News

This year is the 26th Anniversary of the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) and from September onwards, a series of activities will be held to celebrate this important event. The Open Day, one of the main activities, is organized for the first time in an online mode and it will be live-streamed on the Institute Instagram (iftm_macao) on 25 September at 3pm. Students, parents, and the public are welcome to join and learn more about the admissions, teaching and campus facilities through this activity.
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Organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), the “Macao International Music Festival – Music October” will present 7 outreach activities in a total of 15 sessions, including masterclasses, workshops, pre-show talks, exhibitions, outdoor performances and charity sessions, bringing music to the community in autumn.
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Due to the fact that many parts of the world are still affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic, the special edition of Macao International Music Festival (MIMF), themed “Music October”, organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from its Portuguese acronym), will present 11 programmes and 7 outreach activities from October. This year’s Festival will focus on concerts by Chinese performers and local rising musicians, offering the public rich and diverse music programmes and activities. The Festival aims to bring music to each and every corner of the city, connecting and communicating with the world through music, inspiring people and shaking off the gloom through the power of culture.
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Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has all along been encouraging community associations to organize events that benefit the tourism industry while seeking to advance tourism development for economic progress through granting subsidies and other ways of support. In line with the Macao Special Administrative Region Government’s policy to optimize subsidy schemes, the Tourism Fund adjusted the current subsidy mechanism according to the latest principles for the Macao SAR’s autonomous funds in granting financial support, and will launch four specialized subsidy programs of 2022 namely “Development of community tourism and economy”, “Gastronomic culture promotion”, “Maritime tourism” and “Travel trade training” at two stages starting from today (20 September). Subsidized activities/projects must begin within 2022.
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Organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), the Macao International Music Festival – Music October will be held in October. Tickets will be available through the Macau Ticketing Network from 10am on 25 September (Saturday). In order to cooperate with the epidemic prevention and control measures and to safeguard the public health, outlet ticketing, telephone and online booking will be available simultaneously from 10am on the first day of ticket sales. Meanwhile, in order to reduce crowd gathering onsite, an online reservation system has been set up for the first day of ticket sales. Members of the public who want to purchase tickets at the outlets from 10am to 12pm on that day are required to reserve their ticketing slot from 10am on 23 September (Thursday) through the online reservation system.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) recently hosted the 11^th Statistics Conference of the Central Banks of Portuguese-speaking Countries (virtual conference), which is a biennial international statistical event. The 11^th Statistics Conference, originally scheduled to be held in Macao in 2020, was rescheduled to this year as a virtual conference due to the pandemic.
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In order to ensure safe operation of the facilities of the Guia Hill Cable Car for public safety, the Municipal Affairs Bureau regularly maintains the Guia Hill Cable Car and conducts annual safety inspections. During the annual inspection this year, some parts were found to be worn out and must be replaced. Accordingly, the operation of the facilities of the Guia Hill Cable Car will be suspended from 21 September until further notice. The public is advised to pay attention to the measure.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 124 hotels & guesthouses were open for business in 2020, an increase of 2 year-on-year; total number of persons engaged decreased by 9,181 to 42,672. Receipts of the sector plunged by 66.2% year-on-year to MOP 12.93 billion on account of a decline of 62.2 percentage points in the average occupancy rate of guest rooms (28.6%) amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Expenditure of the sector dropped by 34.2% year-on-year to MOP 22.22 billion. With expenditure exceeding receipts, the sector recorded a deficit of MOP 9.36 billion. Gross Value Added that measures the sectoral contribution to the economy amounted to MOP 2.18 billion, a plunge of 88.8% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Gross Fixed Capital Formation of the sector dropped by 51.0% year-on-year to MOP 3.34 billion attributable to a reduction in major repairs in 2020.
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The CCAC has detected a case of corruption and document forgery involving a construction works contract of the University of Macau (UMAC). In the process of awarding a residential college construction contract, a then administrative officer of the Construction and Engineering Section of the Campus Management and Development Office of the UMAC allegedly assisted one of the tenderers in the preparation of tender, forged tender documents and participated in part of the tender evaluation. Eventually, the tenderer was awarded the contract. Subsequently, a newly established construction company of which the then administrative officer was one of the shareholders was subcontracted by the contractor to carry out some of the works in return. The value of the construction contract involved was around MOP220 million.
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