Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) distributed today gifts to tourists, organized a tray race and a banquet to celebrate World Tourism Day 2009. Earlier in the day, Director of MGTO, João Manuel Costa Antunes and Deputy Director Manuel Pires presented welcome gifts to tourists at the Macau Ferry Terminal and the Macau International Airport. Souvenirs were also distributed to visitors at MGTO Information Counters throughout the day. The lucky tourists of this year’s World Tourism Day were a Philippine couple at the Ferry Terminal and a Malaysian couple at the Macau International Airport. The traditional tray race was held in the afternoon, where waiters and waitresses ran down the stoned-path from the Ruins of St Paul's to Senado Square carrying a tray with a bottle of beer on it. The race attracted a total of 161 waiters and waitresses from 30 hotels and restaurants in Macau this year. Crowds of visitors and locals cheered for the participants. The winner of the men's division was Yang Hao from Sands Macao and the winner of the women’s division was Wu Chun Hao from 456 Modern Shanghai Cuisine. The Best Costume Awards went to Sardina Babel Luarez of Hard Rock Hotel and Hu Min Xia of Hotel Landmark Macau. In the evening, MGTO held a dinner banquet to celebrate World Tourism Day with local travel trade partners. On the occasion, Costa Antunes said that, “The theme of this year is ‘Tourism - Celebrating Diversity’. Macau is definitely the place where Chinese culture is integrated with Portuguese culture. The unique features have reflected in people’s living, architectures and cuisines. In addition, Macau is eager to explore the new tourism products, which will not only reveal the Sino-Western culture but also create sparkle with the old and the new elements. The attractiveness of Macau will be enhanced and Macau’s tourism industry will continue to diversify.” This is the 30th year since the celebrations of World Tourism Day on every September 27 were initiated by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in 1980. The main purpose of World Tourism Day is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values. Each year, World Tourism Organization selects a different theme for World Tourism Day. This year's theme is "Tourism - Celebrating Diversity" The host country for World Tourism Day 2009 is Ghana and official celebrations were held today (for more details check www.unwto.org/wtd/). Many other countries and regions also carried out activities to celebrate the day.
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