Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes announced today (21 January) that the total of visitor arrivals surpassed 31.5 million with a surge of 7.5% in Macau last year. Entering 2015, MGTO will focus on five key work goals in line with the SAR Government's strategic positioning to build Macau into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. MGTO held the Annual Press Conference at Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre today (21 January) to deliver a retrospective summary of last year's tourism development followed by the Director's presentation of MGTO's objectives and strategies in 2015. Nearly 500 guests attended the conference including MGTO's overseas representatives and local industry partners as well as nearly 90 members of the press from Macau, Hong Kong, Mainland China and overseas. The media attendees also include international journalists based in Macau and Hong Kong. MGTO revealed that last year's visitor arrivals topped 31.5 million in Macau and increased by 7.5% year-on-year according to preliminary statistics. Visitors from the Greater China region surpassed 28 million with a rise of 8.5%, whereas the international visitor number dropped slightly by 1.1%. Nonetheless, the numbers of overnight-stay visitors and hotel overnight guests both saw a growth in 2014. The overnight-stay visitor number was up by 2.1% throughout the year while the total of hotel overnight guests showed an increase of 0.4%. The Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan continue to rank as the top three tourist markets for Macau. Macau received over 21 million Mainland visitors with a year-on-year growth of 14.1% last year. 42% of them came from Guangdong Province. In terms of international visitors, the yearly total of Korean visitors exceeded 550 thousand and surged remarkably by 16.9%. MGTO expressed that over 14.5 million visitors stayed overnight in Macau last year, constituting 46.2% of total visitor arrivals with an increase of 2.1%. Local hotels hosted more than 10 million overnight guests in total last year, which account for 73% of overnight-stay visitors in Macau with an increase of 0.4%. Overnight-stay visitor' average length of stay throughout last year stood at 1.9 days, same as 2013. The visitor expenditure between last January and September totaled US$39.7 billion, a period-on-period growth of 0.7%. In terms of hotel industry, the average occupancy rate of hotels in Macau in 2014 was 86.5%, up by 3.4 year-on-year. The average room rate of three to five star hotels was US$199.9, up by 8.6%. Over 12 million visitors came to Macau in group tours last year, a year-on-year growth of 26%. There are 103 hotels in Macau up to date, together supplying 28,892 rooms in total, of which, there are 46 budget accommodation establishments providing 1,500 rooms. MGTO's Tourist Information counters handled or received over 1.15 million visitor enquiries, material requests and suggestions last year. Concerning measures against illegal accommodation, the interdepartmental task force inspected over 1,200 apartment-times and sealed 153 apartments throughout the year; MGTO initiated sanction procedures against 68 providers of accommodation, 13 touters and 2 dwellers who did not comply with the duty of cooperation. Last year over 4,300 participant-times joined the industry training courses and workshops which were supported or facilitated by MGTO. The Office recruited 28 new staff members in 2014. A total of 393 employees are in service up to date. MGTO aims at five work focuses Director Senna Fernandes indicated that in order to fulfill Macau's strategic positioning as a "World Centre of Tourism and Leisure", MGTO will continue to dedicate effort in scientific planning, destination marketing, product development, service enhancement as well as reinforcement of international and regional cooperation to develop Macau tourism in the direction of this strategic positioning. MGTO targets five focal points at work this year: 1. Promote tourism planning and study, conduct research on specific tourism topics; 2. Strive for service quality enhancement, strengthen industry supervision and training; 3. Launch new tourism products, organize festive events; 4. Organize series of promotional activities, enhance Macau's diverse tourism image; 5. Active participation in international organizations, strengthen regional cooperation and development. She pointed out that MGTO will carry out the following tasks under the five focuses: 1. Promote tourism planning and study, conduct research on specific tourism topics: begin the formulation of the "Macau Tourism Industry Development Master Plan"; evaluate the effectiveness of mega events and festivals, and carry out source market studies; follow up with the optimization work of tourism environment and tourism signage continuously through inter-departmental work force, etc. 2. Strive for service quality enhancement, strengthen industry supervision and training: enhance modernization of administrative working procedures; optimize tourism-related regulations and licensing procedures; keep fighting against provision of illegal accommodation; foster quality and integrity tourism; continue to promote the "Tourism Awareness Campaign"; continue with the "Quality Tourism Services Accreditation Scheme"; develop an "Online Training Platform" for travel trade, etc. 3. Launch new tourism products, organize festive events: enhance the "Community Tourism Development Plan" while optimizing and launching new "Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" walking tour routes; study the feasibility of launching innovative tourism products; implement the structural construction plan for Tourism Activities Centre (including Grand Prix Museum and Wine Museum); continue with various incentive schemes for tourism; foster business tourism development; continue to organize events and festivals, etc.
4. Organize series of promotional activities, enhance Macau's diverse tourism image: produce a brand-new tourism promotional video under the current promotional theme "Experience Macau"; set up a new Tourist Information counter at the new ferry terminal at Pac On in Taipa; foster smart tourism development and electronic marketing; promote multi-destination tourism products in cities along high-speed rail routes, etc. 5. Active participation in international organizations, strengthen regional cooperation and development: participate in meetings, seminars and training courses hosted by international tourism organizations; provide stronger support for Portuguese-speaking countries; strengthen tourism cooperation with the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region, Hong Kong, Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan and neighboring regions to open up joint tourism resources for multi-destination tours; follow up with the tourism-related work of the "Guangdong-Macau Cooperation Framework Agreement" and so on. Senna Fernandes remarked that the Office will start working on the "Macau Tourism Industry Development Master Plan" this year and devise an integrated scheme for the medium- and long-term development of Macau tourism industry. MGTO will make continuous effort to diversify Macau's tourism products and markets while developing tourism elements enriched with local charm. The Office also plans to stage 3D mapping shows in different local districts to make nighttime tours more colorful in Macau.
