Strong growth in meetings compensates for slowdown in exhibitions in Q2

Details unveiled by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) show that during the second quarter of this year, 333 MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) events were held in the MSAR, with a total of 308 meetings & conferences, 11 exhibitions and 14 incentives.
The number of MICE events increased by 16 year-on-year, while the overall number of participants rose by 26.1 per cent year-on-year, to 405,000, the DSEC informed.
A total of 54 meetings & conferences with 200 participants or more were held in the period, an increase of three, while the number of participants went up by 36.9 per cent to 32,000 (70.8 per cent of the total).
Meetings & conferences of four hours or more also saw an increase in number, up by 11 year-on-year to 195, with the number of participants (36,000) growing by 38.4 per cent yearly.
The overall average duration of meetings & conferences during the period was 1.4 days, the DSEC announced.

Exhibition decrease
During the period in question, a decrease was seen in the number of exhibitions held, with seven less than the previous year, totalling 11, as well as a 14 per cent reduction in the number of attendees, to 351,000.
Ten of the exhibitions held during the period were organised by non-government organisations, with the number of attendees dropping by 15 per cent year-on-year to 342,000.
The overall average duration of the exhibitions stood at 3.8 days, up by 0.4 days year-on-year, while the total floor area used for the exhibitions decreased by 2.1 per cent to 84,000 square metres, the data shows.
The number of incentives went up by six year-on-year, totalling 14, while the number of participants saw a 62.9 per cent decline, resulting in 8,670 participants during the second quarter.
The average duration of the incentives was 3.1 days and the total floor area used was 22,000 square metres.
According to information provided to the DSEC by the exhibition organisers, receipts from the 11 exhibitions held during the quarter totalled MOP77.51 million, with rental receipts of exhibition booths accounting for the majority, at 74.5 per cent. Expenditure on the exhibitions totalled MOP56.39 million, mainly incurred from production, construction & decoration (29.6 per cent), rental paid for the venue (17.4 per cent) and publicity & public relations (15.9 per cent), the DSEC informed.
Receipts from the 10 exhibitions organized by non-government organisations amounted to MOP76.4 million. Of this, 74.2 per cent was generated from the rental of the exhibition booths, while financial support from the government and other organisations made up just 4.6 per cent of the total, at MOP3.54 million, a 4.8 percentage point drop year-on-year from the same period last year.
In total, the exhibitions held during the second quarter attracted 1,140 exhibitors, with 28.7 per cent originating in the Mainland, while 28.1 per cent were from Macau. Of the total 22,000 professional visitors to the exhibitions during the time period, 36.4 per cent were from Macau.
Non-government exhibitions welcomed a total of 684 exhibitors – with 35.8 per cent of exhibitors from Hong Kong, and 15,000 professional visitors, of whom 34.5 per cent were from Macau, the DSEC data shows.

H1 results
The official information also indicates that in the first half of the year, a total of 699 MICE events were held and the total number of participants and attendees was 627,000.
The number of meetings and conferences increased by 66 year-on-year, to 652, and the number of participants also increased by 61.9 per cent, reaching 99,000. The number of exhibitions fell by four year-on-year, to 18 in the first half year, with the number of attendees down by 0.7 per cent to 514,000.
The number of incentives increased to 29, up from 20 in the same period last year, while the number of participants nearly halved, down 48.1 per cent.
According to information collected by the DSEC from the organizers of 18 exhibitions during the first six months of the year, the receipts and expenditures of the 18 exhibitions held amounted to MOP83.01 million and MOP61.98 million, respectively. Receipts of the 17 exhibitions by non-government organisations totalled MOP81.9 million, while expenditure amounted to MOP38.66 million. Net receipts from the exhibitions, after expenditure and support from the government and other organisations, saw a 158.3 per cent uptick year-on-year, reaching MOP38.55 million, as compared to MOP14.92 million in the same period one year ago.