More conferences and exhibitions were held in China's Macao Special Administrative Region in the third quarter of this year amid the region's efforts to diversify its economy, the government Statistics and Census Service said on Thursday.

The latest figures of the statistics agency showed that 240 conference and exhibition events were held in the three months, an increase of 14 from a year earlier.

The number of participants increased by 16 percent to 725,000. Total floor area dedicated to the events reached 161,000 square meters and the average duration of events was 2.2 days.

The total of 1,429 exhibitors participated in the events during the period, with those from Macao, the Chinese mainland and China's Hong Kong accounting for 40 percent, 24 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2014)