The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) held the 2023 Quality Tourism Services Accreditation Scheme [QTSAS] Assessment Seminars for the Food and Beverage Sector and Travel Agencies on Thursday and Friday to brief accredited merchants of the scheme this year, according to an MGTO statement on Friday.
The statement noted that the two-day event had a total of 133 participants. Enviroforce Monitoring Inspection & Testing Company Ltd., QTSAS’s assessment’s technical support unit, elaborated on the logistics for assessments at both seminars.
The statement said that 280 merchants will undergo various assessments, with the period of supervision and assessment spanning around six months. For more details on the manual, assessments and applications, visit: https://industry.macaotourism.gov.mo/en/page/content.php?page_id=219.
Moreover, during the seminar, the statement added that there were presentations on Law No. 8/2021 on the Operation of Hotel Establishments, which has been in effect since January 1, 2022, and Law No. 9/2021 “Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law”.
MGTO, the statement said, also made corresponding adjustments to the rules of enforcement and award mechanism of QTSAS for the catering sector, classifying catering businesses into four categories: “Restaurant (hotel)”, “Restaurant (non-hotel)”, “Simple Dining Establishment” and “Food and Beverage Establishment”.
The statement added that some awards were renamed while four new “Special Theme Awards” were added to the accolades, namely Operational Innovation Award, Sustainable Dining Award, Community Care Services Award, and Local Feature Award.
Moreover, the statement said, the contingency arrangements were adopted for QTSAS from 2020 to 2022 in line with the local businesses’ actual situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With factors such as the lifting of the city’s COVID-19 border entry restrictions, the statement said that for this edition’s catering sector, new participants and currently-accredited businesses can again submit their applications to undergo assessments and compete for the awards, while currently-accredited businesses can also choose to undergo assessments during the supervision period for award renewal.
The statement added that travel agencies can resume application and assessment processing for basic accreditations, while the accredited status is “maintained for currently-awarded merchants meeting the criteria during the supervision period”.
For the retail sector, the statement said that they can continue to partner with the Consumer Council (CC) in collaboration between QTSAS and the “Certified Shop” scheme.
This undated handout photo provided by MGTO on Friday shows some of the participants in last week’s QTSAS seminars.
