Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 147 MICE events were held in the fourth quarter of 2020, and number of participants & attendees was 515,000. The figures represented respective increases of 84 and 73.3% quarter-to-quarter; however, decreases of 314 and 30.6% were recorded year-on-year.

There were 128 meetings & conferences held in the fourth quarter, a drop of 304 year-on-year; number of participants declined by 82.8% to 16,000. In the midst of the pandemic, meetings & conferences with a duration of less than 4 hours accounted for 61.7% (79) of the total, with 7,151 participants. The average duration of the meetings & conferences shortened by 0.6 day year-on-year to 0.9 day, and the total floor area used reduced by 80.8% to 88,000 m².

Number of exhibitions in the fourth quarter went down by 2 year-on-year to 19; attendees totalled 499,000, down by 22.0%. There were 13 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations and number of attendees was 380,000, indicating a drop of 6 and 27.4% year-on-year respectively. The average duration of the exhibitions decreased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 3.4 days, whereas the total floor area used fell by 8.2% to 183,000 m².

According to the information on 19 exhibitions provided by the organisers in the fourth quarter, their receipts and expenditure amounted to MOP 39.29 million and MOP 124 million respectively. Receipts of the 13 exhibitions held by non-government organisations totalled MOP 36.50 million, of which 72.7% were financial support from the government & organisations. Meanwhile, expenditure of these exhibitions added up to MOP 42.18 million, which was mainly incurred on installation, decoration & audio-visual performance etc. (36.7% of total). After deducting expenditure as well as financial support from the government & organisations from receipts, these exhibitions recorded a loss of MOP 32.22 million, yet implying an improvement over the fourth quarter of 2019 (-MOP 62.70 million).

There were 2,496 exhibitors participating in the exhibitions in the fourth quarter; 61.3% of them were locals and 31.4% came from mainland China. Meanwhile, professional visitors totalled 24,000, of whom 57.2% were locals and 40.8% were from mainland China. In accordance with the information collected from 1,237 interviewed exhibitors, 88.1% of their receipts were generated from sales of goods, whereas their expenditure was mainly incurred on rental paid for exhibition booths (52.9% of total) and booth installation & decoration (22.0%).

As affected by the pandemic, number of MICE events held in 2020 decreased by 1,174 year-on-year to 362; total number of participants & attendees dropped by 54.6% to 914,000. Meetings & conferences plunged by 1,133 year-on-year to 326, with number of participants declining by 86.7% to 39,000. Meetings & conferences with a duration of less than 4 hours totalled 170, with 14,000 participants. The average duration of the meetings & conferences shortened by 0.5 day year-on-year to 1.0 day. A total of 34 exhibitions were held in 2020, a fall of 24 year-on-year, and number of attendees (875,000) slid by 48.5%. Number of incentives decreased by 17 year-on-year to 2, and number of participants (604) tumbled by 97.3%.

According to the information on 34 exhibitions collected in 2020, their receipts and expenditure amounted to MOP 53.51 million and MOP 137 million respectively. There were 28 exhibitions held by non-government organisations; receipts of these exhibitions stood at MOP 50.71 million, of which 56.4% were financial support from the government & organisations. Expenditure totalled MOP 55.15 million, with installation, decoration & audio-visual performance, etc., publicity & public relations and rental paid for venue constituting 35.7%, 18.6% and 14.5% of the total respectively. After deducting expenditure as well as financial support from the government & organisations (MOP 28.59 million) from receipts, these exhibitions recorded a loss of MOP 33.03 million, which was less satisfactory as compared to 2019 (-MOP 26.27 million).

Regarding comments from the interviewed exhibitors in 2020, among the exhibitors who had used services rendered by local companies, the proportions of those who were satisfied with the services (87.3%) and arrangements (87.1%) of the companies increased by 8.7 percentage points and 8.2 percentage points year-on-year respectively. Meanwhile, the proportions of exhibitors who complimented on the management (80.6%), facilities (77.2%) and ease of access (77.0%) of the venue dropped by 0.4 percentage points, 0.3 percentage points and 2.0 percentage points year-on-year respectively.