Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that, as meeting and exhibition activities gradually resumed, number of MICE events held in the third quarter of 2020 increased by 25 quarter-to-quarter to 63; total number of participants & attendees jumped by 1,281.1% to 297,000. However, the figures for MICE events and participants & attendees still recorded year-on-year decreases of 278 (-81.5%) and 49.0% respectively.

There were 53 meetings & conferences held in the third quarter, a drop of 267 year-on-year; number of participants fell by 93.9% to 3,428. Meetings & conferences with a duration of less than 4 hours totalled 38, with number of participants (2,489) decreasing by 71.8%. The average duration of the meetings & conferences shortened by 0.8 day year-on-year to 0.7 day, and the total floor area used declined by 92.8% to 17,000 m².

Number of exhibitions in the third quarter went down by 7 year-on-year to 10, all of which were held by non-government organisations; attendees totalled 294,000, a drop of 44.1%. The average duration of the exhibitions extended by 0.1 day year-on-year to 3.6 days, whereas the total floor area used reduced by 34.7% to 40,000 m².

According to the information on the 10 exhibitions, receipts totalled MOP 7.64 million, of which 84.5% were generated from rental of exhibition booths while the rest were financial support from the government & other organisations. Meanwhile, expenditure of these exhibitions added up to MOP 7.99 million, with publicity & public relations and installation, decoration & audio-visual performance, etc., accounting for 34.7% and 34.3% respectively. After deducting expenditure as well as financial support from the government & other organisations from receipts, a negative value of MOP 1.53 million was recorded.

There were 831 exhibitors participating in the exhibitions in the third quarter, and 94.7% of them were locals. Meanwhile, local professional visitors totalled 9,880. In accordance with the information collected from 549 interviewed exhibitors, 93.1% of their receipts came from sales of goods, whereas their expenditure was mainly incurred on rental paid for exhibition booths (67.7% of total) and booth installation & decoration (16.9%). Regarding comments from the interviewed exhibitors, the proportions of exhibitors who were satisfied with the language skills (86.4%), professionalism (85.7%) and work efficiency & attitude (85.7%) of venue staff rose by 2.3 percentage points, 1.3 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points quarter-to-quarter respectively. On the other hand, the proportion of interviewed exhibitors who complimented on the promotion of exhibitions by the organisers fell by 16.3 percentage points quarter-to-quarter to 75.0%.

In the first three quarters of 2020, a total of 215 MICE events were held, a decrease of 860 year-on-year; total number of participants & attendees dropped by 68.6% to 399,000. Meetings & conferences (198) and exhibitions (15) registered decreases of 829 and 22 year-on-year respectively, with the respective numbers of participants (22,000) and attendees (376,000) declining by 88.7% and 64.5%. According tothe information onthe 15 exhibitions held by non-government organisations in the first three quarters, their receipts and expenditure amounted to MOP 14.23 million and MOP 12.97 million respectively. After deducting expenditure as well as financial support from the government & other organisations from receipts, these exhibitions recorded a negative value of MOP 0.82 million.