To celebrate the Year of the Dragon with Hong Kong travel trade, business partners and media friends, Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) hosted a spring luncheon in Conrad Hong Kong Hotel today (3 Feb) to thank them for their continuous support to the tourism industry of Macau. João Manuel Costa Antunes, Director of MGTO, led the delegation to join the Spring Luncheon. Over 200 guests from local travel trade, business partners and media were present, including Commissioner for Tourism of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Philip Yung, Director of Asia Tourism Exchange Centre, Xu Hui Fang, Deputy Executive Director of Hong Kong Tourism Board, Daisy Lam and Chairman of Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, Michael Wu. In his welcome remarks, Director Costa Antunes expressed his New Year blessings and gratitude to local trade partners and media for their efforts in making 2011 a satisfying year for the tourism industry of Macau. The number of visitor arrivals to Macau in 2011 reached 28 million, representing an increase of 12.2% over 2010. Hong Kong constituted the second largest visitor generating market of Macau. Over 7.5 million Hong Kong visitors traveled to Macau last year. In the Year of the Dragon, MGTO aims to build Macau the World Center of Tourism and Leisure with efforts in various areas: promotion of the diversified tourism products in Macau under the theme "Touching Moments Experience Macau", improvement on tourism legislation and industry management to establish a quality tourism image, and consolidation of tourism product mix to create the atmosphere for leisure tourism. In line with the promotion strategies of MGTO, the Representative in Hong Kong will carry out promotional activities targeting different market segments, in addition to product presentations, luncheons, thematic familiarization tours, seminars, roadshows and trade visits etc, to enhance the communication and collaboration with trade partners and the media.
