The two-week long internship includes training at MGTO and workshops at IFT
Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), in cooperation with the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Macao) started this year’s training program tailored for civil servants from tourism offices of Portuguese-speaking countries.
Between March and July this year, three training sessions lasting for two weeks each will be conducted in Macao, involving a total of around 30 government personnel from tourism authorities of Portuguese-speaking countries. The first batch started its training today (March 12), with participants from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe, while a second group will arrive to Macao in May and a third in July. The training content includes internship in several MGTO departments, two days of workshops at the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) about Managing Attractions Effectively, Consumer Behavior and Destination Branding. There will also be field trips to tourism infrastructures, the city’s historical and cultural heritage and other attractions of Macao.
A lunch to welcome the first group of trainees of this year was held today at IFT Educational Restaurant. The occasion was attended by MGTO Director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the President of IFT, Fanny Vong, along with MGTO Deputy Director, Cheng Wai Tong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, Rodrigo Brum, Coordinator of the Support Office of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, Teresa Mok, among other guests.
The internship aims to acquaint the trainees about the daily work of MGTO as well as the overall development of Macao’s tourism industry. In addition, by carrying out the training program, MGTO hopes to enhance mutual learning and exchange between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries in the field of tourism, while assisting the involved countries to train tourism professionals, in line with Macao’s goal to become a world centre of tourism and leisure and a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
MGTO signed memoranda of understanding on cooperation in tourism with Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique in 2010, with East Timor in 2013 and Angola in 2015. In addition, in 2016 the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government signed a protocol on cooperation in tourism with the Ministry of Economy of Portugal.
From 2012 to 2017, MGTO provided training to a total of 130 government personnel from Portuguese-speaking countries.
