News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 4.2% year-on-year to 396,310 in October 2010. In comparison with October 2009, visitors from Mainland China (274,805), Hong Kong (21,283), Japan (17,745) and Republic of Korea (11,794) rose by 3.8%, 8.2%, 5.0% and 194.9% respectively. In addition, visitors in package tour from Malaysia (8,995) and India (7,506) also registered remarkable increase; however, those from Taiwan, China (22,056) decreased by 11.9%. In the first ten months of 2010, visitor arrivals in package tours went up by 30.2% year-on-year to 4,770,216. In October 2010, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours rose by 21.2% year-on-year to 19,383, with Mainland China (78.1% of total); Taiwan, China (5.4%); Republic of Korea (3.7%) and Thailand (3.2%) being the most popular tour itineraries. In the first ten months of 2010, residents travelling in package tours totalled 206,214, up by 28.3% year-on-year. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies fell slightly by 0.3% year-on-year to 46,426 and the main destinations were Hong Kong (31.4% of total); Mainland China (26.7%); Taiwan, China (17.3%) and Thailand (9.1%). In the first ten months of 2010, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 8.7% year-on-year to 408,997. At the end of October 2010, total number of available guest rooms of the hotel sector increased by 1,359 (+7.3%) year-on-year to 19,849 rooms. A total of 628,773 guests checked into hotels and guest-houses in October 2010, up by 8.2% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (50.5% of total) and Hong Kong (21.9%). The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 78.4%, up by 4.6 percentage points year-on-year; average occupancy rate of hotels was 79.0%, with 4-star hotels leading at 80.5%. The average length of stay of guests went up by 0.01 night to 1.5 nights. Number of guests reached 6,368,709 in the first ten months of 2010, up by 18.2% over the same period of 2009. In the first ten months of 2010, visitor-guests of hotels and guest-houses accounted for 60.6% of the total number of tourists, down from 61.0% in the same period of 2009.
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Organized by the Legal and Judicial Training Centre the “Regulatory Impact Assessment and Legislative Elaboration” Workshop begins on Monday, December 13, at 4:00pm in the Auditorium of Economic Services of the Macao SAR, Rua Dr. Pedro José Lobo n.° 1 - 3, Luso International Bank Building, 7th floor. This workshop will feature the following guest speakers: 1. Dr. António Pedro da Fonseca Delicado, Legal Adviser in the Justice Policy Directorate General of the Ministry of Justice, Portugal; 2. Dra. Paula Cristina Meira Lourenço, Assistant at the University of Lisbon Faculty of Law, Portugal. The objective of this workshop is to reinforce the practical knowledge of all practitioners in the legal field on the production of normative legal acts. During the five daily sessions, taking place from 4:00pm to 6:00pm, till this coming December 17th, the following areas will be discussed: 1) Guidelines for formal and legislative material drafting; 2) The drafter of legal instrument(s), information and the team / institutional development models; 3) Preliminary and continuous regulatory impact analysis of legal instruments; 4) Public consultations and relations with stakeholders; 5) Common problems and pitfalls on drafting legislations. This action will be conducted in Portuguese, with simultaneous translation into Cantonese, and has about 81 participants enrolled. The 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, extending until December 2012, which embodies this workshop, has the “Consolidation of the Macao Legal System” as its main objective. The total budget for the programme is 1.500.000 euros (approximately 16.500.000 patacas), this programme is co-financed by the European Union and the Macao Foundation, with the remaining costs being supported by the MSAR’s budget. The execution of the Co-operation Programme is coordinated by the International Law Office (GADI), with the participation of several other MSAR’s entities and public departments, namely, the Legal and Judicial Training Centre (CFJJ), the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ), the Economic Services (DSE), the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) and the Institute of European Studies of Macau (IEEM).
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The Macau Business Tourism Centre (MBTC) of the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), together with its Japan Representation Office, participated in the 20th International Meetings Expo (IME2010) held at the Tokyo International Forum on December 7-8 to showcase the exciting MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition) developments of the recent Macau, as well as to work collaboratively with the Industry to build a stronger presence of Macau’s MICE products at similar events around the globe. Six hotel representatives from Macau joined MBTC to co-exhibit at the IME2010. The International Meetings Expo is the only major MICE tradeshow for meetings and incentive travel held in Japan once every year since 1990. The event is co-organized by the Ministry of Land Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan National Tourist Organization and Japan Congress and Convention Bureau, in hope of promoting MICE as one of the growing sector in Japan. Expecting 3,000 selected key organizers and planners will be participating in the IME2010, it is considered as an ideal networking platform for MBTC and suppliers from Macau to get in touch and create business relationships with the international MICE buyers and sellers. The Macau pavilion was the largest in terms of exhibition space out of 63 exhibiters in the trade show, drawing lots of potential event planners’ and organizers’ attention and requests for more information about having incentive tours in Macau. Mr. Fumihiro Sakakibara, General Manager of MGTO-Japan said during the trade show, “We have put great efforts in establishing the brand of Macau as a destination of World Heritage with multiple tourism products to the leisure market, and therefore we expect that the Japanese incentive tours to Macau will reach almost half of the total number of the tourists from Japan this year. We also believe that the MICE sector will become more important to Macau in the future. I understand that Macau still needs to reform and enhance the destination management; however, we believe that a variety of accommodations will further enable event organizers to choose Macau as a preferred MICE destination. Nevertheless, infinite capacity of accommodation will be one of the greatest charms of Macau.” He added, “The Macau pavilion was the most impressive pavilion among all the exhibitors in the IME. We do not only highlight the presence of Macau to the visitors but also the exhibitors. We believe such basic promotional activities will bring success in the near future”. Taking this opportunity, MGTO conducted two seminars on Macau’s MICE development on December 9 and 10 in Tokyo and in Osaka respectively. The seminars brought together 100 key agents in Japan, which were well received by the participants and their response to the program was very positive.
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The Historical Archives will hold a Binding Workshop on Saturday 18th of December from 14.00 to 17.00. Participants can learn more about binding, one of the techniques used to protect Macao’s precious documentary heritage, as well as gain a deeper understanding of how handmade books are sewn together. Conservation professionals will introduce and demonstrate this traditional technique and support participants as they make their own hardcover notebook. By the end of the three-hour session, participants will be able to take home their own hardcover notebook … and perhaps offer it as a beautiful Christmas gift! No previous experience is required but participants must be at least ten years old. Starting 13th of December, please visit the Historical Archives of Macao (open Mon-Fri, 09:30-18.30) on Tap Seac Square to register beforehand and pay the workshop fee of MOP$20. Places are limited and will be distributed according to order of registration. Please call Miss Chu if more information is required, tel: 8598 6537.
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According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, on a monthly basis, money supply M2 continued to grow in October. As deposits grew at a faster pace than loans, the loan-to-deposit ratio dropped from a month earlier.
Money supply
Currency in circulation and demand deposits dropped 0.5% and 6.5% respectively. M1 thus decreased 5.6% when compared with the previous month. Meanwhile, as quasi-monetary liabilities rose 4.7%, M2 increased 3.2%, amounting to MOP244.6 billion. On an annual basis, M1 and M2 rose 7.9% and 15.9% respectively. The share of Pataca (MOP) in M2 stood at 27.5%, down 1.0 percentage point over a month ago or 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier. Concurrently, the share of Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) in M2 was 55.9%, up 1.2 percentage points month-to-month or 2.0 percentage points year-on-year.
Deposits
Resident deposits grew at a faster pace. Their value increased 3.3% from the previous month to MOP239.2 billion. Of which, MOP deposits dropped slightly by 0.5%, while HKD deposits and other foreign currency deposits increased at respective rates of 5.6% and 2.0%. Concurrently, non-resident deposits grew 4.4% to MOP76.1 billion and public sector deposits with the banking sector increased 6.2% to MOP21.5 billion. As a result, total deposits with the banking sector grew 3.7% from a month earlier to MOP336.8 billion. The shares of MOP and HKD in total deposits were 23.4% and 47.2% respectively.
Loans
Domestic loans to the private sector grew at a slower pace. Their value increased 2.1% on a monthly basis to MOP122.1 billion. Among which, MOP36.7 billion was MOP-denominated and MOP76.6 billion was denominated in HKD, representing 30.1% and 62.7% of the total respectively. Meanwhile, external loans increased 1.0% to MOP114.3 billion; of which, loans denominated in MOP and HKD accounted for 0.7% (MOP0.7 billion) and 41.4% (MOP47.3 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-October 2010 dropped 0.7 percentage points month-to-month to 46.8%. The ratio for both the resident and non-resident sectors marked 70.2%, down 1.5 percentage points from the previous month.
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Organized by Macao Museum under the Cultural Affairs Bureau, a themed exhibition entitled Heavenly Harmonies – Taoist Ritual Music in Macao will be open to public during December 17th, 2010 to March 20th, 2011. Opening Ceremony will be held at 6 pm on December 16th (Thursday). This exhibition is expected to better promote the preservation of the local intangible cultural heritage and provide more relevant information to the general public. Following the successful inscription of ‘Macao Religious Figure Carving’ on the list of the second batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage (in the category of traditional art) in June 2008, Macao Museum once again initiated the declaration for three other items, namely the “Taoist Ritual Music in Macao” (in the category of Traditional Arts), the “Cantonese Naamyam (Singing and Narrative Songs)” (in the category of Quyi), and the “Festival of the Drunken Dragon” (in the category of Folk Costums) to the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China in 2009. Taoism is a traditional Chinese native religion and part of the Chinese culture. It greatly enriches the Chinese traditional culture during its long development process. Up until now, its influence is still profound. Chinese traditional culture which is composed of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism is actually the backbone of Macao’s local culture. Therefore, the music played during the Taoist rituals (generally called “Taoist Fasts and Offerings Music” or “Taoist Ritual Music”) becomes one of the Macao’s local intangible cultural heritage elements.
The themed exhibition Heavenly Harmonies – Taoist Ritual Music in Macao held by the Museum aims at showing to the public the representative achievements of Macao’s local traditional music and promoting the cultural value contained. At the same time, this exhibition is expected to showcase the significance and the current progress of salvaging, conserving, systemizing and studying the local endangered traditional music. Besides, by holding this exhibition, it is believed that the general public can have a better knowledge and understanding about this intangible cultural heritage so that the public awareness of preservation can be enhanced. In order to help the residents and visitors in Macao get more acquainted with the features of the Taoist Ritual Music in Macao, the organizer has arranged two themed seminars to tie in with the exhibition. The first session was held on November 27th and the second one will be held in the Macao Museum Auditorium on December 18th (Saturday), from 3 pm to 5 pm. Wang Zhongren, a former associate professor of Wuhan Conservatory of Music, is especially invited to speak at the seminars. All are welcome to join in the seminars. As seating is limited and available on a first come first served basis, interested party may contact the Museum at 8394 1204 during office hours, from 10 am to 6 pm (closed on Mondays), or visit Cultural Affairs Bureau website at www.icm.gov.mo or Macao Museum at www.macaumuseum.gov.mo.
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On 7 December, the Macau Red Cross received a heartwarming donation of MOP44,500.00 from the Tourism Retail and Marketing Management Year 2 students of IFT. The money was raised for the Qinghai Yushu earthquake victims. The hugely successful fundraising campaign included: “CHEERS!” Wine Charity Event – and “A Bag for Love” – a charity bag-selling event. Around 100 participants including Macao hotel industry managers, wine buffs, IFT colleagues and students as well as members from the community visited IFT’s Pousada Restaurant on 26 November, enjoying wine and generously contributing to the residents of Qinghai who are now rebuilding their homes. For the “A Bag for Love”, retail students sold environmental friendly shopping bags which were designed by them to the public around Leal Senado Square during weekends in November and December. IFT launched a new degree programme –Tourism Retail and Marketing Management two years ago, in order to cultivate future leaders in this growing industry. The fundraising campaign is a good opportunity for students to apply learnt theories from the course to an actual retailing business environment. Through presenting and selling their self-designed bags, students can benefit from not only exercising their communication and selling skills, but also enhance their customer service skills. The Tourism Retail and Marketing Management Year 2 students would like to thank the caring hearts of the Macao people who are always ready to give a helping hand to victims of natural disasters all over the world. Through the selfless donations of our community, all the profit generated from these two events has been donated to Red Cross Macao for Qinghai Yushu earthquake victims.
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From November 30 until 5p.m. of December 6, the Cross-departmental Working Team sealed three more premise suspected to provide accommodation illegally. An operator, two overstayers and one illegal immigrant were seized on site. Since the law on "Prohibition of Providing Illegal Accommodation" took effect on August 13, Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) has waged a total of 91 sanctions, among which two sanction proceedings have been completed and two operators who provided accommodation illegally were fined 200 000 patacas. Other cases are in different stages of sanction proceedings. Since the Cross-departmental Working Team started operations, to date, 1,129 premise-checks were conducted, involving 758 premises, of which 91 premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally were sealed, while 116 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 19 premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally and informed the Cross-departmental Working Team to handle the cases. To date, the operations involved 913 occupants, among whom 410 were occupants of premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally and were investigated, including 19 overstayers and 15 illegal immigrants. 14 operators, 13 touts, 13 persons who manage the premises that provide accommodation illegally (managing staff) and six occupants who failed to fulfill their duty of cooperation were seized on site. MGTO has begun sanction proceedings on offenders according to the law on "Prohibition of Providing Illegal Accommodation". If the two operators who provided accommodation illegally, who were fined 200 000 patacas, do not pay within the statutory period, the Financial Services Bureau will enforce the collection of fine. Meanwhile, the six occupants who failed to fulfill their duty of cooperation were fined 3 000 patacas each, among which three have paid the fine. For those who fail to pay the fine within the statutory period, MGTO has notified the Financial Services Bureau to enforce the collection of fine and informed PSP that the involved persons should pay the fine or their reentry into Macau will be denied. According to the law, operators and persons who manage the premises that provide accommodation illegally (management staff) incur a penalty of up to 800 000 patacas, touts can be fined up to 100 000 patacas, persons who fail to cooperate can be fined up to 20 000 patacas and occupants who fail to cooperate are fined 3 000 patacas. 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. Public can also call 2833 3000 to report suspected premises.
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E-Commerce is now a dominant operation model in world trade development and creates a business environment which is not restricted by time or geographical boundaries. The application of e-commerce enables SMEs to conduct businesses with trade partners around the world and establish an extensive global partnership network. Enterprises can promote their products and businesses on the service platform provided by e-commerce operators to create more business opportunities and widen publicity for themselves. To assist SMEs to make use of E-Commerce to gain wide publicity, SME Service Centre of Macao Trade and Investment and Promotion Institute (IPIM) and Directel Macau will organize a seminar on “Managing Your Own Online Business” on 10 December 2010, 4 p.m. at Macao Business Support Centre. The seminar comprises of two sections: Directel Macau will introduce how SMEs can utilize online business be a platform to sell their products, introduction of Directel Macau webpage service and actual operations. In the experience sharing, Directel Macau user will be invited to share their experience. Through keynote presentations and experience sharing, the seminar aims to enrich SMEs’ understanding how to using the E-Commerce to promote theirs brands, products and services and gain wide publicity, thus, enhance competitiveness and create endless business opportunities. In addition, a “Memorandum Signing Ceremony” will be held concurrently by Macao Trade and Investment and Promotion Institute (IPIM) and Directel Macau with the seminar. The two sides will strengthen cooperation in the future, through information exchange, education, training and discussion forums, and through Directel Macau platform and offline promotion services to help SMEs to promote their online business in Macau. The seminar will be conducted in Cantonese (with simultaneous interpretation in English). Registration is now open to interested parties (especially enterprises from manufacturing and retail sector targeting to explore overseas market). To sign up, please contact Mr. Ho or Ms. Leong of SME Service Centre (Tel：28728212; Fax: 28 728213；Email: smec@ipim.gov.mo )。
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According to the statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, the proportion of international business in the local banking sector remained high during the third quarter of 2010. At end-September 2010, the share of international assets in total banking assets rose to 85.4% from 84.8% at end-June 2010, whereas the share of international liabilities in total banking liabilities dropped to 77.1% from 78.1%. Foreign currencies remained as the dominant denomination in international banking transactions. At end-September 2010, the shares of Pataca (MOP) in total international assets and total international liabilities were 0.4% and 1.0% respectively. Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) and Other Foreign Currencies (OFCs) accounted for 44.2% and 55.4% of total international assets as well as 51.5% and 47.4% of total international liabilities respectively. International Banking Assets
At end-September 2010, total international assets increased by 13.6% from three months earlier or 21.5% year-on-year to MOP442.0 billion (USD55.3 billion). Within this total, external assets expanded by 23.9% to MOP351.8 billion in a year while local assets in foreign currencies rose by 13.0% to MOP90.2 billion. As a major component of international assets, external loans & deposits jumped by 27.2% over a year earlier to MOP323.6 billion, mainly attributable to the 53.1% increase of loans to overseas non-bank borrowers. International Banking Liabilities
Meanwhile, total international liabilities expanded by 11.3% quarter-to-quarter or 19.0% from a year earlier to MOP399.4 billion (USD50.0 billion). Of this total, external liabilities and local liabilities in foreign currencies amounted to MOP211.8 billion and MOP187.6 billion in respective order. Compared with a year earlier, the former soared by 22.6% while the latter increased by 15.3%. Foreign currency deposits held by residents in the local banking system formed a major component of international liabilities. This type of deposits grew by 13.9% to MOP176.6 billion at end-September 2010 from MOP155.1 billion a year earlier. Breakdown of External Banking Assets and Liabilities by Region
The majority of external assets and liabilities were related to the regions of Asia and Europe. At end-September 2010, claims on Hong Kong and Mainland China occupied respectively 38.2% and 11.5% of total external assets, while claims on Portugal and the UK took up respective shares of 12.3% and 2.2%. On external liabilities, Hong Kong and China occupied 45.0% and 22.5% of the total respectively while France and Portugal took up respective shares of 9.1% and 7.2%. The compilation of International Banking Statistics follows the methodology advocated by the Bank for International Settlements in order to facilitate Macao SAR’s participation in the “Locational International Banking Statistics” project of the international organisation.
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