MGTO Announces Media Effectiveness Evaluation Report on Four Mega Events

In 2018, MGTO once again commissioned a ‘Macao Tourism Branding and Media Effectiveness Evaluation of Mega Events’ (Media Effectiveness Evaluation) - this time of the ‘Parade for Celebration of the Year of the Dog’; ‘29^th Macao International Fireworks Display Contest’; ‘3^rd International Film Festival & Awards．Macao’; and ‘Macao Light Festival 2018’.

All four major events reached an above-average level of satisfaction and a high level of public awareness, reflecting the media and netizens’ satisfaction and relatively strong awareness.

The volume of media coverage of the four events comprised more than 30 per cent of total media coverage of Macao as a travel destination throughout the year, mirroring the positive impact of these events on Macao’s destination branding.

To gain deeper insights into the outcomes and effectiveness of the four events, the Media Effectiveness Evaluation exercise measured a range of variables - including the number of articles covering the events, times of relevant interaction on social media as well as the level of awareness and satisfaction by probing the volume of coverage and comments of various media around the globe.

Following the findings on the ‘Parade for Celebration of the Year of the Dog’ and ‘29^th Macao International Fireworks Display Contest’ delivered last November, the results of the other two events were published on 3^rd July.

The ‘3^rd International Film Festival & Awards．Macao’ was covered by some 100 thousand articles, of which the largest proportion emanated from social media with 97 thousand articles (95.9 per cent), followed by traditional media (print media and online media) coverage in 4193 articles (4.1 per cent). There were 12.73 million interactions about the event on social media. The level of awareness of the event reached an excellent 97.7 per cent, while overall level of satisfaction reached an above-average 72.3 per cent.

‘Macao Light Festival 2018’ was covered / featured by over 24 thousand articles. The largest proportion came from social media at 22 thousand articles (92.8 per cent), followed by traditional media (print media and online media) coverage in 1656 articles (6.8 per cent). Social media enabled 12.37 million interactions on the event. The level of awareness of the event reached an exemplary 98.1 per cent, while overall level of satisfaction reached an above-average 71.7 per cent.

As well as individually examining each of the four mega events, the evaluation analysed their relevance to Macao’s destination branding. A study revealed that the total volume of media coverage of Macao as a travel destination comprised over 450 thousand articles, of which more than 140 thousand covered the four events and accounted for over 30 per cent of total media coverage about the destination, reflecting the positive impact of these events upon Macao’s destination branding.

Analysis of the distribution of media coverage on the four mega events suggests that social media is a major platform for relevant public opinion about the events, while the findings also revealed that social media enables a high level of social interaction. The research unit suggested harnessing the power of social media to a greater extent, by leveraging, for example, promotional posts on themed web pages and accounts of media, celebrities, travel bloggers, official entities or events for promotional purposes.

For more information, please visit: http://industry.macaotourism.gov.mo/file/pdf/Events_MediaEffectivenessStudy_20190703_en.pdf.