The “Macau Federal Commercial Association of Convention & Exhibition Industry” (MCECA)* hosted a Spring Festival reception at Macau Tower yesterday, announcing that local convention and exhibition activities increased by 22.1 per cent year-on-year to 1,861 events last year, increasing the industry’s revenue to 6.28 billion patacas in 2025.
The association’s president, Osborn Lo Wang Chun, underlined in a speech that an “international technology giant” has chosen Macau as the venue for its annual conference, with over 6,000 attendees. He did not identify the enterprise.
Lo also noted that while an international environmental exhibition will be held in Macau at the end of this month, a travel expo is slated for next month.
The association, the setting-up of which was gazetted in May 2012, will continue to align with the government’s “1+4” development strategy, deepen cooperation with the government and integrated resort enterprises, and focus on talent cultivation, Lo said.
The 1+4 model aims to consolidate and diversify the development of the city’s tourism and leisure industry (1) while putting special emphasis on promoting the development of four nascent industries (+4), namely 1) big health, 2) modern finance, 3) high-tech, and 4) MICE and commerce as well as culture and sport.
Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) Director Elaine Wong Yee Lam said in a speech that the convention and exhibition industry is a key sector for Macau’s appropriate economic diversification.
Wong also said that IPIM will focus its activities on three main priorities: enhancing Macau’s role as an international convention and exhibition centre, promoting industrial upgrading, and attracting international projects.
Wong said that these initiatives aim to deepen the coordinated development of Macau, Hengqin and the Greater Bay Area (GBA), thereby contributing to the country’s high-level opening-up.
The association’s director-general, Lawrence Che Fong Sang, said in a speech that in terms of talent cultivation, they will continue to offer a series of training programmes this and next month.
Che also said that for the sixth consecutive year, the association will also promote in secondary schools and universities young people’s career prospects in the convention and exhibition industry, adding that this year, it has already arranged short-term courses with Sheng Kung Hui Choi Kou School.
Che also said that the association has welcomed new talent from the sport and performance industries. In the future, it will seize the opportunities presented by the “multi-venue events” model in the Macau-Hengqin area to drive international development, he added.
The “multi-venue events” model refers to a convention or exhibition event being held simultaneously in Macau and Hengqin.
*According to Macau’s Official Gazette, the association’s officially registered abbreviation is MFCACEI. However, the association uses MCECA as its customary abbreviation.
Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau SAR Economic Affairs Department Deputy Director Yang Yi (seventh from left), Macau Federal Commercial Association of Convention & Exhibition Industry (MCECA) Director-General Lawrence Che Fong Sang (sixth from left), MCECA President Osborn Lo Wang Chun (seventh from right), Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) Director Elaine Wong Yee Lam (fifth from left), Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes (sixth from right) and other representatives pose during yesterday’s Spring Festival reception at Macau Tower in Sai Van. – Photo: Armindo Neves
