A better MICE trap

A decade ago, there were just a handful of venues for MICE events in Macau, and they were only big enough to handle small- to medium-sized events. But recent years brought a dramatic transformation, and today Macau, as MGTO Deputy Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes has observed, "can take our place as one of the best equipped and most modern MICE cities in the world."

According to government statistics, Macau only hosted 206 MICE events in 1999.  In 2008, the total number of events increased to 1,240.  The number of MICE events held during the first half of 2009 was 730, comprising 694 meetings/conferences (95% of total) and 36 exhibitions.  Moreover, the total number of participants reached 211,287.  Although meetings and conferences predominated in the number of events held, exhibitions accounted for 67% of participants.

Macau's MICE venues now range from a 15,000-seat auditorium to rooms for a gathering of half a dozen or so; they can be in glamorous modern integrated resort hotels or in historic public buildings; they can handle classroom, theater-style or boardroom settings with cocktail receptions, banquets, or balls.

Moving resolutely toward diversifying its economy, Macau has concentrated on growing its MICE market both by encouraging mega developments, like the Cotai Strip, which, when completed will have 21,000 rooms and more than 2.4 million square feet of convention and exhibition space, and by initiatives like the Macau Business Tourism Center, a platform for the business tourism industry to communicate, to understand the needs of the local industry and strengthen the liaison work among the trade. The MBTC, which solicits the views of the industry to achieve common goals, and conducts training courses and other activities, opened in 2006 with experienced congress industry manager and consultant Gary Grimmer as its adviser.

Following the unprecedented growth in MICE business and the ever-expanding inventory of hotels, resorts and casinos, MGTO has launched a series of seminars to help professionals broaden their knowledge of the industry.

MGTO Director João Manuel Costa Antunes said, "the task of training is fundamental. The organization of training programs enables the Macau convention and exhibitions industry to improve its performance, which is essential for its development."

But more than training is needed, so in May, after the global economic crisis and H1N1 pandemic brought a downturn in visitor arrivals during the early part of this year, MGTO announced the launch of the "Strategic MICE Market Stimulation Program", as a component of the "Plan to Support Macau Tourism Industry", to shore up its MICE industry. The program is designed to assist business tourism partners to maintain their competitiveness at times of adversity like this, while at the same time to secure more events for Macau. It has three categories: Meetings and Conventions, Exhibitions and Incentives. From May 18 to September 2, the program has supported 21 meetings and conventions, 9 exhibitions and 10 incentive travel events, involving a budget of over MOP10 million.

For Macau to succeed in growing her share of the high yield MICE sector, close collaboration between government and industry must be even stronger. That's why the MBTC has launched the Industry Partner Program, a new initiative introduced last October with goals that include formalization of MBTC's product offering, improvement on overall sales and service quality, and communications enhancement through the development of a strong business network.

With 161 key industry suppliers to date, the program is a cooperative platform for the industry to compete in the international market under the destination banner.

According to Gary Grimmer, "The most successful MICE destinations have a very close working relationship between their destination marketing organization and the local industry suppliers. This relationship takes the form of a membership or industry partnership program. MBTC needs an industry partner program because MBTC can promote Macau, but it needs local suppliers working in tandem to deliver the product."

In these and other ways, Macau is preparing for its destiny as the region's, if not the world's premier MICE destination. Even in these economically challenging times, the future looks bright.