Macau’s enabling ecosystem for associations is cementing its position of being a gateway into the relatively impenetrable mainland
With restrictions on associations still in the process of loosening up in China, many international associations wanting to hold events or grow their membership in the opportunity-rife mainland are now looking to Macau as a springboard.
According to Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), the city is a relatively new but increasingly popular destination for association meetings. There were 111 association meetings in Macau in 2014 and 173 in 2015, and signs are pointing towards a continuation of this growth trend.
One major event set to hit the city, an IPIM spokesman told TTGassociations, is the International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum co-organised by Macau and the China International Contractors Association.
In addition, the city has been chosen to host the China Expo Forum for International Co-operation in 2017, the first time the event would take place outside China, he added.
“With there being frequent connections with China, Macau is a very good gateway for international associations to engage with potential members in China.”
As well, Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel and The St Regis Macao have several association events in their pipeline for 2017 and 2018, which director of sales associations, sales operations and events service, Corinne Janssen, said are from the healthcare, social services and technology sectors out of Europe and the US.
She added: “We are very happy to see increasing interest in Macau, driven by a greater desire by international associations to expand into Asia, particularly China.”
DOC DMC Macau’s managing director, Bruno Simões, attributed Macau’s rising popularity to the city’s “fabulous meeting and hotel facilities at reasonable rates”.
Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel and The St Regis Macao, for example, are touting their “combined room capacity of more than 4,400 guestrooms and suites and meeting spaces over 15,329m2, (offering) large congresses the convenience of housing their events and delegates all under one roof”.
Adding to the event ecosystem in Macau are IPIM’s efforts to support meeting planners.
The IPIM spokesman explained: “IPIM provides one-stop service for MICE bidding and support in Macau, assisting organisers from planning to execution, business matching, etc.”
In addition, the IPIM offers “two subvention programmes, namely the Convention and Exhibition Stimulation Programme and the International Meeting and Trade Fair Support Programme, which cover aspects such as accommodation, F&B, key note speakers or buyers, promotion & marketing, opening ceremony and translation.”
IPIM is also supporting association activity by “providing international trade exchange platforms to allow local associations to meet with international associations”, which is reflected in IPIM’s annual organised tradeshows such as the Macao International Trade & Investment Fair and medical conferences by the Health Bureau such as the 14th Joint Meeting of Senior Health Officials of the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.
However, Simões pointed out that local associations might be ill-equipped to handle larger scale events.
“Since local associations are small and (have limited resources), IPIM needs to find a solution for local associations to feel comfortable in pitching for large conferences to take place in Macau.”
To get around this limitation, Simões suggested that associations could “outsource an association management service for the bid process and eventually the running of conferences”.
