Deputy Director of Macau Government Tourist Office Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes unveiled the “Experience Macau Festival” held at the famous landmark Taipei 101 in Taiwan today (Oct 17). Taiwan residents and tourists visiting Taipei 101 Mall will find iconic Ruins of St Paul’s, Senado Square and other Macau world heritage sites in miniature. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the “Experience Macau Festival”, Helena Fernandes expressed that Taiwan continues to be Macau’s third major source market and though the direct cross straits flights have led to a drop in Taiwan visitors to Macau, overnight guests are on the rise and this new trend will bring opportunities to the travel trade. “There were 980,000 visitors from Taiwan in 1999 and last year, Macau welcomed 1.3 million visitors from Taiwan; while Taiwan overnight guests in hotels surpassed 235,000 in 2008. These achievements would not be possible without the support of the travel trade of Macau and Taiwan,” she added. In addition to the unique replicas, a series of performances including traditional Cantonese Opera, acrobatics, Portuguese folk dances, accordion and Jazz singer from Macau will bring a mixture of Macau’s Eastern and Western cultures to the city. Visitors to the festival can also enjoy games, Portuguese egg tarts and obtain tourism information of Macau. A Gala Dinner was held last night (Oct 16) for the travel trade and media of Taiwan and awards were conferred to three airlines and 9 travel agents to acknowledge their contributions in promoting Macau’s tourism in Taiwan. About 200 guests to the Gala Dinner were treated to a feast of Chinese and Portuguese performances that highlighted the diverse cultures and tourism characteristics that Macau has to offer. Taiwan is Macau's third largest visitor source market, and there are currently more than 270 flights between Macau and Taiwan every week.