Macau sees more MICE events on the horizon, boosting the tourism sector

Many MICE events will focus on information technology, healthcare, tourism, culture, the arts, and business

Lei Wai Nong, Secretary for Economy and Finance, stated that Macau’s tourism industry must support transformation and improvement.

He emphasised that the city’s tourism products, as well as the tourism source market, are too homogeneous. According to the Macau Daily Times, he reviewed tourism arrival records from 2014 to 2019 and determined that of the total visitors, 78 percent were mainland tourists, 18 percent were Hong Kong tourists, and the remaining were from other regions.

He suggested that tourism sector professionals study how the city may become more appealing to non-Chinese tourists.

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Meanwhile, more than 15 MICE events with an attendance of over 100,000 will be held in Macao, which are expected to boost tourism and the economy. 

This year, the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) will organise and oversee many MICE events, such as the “13th International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum (IIICF)” and the “2022 Guangdong & Macao Branded Products Fair (GMBPF).

A number of other MICE events will focus on information technology, healthcare, tourism, culture, the arts, and business.

According to data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), 97 MICE events were organised in Macao in Q1 2022, a rise of 29 year-on-year while the number of participants and attendees increased by 19.7 percent to 165,000.

The number of meetings and conferences organised in Q1 increased by 15 percent YoY, but the number of participants declined by 6.3 percent to 6,157.

Macau will reduce travel requirements for Chinese mainland visitors by extending the validity of negative COVID-19 test results from 72 hours to 7 days for tourists traveling through Zhuhai port in South China’s Guangdong Province.

The Global Times reported that authorities also announced that individuals entering via the Zhuhai-Macau checkpoints or by sea must present a negative COVID-19 nucleic acid test within a week of sampling.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].