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The “Macau Business Tourism Centre” of Macau Government Tourist Office, conveniently located at Senado Square, was officially opened (April 18) today. The opening ceremony was officiated by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macau SAR Government, Chui Sai On. Accompanied by guests, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Chui Sai On performed the eye-dotting ceremony of the lion dance and lit the firecrackers in front of the building to mark the official opening of the “Macau Business Tourism Centre”. The opening ceremony concluded with a plaque-unveiling by the Secretary. Addressing the ceremony, Director of MGTO João Manuel Costa Antunes said that the large-scale convention, exhibition and entertainment facilities soon to be opened in Macau will provide favorable conditions for the development of meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions, and Macau has to capitalize on the opportunities to nurture the territory into a prominent business tourism destination in the region. He stressed that this is the right time to establish a business tourism center within the structure of MGTO to promote the development of business tourism in Macau. He pointed out that the objective of setting up the “Macau Business Tourism Centre” is to establish a platform for the business tourism industry to communicate; to understand the needs of the local industry and strengthen the liaison work among the trade. Guests present at the opening ceremony included officials from governmental departments, members of the Committee for Tourism Development, members of the Macau Grand Prix Committee, representatives from the convention and exhibition industry, travel industry and media. Members of the Media Mega Familiarization Group invited by MGTO to visit Macau also participated in the opening ceremony to learn about the function of the Centre with the other guests. The “Macau Business Tourism Centre” is located at Senado Square, the former headquarters of MGTO. Covering a total area of 2,187 sq meters and costing MOP7 million to renovate, this five-storey building includes an information counter and a gallery on the ground floor; a computer research centre on the first floor; marketing, industry support, research, training and bidding units on second floor; events/projects unit on the third floor and a video and slides archive on the fourth floor. To celebrate the opening of the “Macau Business Tourism Centre”, the gallery on the ground floor will stage a “Macau World Heritage” photo exhibition to magnify the promotion effect of “ 2006 Macau World Heritage Year”.
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Immigration authorities recorded a total of 1,265,764 crossing the five immigration checkpoints of the Macao SAR over the Easter holidays (April 14 to 17 ) Total number of arrivals stood at 635,645 with Border-gate 478,994 Lotus Bridge 3,193 Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal 128,988 Inner Harbor Wharf Nº14 6,430
Macao International Airport 18,040 Total of departures stood at 630,119 with Border-gate 481,204 Lotus Bridge 3,506 Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal 122,958 Inner Harbor Wharf Nº14 4,481 Macao International Airport 17,970 Meanwhile, total number of tourists entering Macao in that period stood at 316,175,with a growth of 14.93% over the same period of last year.
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The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) invited nearly a hundred media from 13 countries and regions to Macau for a 5-day visit. The Media Mega Familiarization Group will be visiting the World Heritage of Macau as well as new tourism products and facilities. With more update knowledge on the tourism situation of Macau, the media will in turn assist in promoting the industry and lift the international profile of Macau. The Media Mega Familiarization Group is the biggest international media group that MGTO has organized in recent years, and is among the series of activities of the “2006 Macau World Heritage Year” Campaign. The 90 some international media representatives are from the Mainland, Taiwan China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, India, the Philippines, USA, UK and Australia. They include editors and photographers from journals, magazines and electronic media, among which most of them are tourism related media. The Group has started their 5-day visit in Macau on 17th April. Addressing the Group at the Tourism and Cultural Activities Centre, MGTO Director João Manuel Costa Antunes expressed that MGTO has invited almost one hundred media representatives from around the world to visit Macau this time, one of the largest familiarization groups of such kind in recent years. He hoped that with this familiarization trip, the media representatives could share with their home markets Macau’s World Heritage and the city’s tourism development to further promote Macau as one of the prime tourism destinations in the Asia Pacific region. The Group is going to visit over 20 heritage sites of the “Historic Centre of Macau”, as well as the Grand Prix Museum, Wine Museum and various new tourism products and facilities including the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, Macau Tower Convention & Entertainment Centre, Macau East Asian Games Dome, among others. The Media Mega Familiarization Group has also participated at the inauguration ceremony of the Macau Business Tourism Centre this afternoon, April 18th. In the evening, the Group participated at a welcome dinner hosted by MGTO at the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf. Every year, MGTO receives familiarization groups from different sectors, many of which are media representatives from all over the world. Members of the groups will share their first hand experiences gained in Macau with the target source markets when they return home. The media participating in the familiarization trip this time range from long-haul markets to the nearby region, and the trip will arm them with knowledge about the city’s new tourism products that would enable them to promote Macau’s cultural and business tourism in their home markets.
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Information from Statistics and Census Service indicated that Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the first quarter of 2006 was 115.26, up by 3.44% over the previous quarter. Due to higher prices in jewellery, caused by the rising gold prices; in hotel accommodation during the Chinese new year, as well as the chinese food in restaurant, indices of Miscellaneous goods; Accommodation and Restaurant service rose by 8.67%, 8.21% and 1.44% respectively. On the other hand, Clothing & footwear was the only section that recorded a decrease (-0.15%) in the index, resulted from reduced prices in men’s clothing. Compared with the first quarter of 2005, TPI rose by 4.59% in this quarter, with notable increases in the indices of Miscellaneous goods (+12.24%), Restaurant service (+4.52%), and Clothing & footwear (+4.23%). On the other hand, Accommodation (-0.35%) was the only one that registered decrease. The average of last four quarter ended in the 1st quarter of 2006 TPI increased by 2.92% over the last four quarter ended in the 1st quarter of 2005. TPI is an indicator used to reflect the price changes of goods and services purchased by visitors, which is compiled based on the consumption pattern of visitors derived from the Visitor Expenditure Survey. TPI covers 8 sections of goods and services, namely Food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, Clothing and footwear, Accommodation, Restaurant service, Transport and communications, Medicine and personal goods, Entertainment and culture, as well as Miscellaneous goods. The base year of TPI is from July 1999 to June 2000.
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The Macao SAR Government would put in place a tougher mechanism against money launderers and those whose funds could be finance terrorists. Spokesman for the Executive Council, Mr Tong Chi Kin, disclosed today that the council had met and discussed the proposed Anti Money Laundering and Anti Terrorism Funding By-law. Last week the Legislative Council passed two pieces of legislation: the Anti-money Laundering Law and the Anti-terrorism Law. The Anti Money Law provided for the formation of a supervisory body to ensure the enforcement. Following this, the Executive Council met today and introduced the Anti Money Laundering and Anti Terrorism Funding By-law. Mr Tong said that according to the proposed By-law, all signs of suspicious acts or transactions must be reported to the supervisory body. Failure to do so carries fines of up to five millions Patacas. The By-law lists out the responsibilities of individuals and legal persons. It also lists out the responsibilities of various government departments, associations, groups and parties who at present are monitoring various activities, such as finance, banking and gaming. Parties such as law and accountancy are also included. They will be required to report all suspicious acts to the supervisory body within two days. Fines of 10,000 patacas to 500,000 patacas could be levied on individual offenders and 100,000 patacas to 5 million patacas for legal persons. The sum of money that will require reporting would vary according to the types of business and transactions. This would be decided after consultation with the relevant parties. The By-law will go into effect 180 days after it is published in the SAR Gazette.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitors arrivals in package tours totalled 240,573, up 26.8% over February 2005. In view of the Chinese New Year holidays, visitors from Mainland China (196,061) and Hong Kong (10,504) had remarkable growths of 36.2% and 18.5% respectively; however, those from Taiwan, China (10,839) decreased 47.7% over February 2005. In the first two months of 2006, visitors arrived in package tours grew 18.6% over the same period of 2005 to 441,633. Number of Macao residents travelling in package tours totalled 15,321 in February, a year-on-year decrease of 31.6%. Mainland China; Thailand; and Taiwan, China were the three more popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 68.3%, 10.3% and 5.3% of the total respectively. In the first two months of 2006, Macao residents (44,332) travelling in package tours went up 27.5% compared with the same period of 2005. Meanwhile, 27,073 residents travelled under own arrangements using services provided by the travel agencies, an increase of 20.7% over February 2005; Mainland China (37.5%), Hong Kong (22.8%) and Taiwan, China (14.2%) were the major destinations. In the first two months, Macao residents travelled under such arrangements surged 47.1% to 59,137 compared with the same period of 2005. At the end of February 2006, there were 11,041 rooms available in hotels and similar establishments, an increase of 860 rooms (+8.4%) over February 2005. In addition, a total of 340,115 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments, up 18.0% over February 2005. The average hotel occupancy rate was 72.2%, a notable increase of 6.8 percentage points; the highest average was in 3-star hotels, at 79.5%. The hotel guests stayed an average of 1.16 nights, same as that of February 2005. The majority of the guests came from Mainland China (60.5%), Hong Kong (24.0%) and Taiwan, China (2.6%). In the first two months of 2006, there were 667,446 hotel guests, up 12.9% over 2005. In the first two months of 2006, hotel guests (excluding Macao residents) accounted for 38.7% of the total number of tourists, which was lower than the 39.8% recorded in same period of 2005.
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The Mayor of Shenzhen, Mr Xu Zhongheng, and an official delegation is scheduled to arrive in Macao tomorrow for a three-day visit, at the invitation of the Chief Executive, Mr Ho Hau Wah. Mr Ho will meet Mr Xu after his arrival in the morning: a meeting between Macao and Shenzhen officials will be held soon afterwards. At the meeting, the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute and the Macao Government Tourist Office are scheduled to sign an agreement and a Memorandum of Co-operation with the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Trade and Industry and the Shenzhen Municipal Tourism Bureau respectively. Mr Ho and Mr Xu will be present at the signing ceremony of two protocols that would outline ways of co-operation in tourism and commerce between the two cities. On Tuesday, the Secretariat of China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries Economic Cooperation Forum and the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Trade and Industry are scheduled to sign an agreement to promote relations and co-operation between Shenzhen and the Portuguese-Speaking Countries. Meeting with Macao entrepreneurs and visit to tourism facilities have also been scheduled for the visitors. The vice mayors of Shenzhen, Mr Zhuo Qinrui and Mr. Chen Yingchun, will accompany Mr Xu on the visit.
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The 53rd Macau Grand Prix will be held from November 16th to 19th 2006, and preparations by the Macau Grand Prix Committee for ticketing, promotions, and logistical works are already well under way. Tickets are now on sale priced from MOP50.00 for a seat at the notorious Lisboa Bend during practice, to MOP750.00 for a two-day Grand Stand race package. Tickets can be purchased from the Macau Grand Prix Committee at macaugp@cgpm.gov.mo (full details and prices at www.macau.grandprix.gov.mo). The Committee has already received an unprecedented number of sponsorship enquiries this year. Title sponsorship of the races will be confirmed shortly, as well as reservations for all hospitality areas. In 2005, the Grand Prix added another string to its already-impressive bow, with the inclusion of the final two rounds of the inaugural FIA World Touring Car Championship in the line up which also included the prestigious FIA Intercontinental Cup, the unofficial world cup of the category, and the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix. In March this year the Macau Grand Prix was included in UK-based leading motorsport magazine Autosport’s list of “Twenty of the top motorsport events you really shouldn’t miss in 2006”, describing the event as “legendary”. With two official FIA events, plus a motorcycle Grand Prix on the same programme, the 52nd Macau Grand Prix exceeded all expectations, and organisers are working hard to once again stage the three headline show-stoppers plus a wide variety of high-quality support races. Mr. João Manuel Costa Antunes, Co-Ordinator of the Macau Grand Prix Committee emphasised that the success of the event depends on the efforts of the Committee in proactively working with every sector of Macau society to ensure each year is an improvement on the last. Mr. Antunes added that because international motorsport is a global sport which is developing quickly, every effort is made to ensure that the Macau Grand Prix keeps pace with this development, and that Macau continues to be promoted as a vibrant tourist destination across the globe through the sport. This year Macau will celebrate the 40th running of its Motorcycle Grand Prix, and a programme of exciting activities is planned. Marshal training is crucial on a street circuit such as Macau’s Guia, and a comprehensive programme which includes theory and practical instruction plus written tests, will be held from April to June by the China-Macau Autosports Club (ACMC) and the Macau Grand Prix Committee. The training is for Observers, Flag, Track, Pit, Paddock and Paddle Marshals, and Track Clearers. The Macau Grand Prix has earned a well-deserved reputation for being the ultimate testing ground for drivers, particularly those on their way to the pinnacle of international motorsport - Formula One. Motor racing “royalty” who have raced on the Guia Circuit include 18 of the 22 current Formula 1 drivers, plus 10 of the 16 F1 test drivers waiting in the wings. With its history of more than half a Century, Macau is now playing host to the next generation of famous names and the grid has recently seen the likes of exciting F1 debutante Nico Rosberg, Nelson Piquet Junior, and Christian Jones, all of whom competed in the 50th Macau Grand Prix, following in the footsteps of their famous fathers before them. Bruno Senna, nephew of the late, great Ayrton winner of the first ever Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix in 1983, competed in the same event last year. The FIA World Touring Car Championship embarked upon its second season last weekend, and 20 rounds are on the calendar for 2006, with Macau again hosting the grand finale as part of the Grand Prix weekend. Over the four-day 53rd Macau Grand Prix, practice and qualifying sessions will take place on November 16th and 17th (Thursday and Friday), with the races on November 18th and 19th (Saturday and Sunday).
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicates that, in February 2006, Macao’s total value of exports amounted to MOP969 million, up 21.7% over the same month of 2005. Among this, the value of domestic exports increased 16.4% to MOP619 million and the value of re-exports rose 32.5% to MOP350 million. Value of imports amounted to MOP2.10 billion, up 42.9% over the same period of 2005. A trade deficit of MOP1.13 billion was recorded this month. During the period of January – February 2006, the value of total exports increased 33.3% year-on-year to MOP3.03 billion. In addition, both the values of domestic exports and re-exports increased 41.4% and 12.5% respectively. Moreover, the value of imports amounted to MOP4.74 billion, up 27.6% over the same period of 2005. In the first two months of 2006, Macao’s trade balance registered a deficit of MOP1.70 billion. During this period, the exports/imports ratio increased from 61.3% in the corresponding period of 2005 to 64.0%. In the first two months of 2006, the value of Textile & garment exports, which accounted for 77.1% of the total exports, increased 39.2% over the same period of 2005. In addition, the value of Non-textile exports also rose 16.8%. As the major components of non-textile exports, Machines & apparatus, parts & accessories thereof expanded 12.8%, whereas Footwear fell 44.4% year-on-year. The USA and the EU remained as Macao’s major export markets, together making up 69.7% of the total value of exports. Among this, exports to the USA, which made up 51.4% of the total value of exports, increased 47.3% over the same period of 2005; exports to the EU, which made up 18.3% of the total value of exports, also increased 58.4% over the same period of 2005. During the period of January – February 2006, Macao’s total value of imports increased 27.6% year-on-year, mainly due to the increase in the value of imports by broad economic categories, namely Fuels & lubricants (63.6%), Capital goods (29.3%), Consumer goods (23.9%) and Raw materials & semi-manufactures (21.0%). Meanwhile, Macao’s main suppliers of imported goods still concentrated in the Asian region. Imports from Mainland China and Hong Kong together constituted 51.7% of the total value of imports. Compared with the same period of 2005, the value of imports from Mainland China and Hong Kong rose 42.2% and 24.7% respectively.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today the Basic Law is the foundation of Macao's development, and harmony is the condition for the SAR to achieve long term stability. Mr Ho urged the people of Macao to fully understand the spirit of the Basic Law and to gradually strenthen social harmony. He said the Mainland was facing the issue of building a harmonious society, which is the essential condition for sustainable development in any society. Under the circumstances, there was a lot to be explored on the course of Macao's development. Thus all the conflicts which emerged during the process of development should be properly dealt with, and all factors of discord should be eliminated. He said studies and analysis were neccessary when anticipating general, strategic issues, in order to ensure social harmony and to facilitate the successful implementation of the ''One Country Two Systems'' principle.
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