The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao) have recently launched a two-week exchange course for government tourism officials from some Portuguese-speaking countries, according to an MGTO statement yesterday.
The statement noted that officials from seven Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs) are participating in the course: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
According to the statement, the two-week exchange course started on June 29 and will end on July 11.
According to the statement, the course includes two days of workshops held by the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) and internships under various MGTO departments. Additionally, throughout the training period, the trainees will participate in field trips to local tourism facilities, cultural heritage sites and tourist attractions, the statement added.
According to the statement, during the past three years, MGTO paused on-site exchanges due to the COVID-19 pandemic; this year is the first year such courses have been resumed.
Macau’s first COVID-19 case was confirmed on January 22, 2020.
Since 2016, IFTM has partnered with MGTO in the latter’s annual training programme for officials from Portuguese-speaking countries’ tourism departments, according to a previous IFTM statement.
The workshops aim to assist PSCs in providing training through the example of Macau’s development in the tourism industry, according to yesterday’s MGTO statement.
MGTO said it hoped to strengthen joint tourism development between Macau and PSCs while developing Macau as a platform of communication and trade cooperation between PSCs and the mainland.
This undated handout photo provided by MGTO yesterday shows tourism officials from Portuguese-speaking countries attending a course by the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM).
