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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, will answer legislators' questions on public issues at a plenary meeting of the Legislative Assembly tomorrow. The after meeting will be broadcast live on television (TDM) and on the Portal Website of the Macao SAR (http://www.gov.mo). To bolster communication with the Assembly and transparency in government, the Chief Executive attends such sessions at least three times a year. Tomorrow's meeting is the first such session for the Chief Executive this year.
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At the invitation of Macao's Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, the Governor of Hebei Province, Mr Guo Gengmao, arrived today in Macao for a two-day visit. The Chief Executive met the Governor at Government Headquarters in the evening and exchanged ideas on how to boost trade and investment between the two places, before hosting Mr Guo and his delegation to a banquet. Earlier, Mr Guo attended a gathering to introduce Hebei's business environment to Macao's business circles.
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The Basic Law is crucial to Macao in its pursuit of sustainable development, the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today. Speaking at the opening ceremony of a seminar on the Basic Law, Mr Ho said that in order to achieve sustainable development, the Government was working with the public in promoting a more diversified and co-ordinated industry portfolio, to raise the general quality-of-life of residents and to nurture future talents for Macao. He said it was inevitable for conflicts to emerge as the society continued to develop, and urged residents to understand and implement the Basic Law, and to address different issues with foresight and a positive and harmonious attitude.
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The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Lau Si Io, said he placed great importance on residents' needs for housing and better transport. Visiting the General Union of Neighbours Association of Macau today, Mr Lau listened to the Union's ideas on housing, transport, land concessions, renewal of old districts and other areas. Mr Lau said the Government will continue to implement existing public housing policies and to build homes according to public needs and Macao's socio-economic situation. The purpose of this visit was to listen to the Union's opinion on Government policies, he said.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that, in February 2007, Macao’s total value of exports amounted to MOP1.25 billion, up 29.2% over the same month of 2006. Among this, the value of domestic exports went up 41.8% to MOP879 million, and the value of re-exports increased 6.8% to MOP374 million. Total value of imports amounted to MOP2.40 billion, up 14.4% year-on-year. A trade deficit of MOP1.15 billion was recorded. During the period of January – February 2007, the value of total exports dropped 2.6% year-on-year to MOP2.95 billion. Among this, the value of domestic exports fell 13.3%, whereas the value of re-exports rose 31.9%. Meanwhile, the value of imports grew 19.9% to MOP5.66 billion, bringing Macao’s trade balance to a deficit of MOP2.71 billion. The exports/imports ratio decreased from 64.1% in the corresponding period of 2006 to 52.1%. During these two months, the value of Textile & garment exports, which accounted for 65.0% of the total exports, went down 18.0% over the same period of 2006, while the value of Non-textile exports rose 49.5%. As the major components of non-textile exports, Machines & apparatus, parts & accessories thereof and Footwear surged 109.3% and 663.9% respectively year-on-year. The USA and the EU remained as Macao’s major export markets, together making up 60.3% of the total value of exports. Within this, exports to the USA, which made up 43.1% of the total export value, decreased 18.2%, while exports to the EU, which took up 17.2% of the total, decreased 8.8% year-on-year. During the period of January – February 2007, Macao’s total value of imports grew 19.9% year-on-year mainly due to increases in import values of, by broad economic categories, Capital goods (+39.2%), Consumer goods (+17.6%), Raw materials & semi-manufactures (+13.9%) and Fuels & lubricants (+11.6%). Moreover, Macao’s main suppliers of imported goods still concentrated in the Asian region. Imports from Mainland China and Hong Kong, which together constituted 52.8% of the total import value, rose 23.9% and 21.0% respectively year-on-year.
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The Statistics and Census Service released the results of the Manpower Needs and Wages Survey of the Gaming Industry for the fourth quarter of 2006, which excluded junket promoters and junket associates. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2006, there were 36,412 paid employees engaged in the Gaming Industry, an increase of 39.4% compared with the same period of 2005. Analyzed by occupation, 22,669 were engaged in positions that are directly related to betting services, such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, dealers, betting service operators, etc., while 6,683 were engaged as services and sales workers, including casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc., up 49.0% and 24.2% respectively over the same period of 2005. In December 2006, average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) for full-time employees rose by 24.0% year-on-year to MOP 13,978. Average earnings for the positions that are directly related to betting services was MOP 14,643, up by 26.2% over December 2005. The average earnings of services and sales workers also increased by 21.1% to MOP 8,076. At the end of December 2006, the Gaming Industry reported 5,631 vacant posts, of which 3,861 were related to hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, dealers, betting service operators, etc., while there were 1,008 vacancies for services and sales workers. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 25.4% of the vacant posts required working experience; 81.1% required senior secondary or higher education. Besides Cantonese, other preferred language skills were Mandarin (83.5%) and English (47.4%).
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The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, Mr Pham Gia Khiem, arrived in Macao today for a two-day official visit. Mr Pham and his delegation are scheduled to meet Macao's Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, in the evening and attend a banquet hosted by Mr Ho. During his visit, Mr Pham and his delegation is to attend a trade symposium, visit the University of Macau and some tourist attractions. Mr Pham is on a six-day visit in China at the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Li Zhaoxing. Macao is his last stop on this visit.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that total number of visitor arrivals in 2006 increased 18% over 2005 to a new record of 21,998,122; visitors from Mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for 55% and 32% of the total respectively. Mainland visitors travelled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme totalled 5,905,477, up by 11%. Visitor arrivals in package tours also increased 9% to 2,925,724. In 2006, number of residents travelling in package tours went down 8% over 2005 to 272,444, while those travelled under own arrangements using services provided by the travel agencies increased 12% to 372,159. The opening of 6 new hotels in 2006 increased the availability of guest rooms by 20% to 12,978. While the number of hotel guests recorded a 14% year-on-year growth to 4,680,854, the average hotel occupancy rate rose by 1.3 percentage points to 72.3%. The average length of stay of hotel guests was 1.21 nights, a slight decrease of 0.01 night compared with 2005. Per-capita spending of visitors was MOP 1,610 in 2006, up by 6% over 2005; per-capita spending of Mainland visitors topped with MOP 3,215. Compared with 2005, per-capita spending of visitors arriving by sea and by land was MOP_1,302 (+5%) and MOP 1,937 (+6%) respectively, while that of visitors arriving by air was MOP 4,723 (-3%). Per-capita non-shopping spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors was MOP 863, a marginal increase of 1% over 2005. Visitors from Mainland China led with MOP 1,143. Expenses on food & beverage; and accommodation took up 39% and 38% respectively of the per-capita non-shopping spending of visitors. Per-capita shopping spending of visitors posted a 11% growth over 2005 to MOP 747. Mainland visitors took the lead with MOP 2,071, while that of Hong Kong visitors was MOP_216. Spending on local food products (26% of the total shopping spending) and clothing (19%) took the largest share. Per-diem spending of visitors was MOP 1,485, an increase of 11% over 2005; visitors from Mainland China had the highest per-diem spending of MOP 2,619. The average length of stay (1.1 days) of visitors was similar to that of 2005, while the average for the tourists and same-day visitors was 1.6 days and 0.2 day respectively.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) Director João Manuel Costa Antunes led a delegation to take part in the Intourmarket (ITM) – 2007 held in Moscow as an initiative to explore the Russian market. During the visit to Russia, MGTO is invited by China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) to join the “China Tourism Night”, a prologue to the “Year of China” in Russia. Headed by MGTO Director João Manuel Costa Antunes, the delegation, comprising of chiefs of MGTO’s Promotion and Marketing Department and Research and Planning Department, representatives of 3 travel agents and 1 convention/exhibition and shipping company in Macau, aims to promote Macau’s tourism products and build relationship with the travel trade in Russia. “Russia is an important potential market for us to explore. As ITM this time coincides with the “Year of China” in Russia, we are very pleased to be invited by CNTA to join the “China Tourism Night”. We truly believe that Russia is a forthcoming market and the tourist attractions of Macau and the Mainland, when combined together, will be a very attractive tourism product,” Director Antunes said. MGTO has set up a booth showcasing the slogan of “Experience Macau” at ITM 2007, the International Trade Fair for Travel and Tourism held from March 18 to 21 at IEC “Crocus Expo” in Moscow, to introduce the tourism industry of Macau and its latest development. Representatives of the local travel trade actively explore business opportunities through this travel fair in Russia to raise the awareness of Macau and lay the foundation to develop the source market in Russia. Representatives of Macau’s travel trade met in the fair with over 100 counterparts, who showed great interest in Macau’s tourism products. To be in line with a series of activities for the “Year of China” in Russia, Chairman of CNTA, Shao Qiwei led a large scale delegation to host a promotional activity, “China Tourism Night” in Moscow and St Petersburg on March 20 and 22, where the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), Shanghai 2010 World Exposition National Organizing Committee, MGTO and Hainan Provincial Tourism Bureau were invited to do presentations. MGTO took this opportunity to introduce the latest tourism development and tourism products of Macau to over 400 guests. Guests participated in the “China Tourism Night” included officials from CNTA, Chinese envoy in Russia, Le Yucheng and officials from tourism departments of Russia. China and Russia enjoy close relationship in a wide range of aspects. According to the statistics of CNTA, China received over 2.4 million visitors from Russia in 2006. This press release is available at: http://www.macautourism.gov.mo
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The Government will restructure the Public Security Police Force to offer more promotion opportunities for officers, Secretary for Security, Mr Cheong Kuoc Va, said today. Frontline officers would benefit from this as it would increase the number of senior posts, Mr Cheong said, at the graduation ceremony of the Fifth Training Programme for Public Security Forces Police Cadets. He said the Government was planning to increase the starting salary index for police officers from 195 points ($10,725 patacas) to 260 points ($14,300 patacas), in line with Macao’s latest social and economic growth. At the same time, the entry academic requirement for new officers will be raised from Form 3 to Form 5. About 200 cadets due to start training in late April would help strengthen the security forces, Mr Cheong added.
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