Senna Fernandes delivers a welcome speech
The 5th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (“the Expo” or “MITE”) was inaugurated this morning (7th July). As one of the featured highlights, the China – Portugal Tourism Seminar & Networking was held in the afternoon with around 120 tourism industry participants from the Mainland, Hong Kong, Portugal and other countries and regions. The event enhanced exchange and cooperation and radiated Macao’s advantages as a Sino-Portuguese platform.
With the support of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and as the MITE organizer and a member of the China Maritime Silk Road Tourism Promotion Alliance, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) invited the Fujian Provincial Tourism Development Committee, the initiator of the Alliance, and the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT, from its Portuguese acronym) to the Seminar, giving a new dynamic to Sino-Portuguese cooperation in tourism. Director General of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs Department of CNTA, Li Yaying, MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Deputy Head of the Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs Division of the Fujian Provincial Tourism Development Committee, Li Hanghui, Tourism Director for China of Portugal Tourism, Inês Almeida Garrett, and APAVT President Pedro Costa Ferreira attended the Seminar together with other personages. Around 120 participants came from Portugal, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, as well as from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan region to participate in the Seminar. The Fujian Provincial Tourism Development Committee, Portugal Tourism and MGTO each gave a presentation about their respective destinations during the Seminar. Participants seized the chance to discuss business opportunities and explore new possibilities in tourism cooperation.
In her welcome speech, Director Senna Fernandes expressed that Macao is a major exchange and cooperative platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. With Macao’s commitment to the national Belt and Road development and the planning of the city cluster development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Macao will make an increasingly far-reaching impact as a platform and bridge, which will also facilitate its endeavor to become “one centre and one platform”. She added that with the upcoming inauguration of direct flights between China and Portugal, she looks forward to seeing more newly-inaugurated flights in the future, in the hope that Macao can develop diverse multi-destination tourism products with other destinations in pursuit of a common share in visitor markets.
Since last year, MGTO has started organizing the China – Portugal Tourism Seminar & Networking during the Expo with the aim to foster interchanges and cooperation between China and Portugal as well as other Portuguese-speaking countries, thus leveraging Macao’s competitive edges as a Sino-Portuguese platform. The 5th MITE is supported by CNTA, organized by MGTO and coordinated by Macau Travel Agency Association. A total of 303 enterprises and entities came from 45 countries and regions to Macao for participation in the event.
The China Maritime Silk Road Tourism Promotion Alliance was founded in 2015 under the guidance of CNTA and initiated by the Fujian Provincial Tourism Development Committee. Members of the Alliance include the tourism authorities of ten provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) along the Maritime Silk Road, namely Fujian, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, as well as Hong Kong and Macao. Through the Alliance, MGTO makes strenuous efforts not only to jointly build and promote the tourism brand of the Maritime Silk Road, but also to develop tourism products and multi-destination itineraries themed around the Maritime Silk Road and organize promotions at home and abroad together with other alliance members with the aim to tap into different visitor markets together.
