MACAU, February 17 - Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that number of MICE events rose by 31.4% (+364) year-on-year to 1,524 in 2024, of which those themed on “Commerce & Management” and “Tourism” increased by 140 and 78 respectively. Meanwhile, the total number of MICE participants & attendees fell by 17.1% year-on-year to 1,332,000, dragged down by a decrease in the number of exhibition attendees. MICE-driven receipts of the non-gaming industries in Macao were estimated at approximately MOP5.48 billion in 2024, down by 8.2% from 2023 (MOP5.97 billion, revised).

A total of 1,423 meetings & conferences were held in 2024, an increase of 32.2% (+347) year-on-year; number of conferences recorded an uplift of 61.1% (+11). The number of participants grew by 8.2% year-on-year to 185,000. Number of exhibitions totalled 61, down by 3 year-on-year; the number of attendees dropped by 20.5% to 1,133,000. The exhibitions attracted 7,093 exhibitors and 52,651 professional visitors, which showed respective year-on-year decreases of 1.5% and 12.1%; besides, 51.9% of the exhibitors and 51.5% of the professional visitors were non-locals. Number of incentives went up by 100% (+20) year-on-year to 40, and the number of participants rose by 22.5% to 13,000.

Analysed by subject, the majority of the events were centred on "Commerce & Management", at 640 (42% of total); events about "Information Technology" (164) and "Medical & Health" (154) accounted for 10.8% and 10.1% of the total respectively. As regards type of event, "Association Meeting" (586), "Corporate Meeting" (584) and "Government Meeting" (224) constituted 38.5%, 38.3% and 14.7% of the total number of MICE events in 2024 respectively, while "Exhibition" (61) made up 4%.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, number of MICE events grew by 22% (+84) year-on-year to 465; yet, the number of participants & attendees decreased by 15.4% to 325,000 owing to a fall in the number of exhibition attendees. MICE-driven receipts of the non-gaming industries in Macao amounted to about MOP1.44 billion in the fourth quarter, down by 32.1% from the same quarter in 2023 (MOP2.12 billion, revised).

There were 433 meetings & conferences in the fourth quarter, an increase of 23% (+81) year-on-year. Besides, number of exhibitions went up by 1 to 21, with 2,357 exhibitors and 24,356 professional visitors. Number of incentives was 11, up by 2 year-on-year.