In order to facilitate the improvement of the local Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) sector in terms of both quality and efficiency, and also to attract more internationally recognised MICE events that align with the government’s “1+4”* industrial development direction, Macau’s Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) has announced that the revised “Convention and Exhibition Stimulation Programme” and “Financial Support Programme for Participation in Exhibitions and Trade Fairs” will start next Monday.
Yesterday’s briefing session on the “Amendments to MICE Subsidy Programmes” was held at the Complex of Commerce and Trade Cooperation Platform for China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, aka Forum Macao Complex, in Sai Van.
The amended programmes have merged “exhibitions” and “promotions”, allowing up to six applications per year, and they further clarify the approval requirements and optimise and simplify the application process of the two programmes by fully digitalising the application “Business & Associations Platform”, which will remove constraints of time, space, region, and be more convenient for applicants to apply, according to a statement released by IPIM.
Moreover, different to the previous percentage-based calculation method, the revised “Convention and Exhibition Stimulation Programme” now uses a “performance-based cumulative tiered” model, the statement pointed out, adding that the new approach will make it easier for applicants to understand and estimate the amount of their potential subsidy, IPIM Director Elaine Wong Yee Lam said.
Wong noted that the amended programmes also include adopting a cumulative and tiered calculation method, allowing eligible events to receive more and greater financial support, enabling more targeted support for internationally recognised MICE events that align with Macau’s “1+4” industrial development direction.
Wong added that according to data from the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC), the number of conventions and exhibitions held in Macau in the first half of this year reached 918, an increase of 29.3 percent (208 events) compared to the same period last year. Besides, she noted, a total of 1,524 MICE events were held last year, among which over 90 percent were market-driven, without any local government subsidies.
*The government’s 1+4 model aims to consolidate the development of the city’s tourism and leisure industry (1) while putting special emphasis on promoting the development of four new key industries (+4), namely 1) big health, 2) modern finance, 3) high-tech, and 4) conventions and exhibitions as well as culture and sport, according to previous local government announcements.
Macau’s Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) Director Elaine Wong Yee Lam (centre), flanked by two representatives, attend yesterday’s briefing session on “Amendments to the MICE Subsidy Programmes “at the Complex of the Commerce and Trade Cooperation Platform for China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, in Sai Van. – Photo: Ida Cheong
