of exhibitors who complimented on the ease of access of venue (78.7%) dropped by 5.2 percentage points.

In the first three quarters of 2023, a total of 757 MICE events were held, up by 187.8% (or 494) year-on-year; total number of participants & attendees rose by 50.3% to 1,220,000. The two indicators recovered to 70.4% and 96.1% of the levels in the same period of 2019 respectively. Meetings & conferences surged by 221.0% (or 484) to 703, with the number of participants soaring by 393.6% to 118,000. Number of exhibitions increased by 8 year-on-year to 44, and number of attendees (1,092,000) grew by 38.9%. Number of incentives went up by 2 to 10, whereas the number of participants jumped by 481.4% to 10,000. Receipts and expenditure of the exhibition organisers totalled MOP69.41 million and MOP143 million respectively, up by 155.6% and 167.4% year-on-year. Receipts and expenditure of the 39 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations totalled MOP49.07 million and MOP61.10 million respectively. A loss of MOP12.03 million was recorded after deducting expenditure from receipts.