Government tourism personnel from Portuguese-speaking countries on training in Macao
Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has joined hands with the Supporting Office to the Permanent Secretariat to the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Macao) to carry out their tourism training program for civil servants from tourism offices of Portuguese-speaking countries. The training program of 2016 was smoothly held and came to an end last week. MGTO has been persistently offering support to Portuguese-speaking countries to support the city’s goal to become a “World Centre of Tourism and Leisure” as well as a “commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries”. In addition, through the training program, the Office aims to familiarize government tourism personnel from Portuguese-speaking countries with Macao’s tourism development and MGTO’s daily operation in order to further exchange and mutual learning while assisting the countries to cultivate talent in the field of tourism. Divided into three groups, a total of 25 government tourism personnel from Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, East Timor and Angola came to Macao between April and July this year for training and internship opportunities at MGTO. The program included training at the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) as well as field trips to local attractions and tourism facilities among other activities. The last group of trainees was finished with training last week. Further to that, MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Deputy Secretary-General (appointed by the Macao SAR Government) of the Permanent Secretariat to the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Macao) and Coordinator of the Supporting Office, Cristina Morais, President of IFT, Fanny Vong, and MGTO Deputy Director, Cheng Wai Tong, attended a welcome luncheon hosted for the first group of trainees and delegations from the countries concerned at the Educational Restaurant of IFT. In 2010, MGTO signed the memoranda of understanding on cooperation in tourism with Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, and following that, with East Timor and Angola in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Between 2012 and 2016, MGTO has trained a total of 98 government tourism personnel from the above Portuguese-speaking countries.
