News

As the National Day Golden Week holiday comes to an end, preliminary figures show that visitor arrivals to Macau surpassed 680,000, an increase of nearly 13% compared to the same period of last year. Among the total arrivals, more than 470,000 were from the Mainland, a surge of 12.38%. Total visitor arrivals during the National Day Golden Week holiday period this year (1-7 October) reached 685,056, 12.94% more than the figure during the National Day Golden Week holiday period last year. 630,000 visitors came from Greater China with a 14% growth, among which, close to 480,000 were from the Mainland, an increase of 12.38%, while visitors from Hong Kong exceeded 140,000, a significant growth of 22.27%. International visitors also surpassed 480,000, with a slight increase of 0.32%. Performance of the hotel industry of Macau was satisfactory during the National Day Golden Week holiday. Average occupancy rate of three-to-five-star hotels reached 90%, a 2.7 percentage points increase compared to the same period of last year. The daily average number of occupied rooms of three-to-five-star hotels was 17,236, increasing by 14.89%. The average room rate of three-to-five-star hotels was 1,422 patacas, up 16% on the Golden Week period of last year. The average occupancy rate of hotels saw a rise during the National Day Golden Week holiday. The average occupancy rate of three-star hotels hit 91.36% (+1.23 percentage points), while that of four-star hotels reached 86.86% (+4.54 percentage points) and five-star hotels hit 91.77% (+2.32 percentage points). The average room rate of different categories of hotels and guesthouses in Macau also increased, with the average room rate of guesthouses in these seven days registering 272 patacas (+16%), two-star hotels 506 patacas (+4.56%), three-star hotels 1,226 patacas (+18.63%), four-star hotels 1,087 patacas (+20.91%) and five-star hotels 1,954 patacas (+11.92%). From October 1 to 7, Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), together with Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration and Fujian Provincial Tourism Administration operated the tourism notification system, which together with the close collaboration among various departments and the support of tourism and related entities, helped to enhance the hospitality of the city to welcome visitors during the Golden Week. During the golden week period, MGTO inspectors intensified surveillance at Macau's most visited sites and border checkpoints, as well as carried on with the operations against illegal accommodation. MGTO and Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ) cooperated in a new promotion and education campaign against illegal accommodation, launched on October 1. Besides distributing flyers of the new campaign at MGTO information counters and immigration counters, MGTO received the support of Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration for promotion and education initiatives in the source market, to safeguard the rights of the visitors. Macau Consumer Council also carried out promotions on the topic with its Mainland counterparts. During the Golden Week holiday, MGTO information counters and the tourism hotline 28 333 000 continued to operate. The tourism hotline was attended by operators around the clock. This press release is available at: www.macautourism.gov.mo
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From yesterday 5 p.m. until 5p.m. today (Oct 8) the Cross-departmental Working Team sealed one premise suspected to provide accommodation illegally. Since the law on "Prohibition of Providing Illegal Accommodation" took effect on August 13, a total of 644 premises were checked, of which 75 premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally were sealed, while 65 were normal residences. Ensuing investigations on the rest of the premises have been launched. Among the checked premises, some were vacant or unoccupied. Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) and the Public Security Police Force (PSP) will continue investigation on unanswered doors, which are suspected to be used to provide accommodation illegally. Meanwhile, during investigations to other cases, PSP has found eight premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally and informed the Cross-departmental Working Team to handle the cases. To date, the operations involved more than 640 occupants, among whom 326 were occupants of premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally and were investigated, including 12 operators, 9 touts, 9 persons who manage the premises that provide accommodation illegally (management staff) and 4 occupants who failed to fulfill their duty of cooperation (among the four occupants who failed to fulfill their duty of cooperation, one has paid the fine). Among the occupants, there were 14 overstayers and 11 illegal immigrants. Following the raid to premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally, MGTO began sanction proceedings on involved operators, touts and managing staff, and adopted provisional measures to cut the supply of water and electricity to the concerned premises and sealed the doors. According to the new law, operators and person who manage the premise that provide accommodation illegally (management staff) incur a penalty up to 800 000 patacas, touts can be fined up to 100 000 patacas and occupants who fail to cooperate are fined 3 000 patacas. Public can also call 2833 3000 to report suspected premises. MGTO and Legal Affairs Bureau remind travelers that, according to the law on "Prohibition of Providing Illegal Accommodation", occupants found in premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally have the obligation to provide information or will be fined 3,000 patacas for violating the duty of cooperation. Occupants providing false information need to bear criminal responsibility. Non-residents who fail to pay the fine by due date might be denied reentry into Macau in the future.
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The 18th Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings Asia (IT&CMA 2010) was held in Bangkok Convention Centre in Thailand from 6 to 7 October this year. Joined by 25 local trades, the Macau Business Tourism Centre of Macau Government Tourist Office participated in the trade show to promote the latest MICE products and offerings of Macau. IT&CMA is the region’s premier meetings and incentive travel tradeshow and has attracted thousands of international buyers and delegates to participate each year. It is at the same time a platform for promoting the Asia-Pacific region as a MICE destination as well as a source for MICE visitors. The number of Macau trades participating in the leading international MICE trade shows has been increasing over the years, which does not only imply that more new offerings are being launched in Macau’s MICE market every year, but also signifies a rise on the level of confidence from the local trades to promote and support Macau to continue to develop as a premier MICE destination in the Asia-Pacific region. Taking the convenience of time and location, MGTO held jointly with Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau a mini mart and networking luncheon named MICE Macau & Thailand Seminar, on 8 October after IT&CMA. The seminar brought together more than 50 representatives from corporate companies, travel-related agents and event organizers from Thailand with 25 representatives from Macau, for service and products update and business discussion. On a sideline of the IT&CMA 2010, the Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus (AACVB) held the “Press Conference on the 4th Asia for Asia Summit: Challenges and Opportunities of the Meetings Industry in the Next Decade” at the Bangkok Convention Centre on 6 October, to update the international media with the latest news and projects of the association.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, today continued his visits to hear complaints, views and suggestions on improving the quality of residents in the various districts. After visiting the older Northern district such as Iao Hon yesterday, Mr Chui today went to the older Ha Wan and San Kio districts, which often suffered from flooding in heavy rain. The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Cheong U, Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Lau Si Io and the Chief-of-Cabinet of the Office of the Chief Executive, Mr Tam Chon Weng accompanied Mr Chui on the visit. During the inspection, residents told the Chief Executive and his team of hygiene and flooding problems. Meanwhile, Mr Chui also talked to shop owners and asked them about business and human resource difficulties that they faced. The officials afterwards sat down with the representatives of the districts to hear their grievances and discussed possible solutions to their problems. Mr Chui said the Government highly valued residents’ opinion and pledged to study their suggestions carefully. Mr Cheong said he had a better idea in developing tourism after collecting concrete suggestions from the residents during the three-day local districts visit. He said the Government would divert more flow to the districts by them connecting to the normal visitors’ routes. The Government had also planned to increase health care centres and homes for the elderly, he added. Mr Lau said in the meeting that an inter-governmental group would look into beautifying the older districts to improve living conditions as well as to attract tourists to visit. On escalating property prices, Mr Lau said the Government’s long-term policy on housing was to build public rental housing and home-ownership scheme housing for those who could not afford to buy property on the open market. He stressed that the Government had sufficient land reserved for future public housing.
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In order to encourage local secondary school students to employ their theoretical scientific knowledge on practical experiments, the Electronic Device Construction Competition, the Communications Museum of Macao and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers will launch this month an Electronic Device Construction Competition. This year the proposed subject will be Rope Climber Express Device. Full-time students of Macao secondary schools can compete individually or as part of a group (maximum of 4 members), divided into two competing categories: Junior Secondary Group or Senior Secondary Group. Each of the top three winners will be presented with trophies, winning certificates, book coupons and attractive prizes. All entries will be displayed at the Museum. An explanatory session in Cantonese will be held in the Communications Museum Auditorium at 14:30, October 23, 2010. Reservations can be made through the phone lines 28718570 / 28718063 or email to info@macao.communications.museum
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While observing school group visits, we have come to notice that many students from areas such as arts and economy also are interested in learning sciences and seek the opportunity to participate in the interactive workshops, in addition to the science students who quite enjoy attending our “brains-on, hands-on” activities. Therefore, the Communications Museum will organize 4 special workshops under the theme “Construction and Control of Direct Current Motor” to teach them about the construction of a direct current motor and the proper technique to control it. All secondary students of arts, economy and science are welcome to register for the workshops to be held on November 6 & 13, respectively.
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According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, broad money supply continued to grow in August. The overall loan-to-deposit ratio bounced back slightly from a month earlier driven by the increase in nonresident loans.
Money supply
Currency in circulation dropped modestly by 0.1% whereas demand deposits increased by 0.8%. M1 thus rose 0.6% when compared with the previous month. Meanwhile, as quasi-monetary liabilities surged merely by 0.9%, M2 grew at a slower pace of 0.8%, amounting to MOP230.2 billion. On an annual basis, M1 and M2 rose 17.3% and 10.8% respectively. The share of Pataca (MOP) in M2 stood at 28.7%, up 0.6 percentage points over a month ago or 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier. Concurrently, the share of Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) in M2 was 53.9%, down 0.6 percentage points month-to-month or up 0.4 percentage points year-on-year.
Deposits
Resident deposits grew at a significantly slower pace. Their value increased by 0.9% from the previous month to MOP225.1 billion. Of which, MOP deposits and other foreign currency deposits increased at respective rates of 3.2% and 1.0%, while HKD deposits fell slightly by 0.3%. Concurrently, non-resident deposits dropped 1.0% to MOP71.5 billion whereas public sector deposits with the banking sector grew continuously by 5.9% to MOP20.0 billion. As a result, total deposits with the banking sector grew 0.7% from the previous month to MOP316.7 billion. The shares of MOP and HKD in total deposits were 24.3% and 46.0% respectively.
Loans
Domestic loans to the private sector were stable. Their value grew modestly by 0.1% on a monthly basis to MOP116.8 billion. Among which, MOP36.0 billion was MOP-denominated and MOP73.0 billion was denominated in HKD, representing 30.8% and 62.5% of the total respectively. Meanwhile, external loans increased 2.4% to MOP110.7 billion; of which, loans denominated in MOP and HKD accounted for 0.8% (MOP0.9 billion) and 41.2% (MOP45.6 billion) of the total respectively.
Loan-to-deposit ratios
As the growth pace of resident deposits (including public sector deposits) was faster than that of domestic loans to the private sector, the loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at end-August 2010 contracted by 0.6 percentage points from a month ago to 47.7%. The ratio for both the resident and non-resident sectors was 71.9%, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month.
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(Macao—6 October 2010) The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, today inspected the old Northern district and collected opinions on improvement to the quality of life for the people there. Accompanied by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Cheong U and the Chief-of-Cabinet of the Office of the Chief Executive, Mr Tam Chon Weng, Mr Chui firstly went to a housing estate situated in Areia Preta to inspect the illegal parking and hygiene problems in the area. Mr Chui also visited Iao Hon district where he was briefed on how drug addicts and prostitutes affected people living in that area. He also asked hawkers about their business. Afterwards, Mr Chui met with the district residents and heard their complaints and opinions on public health, security, transportation, imported labour and other issues. He told them that the Government would carefully study residents’ suggestions to improve the living conditions in the area. Mr Cheong U said in the meeting that the Government would spend more resources to revive the old Northern district, such as sponsoring the district to hold more festive celebrations. He told them the Government had plans to build five more health centres in the next 10 years to meet the needs of the people.
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The Macau Grand Prix Committee (MGPC) held a press conference today (6 October) at the Fisherman’s Wharf Convention & Exhibition Centre, introducing this year’s Grand Prix and announcing the provisional entries for the headline races. Details of promotions and sponsor events were also announced. The conference was hosted by MGPC Co-ordinator João Manuel Costa Antunes. Committee members and sponsor representatives were present. The 57th Macau Grand Prix is scheduled for 18 to 21 November. The three headline races are the FIA Formula 3 Intercontinential Cup, the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 44th Edition, and the FIA World Touring Car Championship – Guia Race of Macau, with five supporting races: The Macau GT Cup, Macau Road Sport Challenge, CTM Macau Touring Car Race, Hotel Fortuna MAC/HKG Interport Race, and Formula BMW Pacific. Every year Macau Grand Prix attracts drivers from Macau and across the globe to compete on the Guia Circuit. This year, 252 drivers from 35 countries and nations will join the Grand Prix, 55 of them from Macau. For the first time, the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix is included in the 26-event Duke Road Race Rankings, the only series to recognise season-long performance on road circuits. Inclusion in the prestigious rankings is further recognition of the international status of the Grand Prix. (For more detail, please visit http://www.dukevideo.com/DukeRoadRaceRankings) The 57th Macau Grand Prix has a budget of MOP 140 million, and as always, enjoys the support of sponsors. In order to diversify Macau’s tourism offering, and strengthen the sports tourism field, the Macau Grand Prix Committee has worked with the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) to design and implement a range of comprehensive marketing programmes. During last weekend’s National Day holiday, a two-day roadshow was held at Hong Kong’s Harbour City. Next week is the World Expo Macau Week, where Formula 3 and motorcycle racing machinery will be on display to promote the event to both residents of Mainland China and Expo visitors from around the world. In order to create a carnival atmosphere throughout the city, giant screens showing the event will be set up at Senado Square, Border Gate Square, Rotunda de Carlos da Maia, Rua do Cunha on Taipa, and at the Iao Hon Market Garden. During the Grand Prix, the 10th Macau Food Festival will be held at Sai Van Lake Square from 5th to 21th November, with fireworks displays scheduled for the 6th, 13th and 21st of November. In terms of infrastructure, as the Guia is a street circuit located in the centre of the city, this year the majority of the resurfacing work will be carried out at night or during weekends in order to minimise disruption. Tickets are on sale now, and range from MOP 50 for practice days, to MOP 900 at Lisboa Stand for race days. Interested parties should call the 24 hours booking hotline (+853) 2855 5555 for Macau, (+852) 2380 5083 for Hong Kong and (+86) 1392691111 for China. Tickets may also be ordered through the Kongseng Ticket Selling Network in Macau, Hong Kong or China. For more details, please visit the Macau Grand Prix Committee website http://www.macau.grandprix.gov.mo or http://www.macauticket.com.
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The Government would strengthen its efforts in supporting disadvantaged groups and senior citizens, Chief Executive Mr Chui Sai On said today. The administration would do its utmost to support such groups, as this was the responsibility of the Government, he said. The Government would also enhance its services for senior citizens such as strengthening medical services for them in hospitals and medical centres in the community. As for kindergarten services, Mr Chui said the Government had recently revised regulations and the Social Welfare Bureau would increase services of kindergarten to meet the increasing demand. Mr Chui was speaking to reporters after visiting an elderly centre of Obra das Mães, a rehabilitation service centre of Caritas Macau and the Family Support Education Centre of Taipa operated, where he met the managements and frontline workers. The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Cheong U, the Chief-of-Cabinet of the Office of the Chief Executive, Mr Tam Chon Weng, and the President of Social Welfare Bureau, Mr Ip Peng Kin accompanied Mr Chui on the visits.
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