Last year, Hong Kong hosted 1.17million meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) visitors but, due to a mix of unfavourable factors on the mainland, such as the tightening of visa regulations for the Olympics, figures dropped 10 per cent compared with 2007.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) said the fall was mostly felt in the second and third quarters. However, the city maintained a balanced portfolio of Mice visitors, with one third from the mainland, one third from short-haul markets, and the balance from long-haul markets.
Anthony Lau, HKTB executive director, said: 'Business trips to the mainland by non-mainland visitors were either postponed or cancelled as a result of the tightening of visa issuance policy to foreigners since April and May 2008. Most of these visitors tend to visit both Hong Kong and mainland cities during the same trip.
'The mainland's volume of meetings, incentives and exhibition activities has registered a drop during the same period given the snowstorms across southern China, the catastrophic Sichuan earthquake and the impact of the Olympics 'stay-home' syndrome. The series of events dampened the interest of mainland companies in organising Mice activities overseas. However, the number of visitors attending corporate meetings, incentives activities and exhibitions bounced back in the last quarter.'
He said corporate meetings and incentive travel would suffer from a more direct hit this year because of budget restrictions among large corporations.
However, he added, the exhibition industry was traditionally more resilient even in times of adversity, and conventions generally stuck to planned schedules even if the attendance level dropped.