Macau presents Macau Festival 2009 in Malaysia

The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) launched the ‘Macau Festival 2009’ at One U Shopping Centre in Kuala Lumpur yesterday (May 20). The launch was officiated by Tunku Dato’ Seri Iskandar Tunku Abdullah, MGTO Representative in Malaysia. Among the invited guests were Macau travel trade, airlines partner and travel industry leaders in Malaysia. As this year marks the 10th Year Anniversary of Macau S.A.R, the 5-days Macau Festival event was organized as part of the “Experience Macau! Celebrations” activities to showcase the unique blend of the western and oriental culture that is so characteristic of Macau. The whole lower concourse area of the One U Shopping Centre was ‘transformed’ to a quaint Piazza with the iconic Ruins of St Paul’s as a background and a ‘turntable’ featuring the miniatures of the Macau World Heritage sites.
At the launch, Tunku Iskandar said “To enable visitors to experience Macau through the ‘Macau Festival’, we have arranged a variety of entertainment and other activities for all, giving the consumers a taste of Macau, where they will discover that Macau is indeed a unique and fascinating destination, one of the premier tourist destinations in Asia Pacific region that must not be missed!” The Macau Festival is being held for five days from 20th to 24th May, 2009 and showcases the historical destination of Macau, with its unique blend of Western and Oriental cultures. Attractions at the festival are aimed at enabling families and individuals to “Experience Macau” and to enjoy the performances and activities lined up which includes Portuguese and Chinese folk dances, games, clowns, lucky draws and free sampling of Macau delicacies. There was also a special booth for sales promotion of tours to Macau by 6 Malaysian travel agencies. There were a wide variety of holiday packages offered such as the Celebrate Macau packages, Macau Walk Hunt, Honeymoon package and Wedding Photography Shoot in Macau, to entice holiday makers. Consumers who purchased a Macau package from any of these travel agencies from 20th to 24th May, 2009 will be entitled for the daily draws where the prizes include return air tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Macau, room nights stay in Macau hotel and many other attractive prizes. As AirAsia has started flight connections between Macau and Penang from March, MGTO organized tourism business session for the travel trade member of the two places to strengthen ties and discover business opportunities to attract more visitors to Macau. Macau continues to attract more Malaysians visitors with the Historic Centre of Macau that exhibits Chinese and Western cultures, lifestyle and unique cuisine, as well as the liberalization of the gaming industry that has attracted investments for world class tourism and MICE facilities in Macau. Malaysia is Macau’s important source of visitors. At present, AirAsia provides direct services from Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching to Macau.