MGTO staff go to Thailand to help Macau residents affected by tidal waves

Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) is deeply concerned about the conditions, in particularly, the safety of the Macau residents who are traveling in the area after the strike of tidal waves unleashed by earthquake near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. MGTO have contacted the 115 travel agencies in Macau. Among which, 14 travel agencies reported that 92 Macau residents who joined their tour packages or bought air tickets from them were in Thailand (Bangkok & Phuket) and 4 others in Indonesia. Another 18 travel agencies will soon provide the concerned figures and the remaining 83 travel agencies said that they did not organize tour groups or issue tickets to the affected regions. Currently, MGTO is researching on the number of Macau residents who are traveling on individual basis. Yesterday MGTO has adopted immediate action to deploy two staff from MGTO to Bangkok to learn more about the incident and provide possible assistance to the Macau residents affected by the strike. Meanwhile, MGTO will keep close contact with local travel agencies and learn about the update conditions through various means. The two MGTO staff, together with MGTO’s representation office in Thailand, will assist in searching and contacting the Macau residents who are in the area and provide help, if necessary, in arrangement of travel documents and air tickets to return to Macau. As the communication channels/ networks are largely affected by the tidal wave in Phuket, PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) Headquarter has immediately sent members to Phuket to learn more about the conditions of touring groups and individual travelers. They are keeping close contact with MGTO’s staff stationed in Bangkok to provide assistance to the needs. For enquiries and assistance of local residents, please call 315566. Macau residents who are aboard and need assistance, please contact MGTO’s representative office in Bangkok, Thailand at (66-2) 255- 5989, (66) 9685- 8194. On the other hand, Thailand Authorities have also set up rescue hotlines: Bangkok (66-2) 253-7418; Phuket (66-76) 391-596 for inquiry.
MGTO will continue to monitor closely the incident.