Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, visits Macao booth at BTL
Lisbon Travel Market 2019 (BTL, from its Portuguese acronym) opened this afternoon (March 13, Lisbon time) with Macao among the highlights as this year’s International Guest Destination of the event. Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) is stepping up its promotion at Portugal’s most important tourism fair with a booth and activities to showcase the city’s heritage, gastronomy, events, new developments and the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR).
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR Government, Alexis Tam, attended the opening of BTL, visiting the Macao booth and also witnessing the handing of a certificate of Macao as Preferred Destination 2019 by Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT, from its Portuguese acronym), which will channel more attention from the Portuguese travel trade to the city during BTL and throughout the year. The certificate was handed to Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, by APAVT President, Pedro Costa Ferreira.
MGTO Director remarked, when receiving the certificate, the relevance of Macao being selected as Preferred Destination 2019 by the most representative Portuguese tourism industry association to boost tourism relations between Macao and Portugal in this special year, pointing out: “By selecting our city as its Preferred Destination 2019, APAVT renders once again justice to its role as a key facilitator for closer relations between the Portuguese travel trade and our destination”, adding that “with the designation of Macao as APAVT Preferred Destination 2019, we will certainly see more contacts among the travel trade, new Macao and multi-destination tourism packages appearing in the market, attracting more Portuguese visitors to Macao, thus improving the results reached in the past and enhancing our good historical relations.”
MGTO is participating in BTL with a booth under the theme “Experience Macao Your Own Style” and the 20th anniversary of the Macao SAR. The 108 square meters-booth promotes the city’s diverse tourism assets: the UNESCO listed heritage, Macao as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, with a food truck with chefs conducting Macanese cooking demonstrations for BTL participants. Macao virtual reality experiences, such as pedicab tours and bungy jump from the Macau Tower, are another highlight of the booth, while Macao tourism mascot Mak Mak will make its first appearance in Portugal, greeting visitors to the booth and offering Macao-themed souvenirs. Macao students in Portugal will also join it the promotion, by showcasing some of their abilities, such as Chinese calligraphy, among others, in a promotion to give a full update about Macao for travel trade and the public, to attract more Portuguese visitors, and help to diversify the city’s visitor source markets.
This year on its 31st edition, Lisbon Travel Market is Portugal’s main promotional and networking tourism platform. Running until March 17, the first three days of BTL are exclusive for tourism travel trade, and from late afternoon on Friday and during the weekend, the event also opens to public. BTL 2019 is showcasing around 1150 booths from national and international destinations and tourism related operators. Last year the event received over 77 thousand visitors.
In tandem with Macao’s bigger exposure at BTL and in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Macao SAR, an “Experience Macao – Portugal” mega promotion kicked off yesterday evening (March 12) with the presentation of a video mapping show at Praça do Comércio, titled “Macao, a Legendary Journey”, running until March 16. Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) is also organizing several activities in synchronization with MGTO’s promotion to showcase other elements of Macao. An arts exhibition opened this morning (March 13) at Macao Economic and Trade Office in Lisbon with works of over 30 Macao artists of different generations and styles, running until October, while tomorrow (March 14), four street dance groups from Macao will also have pop-up performances at four popular pedestrian streets and plazas in the heart of Lisbon, among other initiatives, also lined up for Porto.
