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The Vice-Chairwoman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Ms Liu Yandong, will pay a five-day visit to Macao on Wednesday. During her stay in Macao, Ms Liu will attend the opening of the 'Overseas Chinese World Conference for Promoting Peaceful Reunification of China 2006' and meet with the Chief Executive and representatives from different sectors.
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(Macao - December 13 2006) The Vice-Chairwoman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Ms Liu Yandong, arrived in Macao tonight for a five-day visit. Ms Liu greeted the Macao people upon her arrival and said that, after her brief visit during the handover of Macao seven years ago, she would be staying longer in the MSAR this time and expected to share a joyful time with the Macao people. “I will have more time to see the great achievements of Macao in the past seven years under the guidance of ‘One Country Two Systems’ policy and the implementation of the Basic Law.” Said Ms Liu. Ms Liu was accompanied by Vice Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Secretary General of the Commission for the Peaceful Reunification of China, Mr Lou Zhihao; Vice-Minister of Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Mr Zheng Lizhong; deputy director general of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, Mr Xu Yousheng; deputy director of Hong Kong Macao Affairs Office of State Council, Mr. Zhou Bo; vice-president of the Central Committee of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, Mr Zhu Peikang; vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, Mr Liu Yiming; vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, Mr Lin Mingjiang; vice-minister of China's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Mr Wang Zaixi; and the deputy director General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Wei Wei. The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Florinda Chan and the Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region, Mr Bai Zhijian, greeted Ms Liu at the airport. Tomorrow, Ms Liu will attend the Overseas Chinese World Conference for Promoting Peaceful Reunification of China 2006, and a photo exhibition to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the reunification of Macao in the morning. In the evening she is scheduled to meet with the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, and attend a banquet hosted by Mr Ho.
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【Low/Green】 The potable water salinity level today (14/12/2006) is 80.8 g/litre, and is classified as “Low” or “Green” and all parameters are well within WHO standard.
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【Low/Green】 The potable water salinity level today (13/12/2006) is 70.5 g/litre, and is classified as “Low” or “Green” and all parameters are well within WHO standard.
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The Macau Government Tourist Office (“MGTO”) hosted a glittering “Thank You” dinner themed ‘An evening in Macau’ for some 120 travel trade related, media and tourism officials last night in Kuala Lumpur. Director of the Macau Government Tourist Office, Mr João Manuel Costa Antunes, thanked the Malaysia travel trade and media for their support and contribution in 2006 in his speech. The dinner was held to strengthen ties between the travel industry of Malaysia and Macau, facilitate exchange of information and further enhance mutual cooperation. At the dinner, guests also witnessed the official launch of MGTO’s Bahasa Malaysia website by Director of MGTO and Tunku Dato' Seri Iskandar bin Tunku Abdullah, Group President of MGTO’s Representative Office in Malaysia, Pacific World Travel Sdn Bhd. MGTO has supported the Malaysian travel industry and media to promote mono-Macau packages i under “2006 Macau World Heritage Year”. One of the initiatives by MGTO in Malaysia was to establish a group of travel agents who are keen to aggressively promote Macau as a destination in a programme named “Amigos Macau”. The travel agents who achieved excellent and outstanding results in promoting Macau as a tourist destination were awarded with certificates of appreciation. In his speech, Tunku Iskandar said, “The challenge put to them was to not only increase the numbers of Malaysian arrivals to Macau but also to increase the overnight stays as well.” Last year Macau welcomed 98,450 Malaysian visitors, a significant growth of 103.45% over 2004. January till October this year saw a 102.27% growth in arrivals from Malaysia. The evening, was filled with activities and live entertainment related to the mix of Portuguese and Chinese cultures, depicting the “old” Macau side-by-side with the modern new tourism infrastructures that have transformed the territory. Macau's heritage sites were also showcased in an exhibition, “The Historic Centre of Macau” in conjunction with '2006 Macau World Heritage Year'. “The Historic Centre of Macau” is a living representation of the city’s historic western settlement, comprising architectural legacies interwoven amongst the original urban fabric illustrating the first and most lasting encounter between China and the western world. Capitalizing on the effect of the Macau World Heritage brand and the promising future of Macau’s tourism development as various large-scale tourism facilities will soon be completed, MGTO strives to build Macau into a leading cultural tourism destination in the Asia Pacific region.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours totalled 216,032 in October 2006, a marginal increase of 0.2% year-on-year. Among them, visitors from Mainland China (154,684) and Taiwan, China (17,658) dropped 8.3% and 18.9% respectively, while visitors from Hong Kong (10,963) rose 16.4% over October 2005. In the first ten months of 2006, visitor arrivals in package tours grew 7.8% over the same period of 2005 to 2,312,987. Number of Macao residents travelled in package tours in October was 19,599, a year-on-year decrease of 15.1%. Mainland China; Thailand; and Taiwan, China were the three more popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 78.8%, 5.0% and 4.9% of the total respectively. In the first ten months of 2006, Macao residents travelled in package tours logged 223,581, which decreased by 9.9% compared with the same period of 2005. Meanwhile, 26,949 Macao residents travelled under own arrangements using services provided by travel agencies, a decrease of 2.0% year-on-year. Mainland China (36.4%), Hong Kong (27.9%) and Taiwan, China (15.9%) were the major destinations. In the first ten months of 2006, Macao residents travelled under such arrangements increased 13.9% to 302,154 over the corresponding period of 2005. At the end of October 2006, number of guest rooms available in the hotel industry registered an increase of 1,784 rooms (+16.8%) over October 2005 to 12,419 rooms. In addition, a total of 412,448 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments in October, a year-on-year growth of 17.3%. The average hotel occupancy rate was 73.6%, representing a decrease of 1.8 percentage points over October 2005, with 4-star hotels leading at 80.2%. The average length of stay of hotel guests showed a decrease of 0.06 night to 1.19 nights. The majority of the guests came from Mainland China (52.7%), Hong Kong (28.2%) and Taiwan, China (2.9%). In the first ten months of 2006, the number of hotel guests increased 12.2% over the same period of 2005 to 3,755,609. In the first ten months of 2006, hotel guests (excluding Macao residents) accounted for 41.0% of the total number of tourists, which was lower than the 42.8% recorded in the same period of 2005.
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Macao’s economy has been greatly boosted by the tourism and the gaming industries. With benefits from the individual traveling policy and “The Mainland and Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA)”, the demand for air services between Macao and the mainland has increased continually. The passenger and cargo throughput reports satisfactory growth year-on-year. To expand the development of the air services between the two places, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) and the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on air transport between Macao and the mainland on 11 December in Beijing. The MOU greatly enhances the development of the air transport market between the two places, in particular, reaching a big milestone in the increased number of mainland destinations and the liberalization of the capacity. The signatories were the Deputy Director-General of Air Transport Department of CAAC, Mr. He Jin Ri and the President of AACM, Mr. Chan Weng Hong. The two aeronautical authorities met in Beijing in October this year to start new negotiations and agreed to further liberalize the conditions in the old MOU. The two parties exchanged opinions and agreed that the discussion of the new MOU should be concluded and signed within this year to cater for adequate planning time for the summer schedule to be launched by the airlines of both sides in March 2007. In accordance with the new MOU, the mainland destinations have been increased from 37 to 57, a rise of 54%. In the passenger capacity, the total frequencies (including helicopter services) of the following seven cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Kunming and Dalian will be increased from 196 to 315 commencing March 2007. Such frequencies will further be increased to 372 starting October 2008. No restrictions will be put on the capacity for the remaining 50 cities starting March 2007. The number of designated airlines will also be gradually increased. In the cargo capacity, the old MOU only allows the designated airlines of each party to operate a maximum of 50 all-cargo flights in each direction per week. Starting March 2007, the new MOU only puts capacity restrictions on seven cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Kunming and Dalian. No restrictions will be imposed on the capacity of the other cities. Commencing October 2008, except Beijing and Shanghai, the capacity limitations on the other five restricted cities will be entirely eliminated. Co-terminalization on any two mainland points is allowed by the designated airlines of both parties. However, Beijing and Shanghai cannot be served as intermediate points. Macao’s designated airlines do not have traffic rights between the co-terminal cities. In addition, the designated airlines of both sides can cooperate with each other in code-sharing. At present, the airlines of the two places which operate scheduled services between Macao and the mainland are Air Macau, East Asia Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and Xiamen Airlines. These airlines together provide services to 13 mainland destinations including Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Guilin, Guiyang, Haikou, Hangzhou, Kunming, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xiamen. Comparing the present number of flights operated with the capacity entitlement granted in the old MOU, the used frequencies by these airlines have not yet reached saturation. Despite this, with the continuous rapid growth of the entire economy of China including the Pearl River Delta Region, and the opportunities driven by the economic boom of Macao, there are great potentials in the expansion of the air transport market between the two places. The two aeronautical authorities believe it would be necessary to put in place a liberal framework in advance so as to attract more airlines to exploit new routes and pave way for the future growth. The signing of the new MOU also indicates the support given by the Central Government to Macao in diversifying its economic activities. The AACM delegation also took the opportunity to pay an official call to the Vice Minister of CAAC, Mr. Gao Hong Feng. During the meeting, President Chan thanked CAAC for its long-term support and assistance given to Macao’s aviation. Both sides exchanged opinions on issues regarding the beyond points and the air traffic management of the Pearl River Delta Region. Vice Minister Gao indicated that CAAC will make a deeper study and aim at resolving these issues. They also hope that there will be stronger cooperation between both parties, especially in technical aspects such as air traffic management, airworthiness and flight standards. End. Destinations: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Dalian,. Chengdu, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Xian, Chongqing, Qingdao, Urumqi, Nanjing, Guilin, Changsha, Wuhan, Ningbo, Haikou, Shenyang, Shi Jiashuang, Harbin, Sanya, Zhangzhou, Jinan, Nanchang, Nanning, Guiyang, Shantou, Huangshan, Wenzhou, Lijiang, Wu Yishan, Zhangjiajie, Hohhot, Hailar, Yanji, Jiamusi, Qiqihar, Mudanjiang, Weihai, XishuangBanna, Lhasa, Kashi, Yinchuan, Yichang, Changchun, Taiyuan, Hefei, Luoyang, Beihai, Yantai, Meixian, Zhanjiang, Lanzhou.
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Due to routine inspection and preservation, the Exhibition of the Bryde’s Whale Skeletal Specimen at the Seac Pai Van Park in Coloane, will be temporarily closed to the public from 11th to 13th December 2006.
The exhibition will be opened again on 14th December 2006. Along with the exhibition, there is a Chinese White Dolphin skeletal specimen on display also.
Exhibition venue: Seac Pai Van Park, Coloane
Opening hours: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (closed on Mondays)
Admission: free
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【Low/Green】 The potable water salinity level today (09/12/2006) is 66.0 g/litre, and is classified as “Low” or “Green” and all parameters are well within WHO standard.
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The result of the 'Guangdong-Macao Co-operation Joint Conference 2006' was encouraging, the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said in Zhuhai today. Speaking to the press after the annual conference between the two governments, Mr Ho said the two parties reviewed their partnership in the last year and discussed key projects for further co-operation. They had also discussed the scheme for developing Hengqin Island, the co-operation on Chinese medicine industry and projects on water supply. On the case of Mr Ao Man Long, the former Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Ho said building a clean and honest society had always been a strategic goal of the SAR Government, and corrupt officials at any levels would definitely be procecuted.
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