The government spent 16 million patacas last year on professional athletes, with an average of nearly 670,000 patacas spent on each one, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U said yesterday.
Ao Ieong made the remarks during an oral interpellation plenary session yesterday in the legislature’s hemicycle, adding that there were about 2,200 team athletes and 95 elite athletes from 46 kinds of sport in Macau at the end of last year.
Ao Ieong noted that nearly 13 million patacas were spent on subsidising athletes’ outbound training, of which the maximum annual subsidy for an individual was 740,000 patacas, adding that 1,332 outbound competitions were subsidised last year.
The Sports Bureau (ID) will revise its subsidy scheme for the training of athletes, and will increase the training allowances for elite athletes and the subsistence allowances for retired elite athletes, with a top increase rate of 37.6 percent, according to Ao Ieong.
Meanwhile, Ao Ieong pointed out that it is difficult for the government to decide whether to allow some coaches to charge fees for training students at government sports venues, as there is a great demand for such services.
However, Ao Ieong added, if sporting venues are opened up to the private sector for profit-making, the rights and interests of the general public would be undermined, so it was necessary to strike the right balance between the two, and the government would use some swimming pools as a pilot scheme to allow coaches to charge fees for teaching students during certain periods of time.
A total of seven exhibitions related to sport were held last year, and there are not that many MICE talents who are familiar with sport, Ao Ieong noted. Therefore, she said, the government will communicate with tertiary institutions and continuing education organisations to provide training, and it hopes to explore facilities in Hengqin for hosting sporting events.
In addition, Ao Ieong pointed out that last year’s six-day Macau Grand Prix (MGP) recorded around 145,000 spectators, surpassing that of the pre-COVID-19 pandemic year of 2019, and according to the data collected from half of the vendors of the MGP sales booths, the turnover during the six days of the event exceeded 2.28 million patacas, with the cultural and creative booths accounting for more than 40 percent of the turnover.
Ao Ieong also said that after thorough research, it would be difficult to run the MGP as a fully commercial enterprise, as it would require strong government coordination, involving roadworks, a large police force, and a medical team.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U looks on during yesterday’s oral interpellation plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle. – Photo courtesy of TDM
