The MGTO believes that 'Macau is going to benefit from this situation' owing to it being 'located within central Asia' and the good value for money it offers.

Glenn McCartney, a visiting professor at the University of Macau and consultant for Insights Unlimited, a travel and tourism consultancy firm, believes Mice is important for Macau because of its consequential macroeconomic ripple effect. 'Look at a place like the Venetian - its retail sales and dining receipts vary according to the frequency of events and shows hosted because business travellers can be leisure seekers, too, but the opposite is not true,' he said.

His sentiments are validated by colossal events such as G2E Asia and the recent Bollywood IIFA Awards at the Venetian.

'The Macau economy is fuelled not only by its casino businesses ... but also a growing percentage of non-gaming revenue from the booming conference, retail and dining sectors,' said a Wynn Macau spokesperson, who believes the opening of new resorts and hotels would contribute to Macau's ongoing transformation. More visitors would mean higher consumer spending.

Official figures suggest that 3 to 5 per cent of Macau's visitors come for Mice events. The corresponding figures for Hong Kong and Singapore were 28 and 20 per cent, respectively. However, Dr Robert Kirby, president and chief executive of the Kirby Group, which organises leadership and motivation seminars for the hospitality sector, believes Macau's figure is closer to 2 per cent. 'There is tremendous room for the Mice economy to grow here ... we're in our infancy,' he said.

Henry Brockman, chairman of the British Business Association of Macau, said 'marrying' Mice with the 'integrated resort' concept has opened many possibilities.

The Macau government identified gaming as the city's leading industry, with tourism and Mice supporting its development. The MGTO launched its 'Strategic Mice Stimulation Programme' to assist industry partners in maintaining their competitiveness during times of adversity. 'Through this stimulus package, we aim to secure more events for Macau,' said an MGTO spokesperson.

However, challenges such as the lack of qualified manpower, not enough international Mice exposure and limited non-gambling entertainment remain. According to Macau Civil Servants Association director and Legislative Assembly member, Jose Pereira Coutinho: 'There have been sporadic events held in the six gaming enterprises, but not much from the government.'

He believes Macau could handle any type of international or regional conference or seminar event similar to those in Hong Kong, Geneva, Brussels or Singapore. He stressed that it was imperative to bring Macau staff up to world class standards.

McCartney said frontline staff must be given proper hospitality training. 'It's no use hiring students with university degrees to man desks - we require qualified labour with English language and soft skills.'

Mark Horan, chief operating officer of Shun Tak Holdings' hospitality division, which oversees the Macau Tower, said the skills of Mice practitioners must improve 'in terms of foreign languages and tourism training'.

Another stark assessment came from Ben Lee, head of IGamiX Management & Consulting, which recruits gaming executives. He said local Mice professionals' competencies tended to be in 'the mid to low levels'.

Manpower aside, McCartney said greater connectivity was also needed to help boost the industry. The Cotai Strip, for example, has no direct access walkway between the Venetian and the City of Dreams. 'You have to cross the street in the heat and humidity and that doesn't make for a positive visitor experience. [Such] seamless accessibility from entry and exit points with CIQ [custom, immigration and quarantine] facilities', is what business travellers will demand.'

Wolfram Diener, the Venetian Macau casino's vice-president of conventions and exhibitions, said: 'Sometimes the city gets crowded with Mice travellers and gamblers from Friday afternoon to late Sunday afternoon, so if you are a business visitor, it can be a headache.'

It is in such a context that an envious comparison is drawn to Hong Kong's exceptional connectivity between the airport, hotels and downtown. Coutinho said that while there were enough shuttles for casinos, the city lacked buses and taxis, owing to local lobbying interests. For a population of 500,000 and a total land area of 27 square kilometres, public transport was in dire need of enhancement to expand visitor numbers.

There are also concerns that Macau has too few regular, direct international flights, limiting its effectiveness on the global stage.

'People say that the Macau airport is holding back Mice development because there are limited foreign routes; travellers end up flying into Hong Kong first,' said Kirby. 'Air Macau and Viva are doing their best, but with no direct flights to European cities or other Asian hubs, it will be tough to develop such business.'

Limited air connections to Japan and South Korea are also seen as a major drawback because these countries were among Macau's biggest markets.

Criticisms aside, optimism remains with Macau's small size seen as its strength. 'You still have a greater chance of getting from A to B in under 10 minutes in Macau than in almost any other city,' Brockman said. 'What has disappointed observers have been the delays in implementation rather than any major difficulties in the current infrastructure being able to cope.'

Progress is seen with the light rail transit system that is soon to open, the expansion of Taipa's ferry terminal, Macau International Airport and the Border Gate, and the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

Furthermore, Macau's gambling receipts registering in the billions and a 35 per cent taxation scheme means there is no shortage of funds.

Both Kirby and Diener expressed eagerness for phases five and six of the Venetian to be completed because of the benefits it would bring to the local economy. Although the Venetian has boasted 1.1 million sq ft of convention space since its opening in 2007, along with 3,000 rooms, Diener believes a few thousand extra rooms across the street will be a boon for hosting large events.

Brockman is equally bullish because some of the largest conventions have up to '10,000 delegates, for which not even on Cotai have enough hotel rooms been built yet. As the world economy recovers, there is a business case for starting or reviving plans for much of the scheduled expansion in hotel rooms there.'

McCartney said that ultimately, what was needed was private and public sector collaboration between stakeholders such as the casinos, bus and taxi drivers, the MGTO and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Brockman argued that 'a number of government or quasi-governmental organisations in Macau were already putting a lot of effort into staging conventions and trade fairs in Macau, so any further development had to come from the private sector'.

However, McCartney's research in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong suggested that Macau was still perceived to be a gaming hub - not a Mice destination. 'Our image as a gaming destination is 'build it and hope they will come',' he said. 'Pre-1999, when I was a hotelier, the MGTO also said 'we're a Mice destination' ... we can say it, but people must perceive it.'