Macau: demonstrating a strong and collaborative MICE industry. Photo Credit: Adobe stock/Richie Chan
UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, will stage
its 17th UFI Asia-Pacific Conference in Macau from 7-8 March 2024. The
event, which welcomes exhibition industry professionals, will be hosted
by the Macau Fair & Trade Association (MFTA).
Synthia Chan, council chairperson for the MFTA, was delighted with
this announcement: “It has been a long and winding road for having (the)
APAC Conference in Macau but we persisted, hoped, and never gave up!
This is the strength of our industry! This is the strength of Macau!
This is why Macau welcomes you all to the UFI Asia-Pacific Conference
2024!”
Mark Cochrane, UFI Asia-Pacific regional director, said: “We are
pleased and honoured to bring the UFI Asia-Pacific Conference to Macau.
The original plan was to host this event in Macau in 2020, but the
global pandemic delayed that by four years. However, we are looking
forward to working with MFTA and the team in Macau to put together an
innovative and exciting programme for our members in 2024!”
Some 220 exhibition industry leaders from Asia and beyond gathered in
Kuala Lumpur for the 2023 edition of the UFI Asia-Pacific Conference in
Malaysia – the first time the conference was held face-to-face after
the 2019 edition in Tokyo, Japan.
The 2024 UFI Asia-Pacific Conference will host two days of expert
panels and keynote sessions from exhibition industry leaders, delving on
hot topics and opportunities in the region.
Macau is expected to host 170,000 professional visitors from mainland
China, Portuguese-speaking countries and southeast Asian nations during
the second half of 2023, according to the Office of the Secretary for
Economy and Finance. For 2023, Macau is due to host over 1,000
conventions and exhibitions, and the second half is expected to be a
“peak period”.