The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said in a statement yesterday that it attended the 62nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Tourism Working Group (TWG) Meeting in Seattle last Friday and Saturday together with the Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT).
Both delegations attended the meeting as a “guest economy”, according to the statement, with MGTO Deputy Director Ricky Hoi Io Meng attending the event with a DSEDT delegate following their participation in the 61st TWG Meeting in the Philippines in April.
The statement noted that Macau was granted the “Guest Economy” status in the APEC Tourism Working Group in 2001, with MGTO and DSEDT representatives having attended the meetings regularly since.
The point is that Macau is not an APEC member, unlike mainland China and the Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The statement said that the two-day event had activities such as information exchanges and discussions about plans, which revolved around the APEC Tourism Strategic Plan’s four priority areas, namely “digital transformation, human capital development, travel facilitation and competitiveness, as well as sustainable tourism and economic growth”.
Moreover, on Saturday, the statement said, Hoi gave an overview of Macau’s tourism situation reflected by the latest tourism figures and visitor arrivals to Macau from APEC economies in the first half of the year.
Hoi, the statement added, presented smart measures adopted by MGTO to enhance visitors’ travel experiences such as “smart tour guide planning”.
MGTO also discussed the latest updates on the tourism industry with representatives from the attending economies, learnt about TWG’s new activities and discussed its work plans, through participating in the meeting, the statement noted.
This undated handout photo provided by the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) yesterday shows MGTO Deputy Director Ricky Hoi Io Meng (left) presenting MGTO’s technology measures to enhance visitors’ travel experiences during the meeting in Seattle. The caption provided by MGTO did not identify the other person in the photo.
