Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Deputy Director Cheng Wai Tong told the media yesterday morning at the Hengqin checkpoint that with the restarting of mainlanders’ tour groups visiting Macau and Hong Kong, Macau welcomed its first six mainland tour groups with a total of 135 visitors yesterday which arrived by both land and air, comprising two groups from Guangdong province, three from Shanghai municipality and one from Liaoning province, adding that as of Sunday, 15 tour groups have been organised to visit Macau, consisting of more than 400 tourists.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mainland tour groups had been suspended from visiting Macau and Hong Kong for over three years.
Hengqin checkpoint is a Macau-Zhuhai joint checkpoint on Zhuhai’s Hengqin Island, which connects with Cotai via the Lotus Flower Bridge.
Cheng said that MGTO was considering subsidy promotion programmes for Hong Kong, Taiwan and foreign tour groups, with reference to the scheme for the mainland, which was announced in December last year, such as a 350-pataca subsidy for one night for each traveller from a foreign country who stays in a local hotel and a 500-pataca subsidy for two consecutive nights to local travel agencies. Chan added that the local tourism sector has been organising a Southeast Asia tour group to visit Macau this month.
MGTO held two welcome ceremonies yesterday, in the morning and at noon respectively, one at the Hengqin checkpoint and the other at the local airport, for the first two tour groups from Guangdong and Shanghai.
Meanwhile, the first Macau tour group of 37 locals also departed for Hengqin yesterday morning.
Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Deputy Director Cheng Wai Tong talks to reporters on the sidelines of yesterday morning’s welcome ceremony for a mainland tour group at the Hengqin checkpoint in Cotai.
– Photo: MPDG
