“Macau Unmasked” in major promotion in Australia

Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) unveiled today a major promotion in Australia targeting the local travel trade, as part of its “2006 Macau World Heritage Year” Campaign. The Macau promotion in Australia kicked off today in Brisbane, and will be followed by Melbourne on Wednesday and Sydney on Friday. Among them, Sydney’s promotion is the biggest one. Called “Macau Unmasked”, the promotion – the biggest ever organized by MGTO in Australia – was produced in a show format with a narrator, scenery and image projections conceived by a well known local production company to take the Australian travel trade in an authentic trip through Macau. The promotion displays the long and unique history of Macau, the variety of attractions that the city has to offer today to visitors and the new tourism infrastructures due to open in the future. During the promotion, chief of the delegation of the Macau Government Tourist Office to Australia, Cecília Tse, head of MGTO’s Promotion & Marketing Department, emphasized that the charm of the old city of Macau is still well alive alongside the modern new tourism infrastructures that have been transforming the city. “Macau is a city on the move - without losing touch with its historic past. Of particular interest for holidaymakers are the charming cobbled stoned streets, squares, churches and temples that have been listed as World Heritage”, pointed out Cecília Tse to an audience of tour operators, air companies and professional conference organizers. “While reliving its past, Macau has moved gracefully into the new millennium. Macau’s landscape is rapidly expanding, a transformation that includes the building of ritzy new hotels, casinos, theme parks, shops and restaurants”, she added. The Macau promotion in Australia is taking place in emblematic sites of each of the cities: in Brisbane, at the Customs House, an Australian heritage building, in Melbourne at the modern design ZINC and at the Westin in Sydney, situated in the rebuilt historic General Post Office. During the Australian trip, MGTO delegation will meet representatives of local tourism authorities, travel trade and media, as well as with Casa de Macau in Sydney, the Chinese Consulate General and the China National Tourism Office overseas. The Australian market, where MGTO has a representative office in Sydney, witnessed a significant increase last year. In 2005, Australia became Macau’s 10th main source of visitors. Macau welcomed last year 61,646 Australian visitors, 46 per cent more than the year before.