Hong Kong Tourism Secures Over 60 MICE Events

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has announced a significant resurgence in Meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) tourism during the first six months of 2024.

With approximately 21 million visitors arriving in Hong Kong between January and June, nearly half of them opted to stay overnight. Of these overnight visitors, around 700,000 were MICE arrivals, representing a recovery to approximately 80% of the levels seen during the same period in 2018. This makes MICE the most rapidly recovering visitor segment in Hong Kong.

The MICE sector plays a crucial role in drawing high-spending visitors to the city while also boosting Hong Kong’s global reputation as a premier meeting destination. On average, each overnight MICE visitor spent HK$8,000 during their stay, which was significantly higher (20-30%) than the average spending of all inbound travelers.

In 2023, MICE visitors tended to stay longer, with an average of 3.7 nights compared to the overall average of 3.2 nights for overnight visitors. Furthermore, MICE tourism contributed to attracting a larger number of international tourists, as evidenced by the fact that half of the overnight MICE visitors originated from international markets, in contrast to 25% of all overnight visitors.

The drive to expand the MICE industry remains strong. The HKTB has supported both public and private sector proposals for regional and global events, resulting in the successful acquisition of more than 60 major international MICE events scheduled to take place in Hong Kong from 2024 to 2026, with a significant number being held in the city for the first time. These upcoming events are anticipated to draw in excess of 180,000 visitors from Mainland China and around the world.

The events cover a diverse array of topics and fields. In addition to industries where Hong Kong excels, such as innovation and technology (I&T), medical sciences, and financial services, emerging themes from sectors like aviation, architecture, and education are also gaining popularity in recent event successes.

Significant victories include the successful comeback of ACM SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 following the previous conference in Hong Kong in 2013; as well as several pioneering conventions and exhibitions in various industries, such as SmartCon 2024 and Consensus Hong Kong 2025 in the I&T sector; and Super Terminal Expo 2024, Routes World 2025, and Airspace Asia Pacific 2025 & 2027 in the aviation sector. Noteworthy inaugural global congresses set to take place in Hong Kong for the first time comprise World Cancer Congress 2026 and International Federation of Landscape Architects World Congress 2026.

These significant event wins not only solidify Hong Kong’s status as the world’s meeting place but also strengthen the city’s leading status across these industry sectors.

Five strategies to step up promotion of MICE tourism

To maintain the growth momentum, the HKTB will continue to:
• Make every effort to secure and bid for major international MICE events to be held in Hong Kong;

• offer various funding schemes to support events of different scale and types, benefitting the trade, travel agents, hotels and more;

• continue the proven targeted multi-pronged approach to boost MICE tourism growth through tailored programmes including the “Hong Kong Incentive Playbook” and the “Hong Kong Convention Ambassadors” programme;

• enhance tourist’ in-town experiences by arranging value added activities, from sightseeing tours to complimentary tickets to museums etc.., to showcase Hong Kong’s tourism appeal on top of business fundamentals;

• play up Hong Kong’s unique advantages, especially as a “super-connector” for connecting international businesses with Mainland markets, in bids and publicity and promotions, highlighting the city’s hardware advantages such as world-class venue facilities, and well-connected transport infrastructure.