Interview by Rui Pastorin
The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) is continuing its efforts to attract more visitors to Macau, hoping to achieve its goal of having over two million foreign tourists by the end of the year, its director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, told the Post in an interview yesterday at The Venetian Macao.
Senna Fernandes made the remarks after the keynote sessions at the Asian IR Expo, where she was a featured speaker.
According to the veteran tourism chief, MGTO is working on reaching 33 million visitor arrivals this year, hoping to attract more foreign visitors as well. “We are on track at this point in time, so we have to continue to work on [it],” she said.
Senna Fernandes noted that MGTO has already held roadshows in Tokyo, Singapore, Jakarta and, most recently, South Korea. MGTO is working on holding more roadshows, with one set to be held in Bangkok this month, while another is slated for Kuala Lumpur in early July, she said. There are also preparations for long-haul markets, while MGTO has also been participating in travel fairs in Europe and the Middle East again, she said.
“There’s a lot of work that we are gearing ourselves up to because we feel the necessity to continuously work on a lot of different fronts”, she said, while online promotions through different social media platforms in different parts of the world are also carried out.
When it comes to encouraging visitors to stay in the city for longer than a night, Senna Fernandes emphasised the importance of creating content to keep the city in mind, highlighting the importance of letting visitors know what they can do and experience in Macau.
“Macau is a small destination, so we rely heavily on events and different festivities to get people to come here and to keep the destination [at the] top of [their] mind. That’s why I think content is key and we have to give them very interesting content to make them continuously think about Macau”, she said. More reasons to visit would also mean that people would think about coming back, she concluded.
Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes takes part in another keynote session after delivering a presentation as a keynote speaker in the Asian IR Expo. – Photo: Rui Pastorin
