In line with the tourism policy guidelines in enhancing tourism service quality, Macau Government Tourist Office will launch a mobile version of its website and add Italian version to the website from next month. To utilize technological means for better service, MGTO will launch a mobile version of its website on November 1 to offer a more user-friendly interface for citizens and visitors to obtain tourism information from the MGTO website. With the growing popularity of using mobile phones to go online, many tourists will utilize this technological means when traveling aboard. In line with the free wireless internet access service “Wi-Fi Go” launched by the Bureau of Telecommunication Regulation (DSRT) earlier this year, MGTO has been working on the development of a mobile version of its website. The web layout of the mobile version is customized for the small screen on a handset to give browsers a more user-friendly interface. The mobile version is available in Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), English and Portuguese. As the access points of “Wi-Fi Go” are mainly located in tourist spots, the launch of the mobile version of MGTO’s website will further enhance the accessibility of visitors to tourism information and provide another channel to promote Macau extensively to uplift the international image of Macau. Meanwhile, MGTO is discussing with DSRT to set MGTO’s mobile version website as the default page at tourist hotspots covered by “Wi-Fi Go” for visitors to access tourism information in a more convenient manner. MGTO is also studying the feasibility of introducing some mobile applications tailor-made for certain smartphones in the near future which will enable visitors to access information offline outside the “Wi-Fi Go” access points. In addition, MGTO will add Italian-language information to its marketing website as of November 1, which increases the language options to 14, to keep pace with its effort to diversify the development of the tourism industry. Currently, MGTO’s website (www.macautourism.gov.mo) is available in Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Portuguese, English, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, German, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic, covering all the languages used by visitors from Macau’s top ten source markets. International visitor arrivals to Macau from January to September were close to 2.2 million, a growth of 12% over the same period of last year.
