Macao Promotional Content
COMBINING INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT WITH MICE POTENTIAL IN MACAO
MICE commerce is a key component of the Macao SAR Government ’ s “ 1 + 4 ” diversified development strategies and one of the four major industries of the Asian city . As the department designated to promote the development of convention and exhibition industry , the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute ( IPIM ) will continue to foster Macao ’ s MICE sector to grow towards professionalism , internationalisation and marketisation .
In 2023 , IPIM aims to achieve both quantity and quality growth in the MICE area , and collaborate with Macao ’ s MICE industry , integrated resort and leisure companies and various organisations with a view to enhancing the hardware and software facilities of the sector , attracting more large and high-quality MICE activities including exhibitions , industrial conventions , summits of multinational enterprises to be held in Macao , with Macao ’ s world-class facilities and professional services . In terms of hardware facilities , Macao has over 240,000sqm of convention and exhibition space and 40,000 hotel rooms , equipped with world-class convention facilities that can meet the needs of meetings and exhibitions of all sizes and types . Moreover , hotels , convention and exhibition venues , and tourist resources are concentrated , allowing attendees to experience the charm of Macao during their free time and achieve the goal of ‘ combining work with tourism .
In terms of software facilities , IPIM attaches importance to the construction of the ladder system for exhibition practitioners . Currently , there are about 300 CEM CHINA ( Certified in Exhibition Management™ ) registered exhibition managers in Macao , making it one of the cities in China with the most trained exhibition managers .
In the future , there are plans to introduce more internationally accredited exhibition
courses , such as UFI ’ s ‘ Venue Management Course ’ and the certification courses offered by ICCA Skills , to equip the conference and exhibition industry in Macao with the necessary skills to strengthen its ability to compete in bidding for conferences .
After all border restrictions were lifted , there were 208 MICE events in the first quarter of 2023 ( an increase of 1.1 times compared to the same period last year ), with nearly 200,000 attendees ( a year-on-year increase of about 20 %). Many conferences with over 10,000 participants have chosen to be held in Macao ’ s new exhibition venues , and there are many influential exhibition projects , such as the Asian IR Expo and the Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum and Exhibition ( GLSTF ), which will be held in Macao . This proves that exhibition organisers have full confidence in Macao ’ s ability to host large-scale events with various hardware and software capabilities .
Co-operation Zone The development of the Hengqin Guangdong- Macao In-Depth Co-operation Zone means the depth of interconnection between Macao and Hengqin is also expanding . In order to promote the development potential of Macao and Hengqin , IPIM and the Economic Development Bureau of the Co-operation Zone have successively gone abroad to attract investment and exhibitions , and promote the advantages of Macao and Hengqin . They have already organised groups of entrepreneurs to visit some of the Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and also Europe to expand the scope of co-operation between Macao and Hengqin .
Starting from 7 June , a new trademark for the Macao-Hengqin exhibition will be adopted , combining the exhibition advantages and different tourism resources of the two places , and continue to promote and expand the development space , motivating more activities to be held in Macao and Hengqin as multivenue events . Currently , multi-venue events are gradually forming a trend in the sector . With close links between cities in the Greater Bay Area , it is hoped that in the future this model can be extended to other cities in the Greater Bay Area , such as Shenzhen . In the future , multi-venue events will also be replicated and
36 Issue 4 2023 www . exhibitionworld . co . uk