Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes has highlighted the importance of foreign tourists to local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and Macau’s tourism industry, calling for concerted efforts to promote the diversified development and prosperity of Macau’s tourism industry.
The local government has set a target of at least two million foreign tourist arrivals this year, and the tourism chief told the Post yesterday that the number of foreign tourists has increased significantly, with about 580,000 foreign tourist arrivals in the first quarter of this year.
According to official data from the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC), foreign nationals accounted for 6.6 percent of Macau’s 8.87 million visitor arrivals in the first three months of this year. Compatriots from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong accounted for 93.4 percent of Macau’s visitor arrivals between January and March.
Senna Fernandes said that MGTO was optimistic about exceeding the target of two million foreign visitor arrivals this year: “It is hoped that in the future, we can follow up the victory with hot pursuit and restore the number to that of the pre-COVID-19 pandemic average of three million” foreign visitor arrivals per year.
Senna Fernandes said that Macau continued to explore new tourist attractions and flight routes, which was believed to bring more tourists, including foreign tourists, to Macau: “The increase in the number of foreign tourists will bring about more consumption scenes, and in the future, MGTO will gradually guide tourists to visit, have fun and spend to mobilise the total amount of their consumption power”.
In addition, Senna Fernandes said she was very concerned about the imbalance in tourism development among Macau’s various districts: “SMEs in tourism districts have the potential to grow faster than those in local neighbourhoods,” pointing out that MGTO has addressed the problem by launching different funding programmes, while organising diversified community activities, including the setting-up of large-scale art installations for photo-taking in the northern district, the developing of sightseeing boat routes in Macau’s coastal waters and the holding of food-fests. She pledged to strike the right development balance to ensure that different districts would receive appropriate attention and support as far as tourism is concerned.
“SMEs need to transform and equip themselves to cope with changes in social consumption patterns as well as to show support for initiatives that respond to the demands of the new era,” Travel Industry Council of Macau (TICM) Chairman Andy Wu Keng Kuong told the Post yesterday, pointing out that as the mode of consumption in today’s society was changing rapidly, local SMEs should keep abreast of the times and change their business strategies and modes of operation.
Wu was quick to add that foreign tourists were less likely to enter Macau’s neighbourhoods: “On the one hand, this is due to insufficient publicity and information targeted at foreign tourists, while on the other, the language support facilities in the neighbourhoods have not yet been perfected,” urging SMEs to grasp the development trend of restructuring and upgrading in order to cope with the changes in the consumption pattern of civil society as well as to respond to the changes in the new era: “In this regard, the local government should provide more training and guidance resources to help these enterprises adapt to the new environment”.
He also urged the sector to adopt the “multi-destination” approach to enable foreign tourists to have multiple travelling experiences while also leading them to spend in local neighbourhoods, thereby improving the business conditions of SMEs there.
Both Senna Fernandes and Wu made the remarks after yesterday’s press conference about the “Travel & Learn” Itinerary Planning Competition, at the 12th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Expo.
Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes delivers a speech during yesterday’s press conference about the “Travel & Learn” Itinerary Planning Competition, during the 12th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Expo. – Photos: Yuki Lei
Travel Industry Council of Macau (TICM) Chairman Andy Wu Keng Kuong poses after talking to the Post yesterday on the sidelines of the 12th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE).
