According to government statistics, visitor arrivals from Indonesia enjoyed robust double-digit growth, climbing from 142,944 in 2023 to 208,043 in 2025.
As such, Macau is actively positioning itself to capture lucrative corporate incentive travel from Indonesian sectors like pharmaceuticals, banking, insurance, automotive, and manufacturing through targeted industry training, expanded halal-certified dining options, and Muslim-friendly services.
Stephanie Tanpure, vice president sales at Sands China, emphasised the importance of this demographic, noting that Indonesian corporate groups have diverse cultural and religious requirements.
To capture this expanding demographic, Sands China has integrated halal-certified catering into its operations and built dedicated prayer rooms directly into its convention spaces.
“The future potential is massive as Indonesian corporates increasingly seek international destinations that can handle large volumes while respecting Muslim cultural and dietary needs,” Tanpure added.
Similarly, Galaxy Macau is targeting high-interest sectors like the automotive, manufacturing, and insurance industries. Following a successful Muslim-market fam trip in 2025, the property is planning another major corporate partnership in 2026 to showcase its Muslim-friendly capabilities.
To cater to Indonesian guests, Galaxy Macau offers tailored “no pork, no lard” menus for convention participants, alongside providing Muslim prayer mats, Qibla directions to Mecca, and local guides highlighting halal-certified restaurants.
This corporate push aligns with aggressive marketing by the Macau Government Tourism Office, which hosted a dedicated seminar and travel mart in Jakarta earlier this year.
The Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) has also partnered with the Economic Development Bureau of Hengqin to promote the “MICE² Macao x Hengqin” initiative.
An IPIM spokesperson noted that this dual-destination model allows Hengqin to boost Macau’s business events capacity with extra accommodation, venues, and staff, while enabling commercial investments to thrive across both locations.
CITS (Macau) handles an average of four to five Indonesian corporate groups annually, from the infrastructure and trading sectors.
Its assistant general manager of business and director of the MICE department, Cooper Zhang, observed that Indonesian delegates are attracted to the Greater Bay Area (GBA).
“They look for business opportunities in China or GBA, where developments in AI and electric vehicles are thriving,” Zhang said.
“Our biggest group this year consists of 200 delegates staying for a 6D5N itinerary – splitting three nights in Macau and two nights in mainland China.” This year, Zhang expects double-digit growth, fuelled by the 240-hour transit visa facility to mainland China.
Gloria H. De Assis, assistant general manager of STDM Tours – Travel Agency Limited, agreed that the market has shown stable growth, particularly through pharmaceutical companies inviting Indonesian delegates.
She noted that visa-free access to neighbouring Hengqin for half-day post-conference tours has greatly enriched their travel programmes. While Macau’s halal readiness is functional with plenty of restaurant choices, De Assis pointed out that some Indonesian delegates only request pork-free meals rather than strict halal catering.
Despite the optimism, travel operators point to a bottleneck – a shortage of Indonesian-speaking tour guides in Macau.
“We want to handle more Indonesian MICE, but the challenge is that there are only about 10 to 20 Indonesian-speaking guides in town,” De Assis said.
“The upside is that the younger generation of Indonesians speaks English well, allowing them to be grouped with English-speaking tours. However, the city must address this language gap if it intends to scale this market.”
