The 5,260m2 Macau Fisherman’s Wharf (MFW) event space – dubbed the largest in the peninsula – now dons a new look, after its facilities have been upgraded and modernised.
This long-awaited makeover is the first in the venue’s 15-year long history, made challenging due to a busy event calendar. The original plan was to do a quick revamp in 1Q2020, but the pandemic brought with it a long downtime.
As a result, the centre’s exhibition space has now been scaled up by one-third, with the addition of five function rooms, several VIP rooms, and improvement in back-of-house areas. Apart from LED walls installed in three of the new pillarless halls, audio equipment, lighting and Wi-Fi services have also been improved.
CEO Chan Mei Yi said that the pandemic did not damper the spirits of MFW, where staff have been actively equipping themselves with new skills, and are ready to restart once the pandemic is over.
Recently in July, two exhibitions were held – a Mega Sale Carnival, and the Baby and Mommy Supplies Exhibition – both of which were the first few large-scale consumer exhibitions held after the outbreak.
Chan shared that although the number of exhibitors were far less than previous years with international exhibitors not being able to travel to Macau, public response was good, which resulted in more visiting public, and exhibitors reporting an increase in takings.
Next up is Macau’s largest exhibition, the Hong Kong Brands and Product Expo. Scheduled to proceed in November, it was postponed from April.
And as the pandemic has caused a disruption of large events, MFW has also started to target corporate parties as well as private events. The venue has also thrown in freebies such as free bottles of wine and longer free parking hours, to persuade guests to reschedule instead of cancelling.
Prior to the pandemic, MFW’s major source markets were Hong Kong and China, with some 90 per cent of their traffic driven by large-scale association- and school-related events.
The venue has fielded a number of enquires to date, and are optimistic that business will resume gradually from October onwards.
Moreover, there is some light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel, as individual and group permits for tourists from 49 Mainland cities will resume at the end of September.
