Economic chief stays mum on campaign’s possible relaunch
The Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) announced yesterday that the government has spent 227 million patacas on its 13-week citywide e-coupon consumption stimulation campaign, which ended late last month, generating consumer spending worth over 1.1 billion patacas for businesses across the city, underlining that the drive has achieved the desired results in boosting local consumption.
When asked by reporters yesterday, DSEDT Director Yau Yun Wah did not mention whether the government will launch a similar campaign again, adding that with the central government’s new measure making it more convenient for those in Zhuhai to visit Macau, which started on New Year’s Day, the local government’s next task is to assess the extent to which the new measure will benefit Macau’s community consumption, i.e., consumer spending in neighbourhoods other than the city’s tourism districts.
Starting on New Year’s Day, permanent residents of Zhuhai City can apply for a “one-trip-per-week” travel permit to Macau, enabling them to visit Macau once per calendar week, with a maximum stay of seven days per trip, within a one-year validity period, while permanent residents or residence permit holders in the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin can apply for a multi-entry travel permit to Macau, granting them unlimited visits to Macau within a one-year validity period, with a maximum stay of seven days per trip.
The bureau carried out the recently concluded citywide e-coupon consumption stimulation campaign in collaboration with the influential Macau Chamber of Commerce (ACM), colloquially known in Cantonese as Chung Chung.
The closing ceremony and final lucky draw for the recently concluded campaign was held at the ACM headquarters in Zape yesterday.
The citywide e-coupon consumption stimulation campaign ran between September 30 and December 29 last year, lasting 13 weeks.
The government decided to launch a citywide e-coupon consumption stimulation campaign covering businesses across the city, after one for the peninsula’s northern district was carried out earlier last year, running between March 18 and August 4, lasting 20 weeks.
According to its previous announcements, the government spent 29.75 million patacas on its 20-week e-coupon campaign for the northern district, generating consumer spending worth 150 million patacas for businesses in the district.
The two e-coupon campaigns last year covered consumers who spent in participating shops, restaurants and other outlets and made their payments on one of the various mobile payment platforms. During weekdays, consumers entered lucky draws to receive e-coupons, which had to be used on the following Saturday or Sunday.
Consumers meeting certain criteria automatically entered the citywide e-coupon campaign’s final lucky draw, which was held yesterday.
Yesterday’s final lucky draw chose 499 winners, who will be given prizes worth 1.68 million patacas between them in total.
The prizes comprise cash prizes worth 300,000 patacas in total sponsored by Chung Chung and other prizes sponsored by various other organisations.
A DSEDT statement yesterday said that the government has spent 227 million patacas on its 13-week citywide e-coupon consumption stimulation campaign, generating consumer spending worth over 1.1 billion patacas for businesses across the city.
The statement also said that retail outlets accounted for 60 percent of the businesses covered by the citywide e-coupon campaign, while restaurants made up 31 percent. Outlets providing other services accounted for the other nine percent.
Speaking to reporters after yesterday’s final lucky draw, Yau underlined that the citywide e-coupon campaign achieved the government’s expected and desired results in boosting community consumption.
Yau also underlined that the reason that the e-coupons could only be used on Saturdays or Sundays was to encourage residents to stay in Macau and spend at weekends.
Yau said that with the implementation of the central government’s new measure for those in Zhuhai and Hengqin to travel to Macau, the city’s number of visitors can be expected to continue rising this year, adding that the local government will assess the extent to which the new measure will benefit Macau’s community consumption, as well as whether it will change the city’s overall visitor consumption patterns.
Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) Director Yau Yun Wah speaks to reporters at the Macau Chamber of Commerce’s (ACM) headquarters in Zape yesterday. Yau took office on December 20 last year. – Photos: Tony Wong
Macau Chamber of Commerce (ACM) President Frederico Ma Chi Ngaistands beside the lucky wheel for the winners of the citywide e-coupon consumption stimulation campaign’s final lucky draw at the ACMheadquarters yesterday.
