News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total land area of Macao measured 29.5 km2 at the end of 2009, up by 1.0% year-on-year; however, the population registered negative growth as a consequence of a substantial decrease in non-resident workers, lowering the population density from 19,000 per km2 in 2008 to 18,000 per km2. Total lane length of public roads was 413.1 km, and the motor vehicle density was 460 vehicles per km. The Rua do Campo air quality monitoring station recorded 301 days of good air quality in 2009. However, the monitoring station at the Northern District, Big Taipa Hill and Rua do Campo registered 7 days, 3 days and 2 days respectively when the observed value of respirable suspended particulates exceeded the standard value. In 2009, the lowest pH value of rainwater was 3.8 (precipitation with pH value lower than 5.6 is classified as acid rain). The quality of potable water from the distribution network and Water Treatment Plants of Macao conformed to the standard according to the results of the analysis carried out by the Laboratory of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau. The salinity level of potable water was classified as Low in 2009. The approval rate of water samples taken from the 10 public swimming pools ranged from 86% to 100%. In addition, water quality of the Hac Sa and Cheoc Van beaches was acceptable. Macau Waste Systems Company Limited (CSR) collected 160,000 tonnes of domestic garbage in 2009, down by 11.0% year-on-year; volume of garbage collected from the business sector rose by 16.5% year-on-year to 88,000 tonnes, whereas that of construction waste decreased by 19.2% to 1,567,000 m3. Moreover, 325,000 tonnes of garbage were processed in the Incineration Plant, an increase of 8.8% over 2008. As regards waste water treatment, the average capacity of waste water treated was 183,000 m3 per day. A total of 4,533 cases of noise complaints were reported in 2009, down by 2.3% year-on-year, mostly about noise from conversation and shouting, and disturbance from neighbours. With regard to educational activities on environmental protection, the Environmental Protection Bureau and the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau organized 525 promotional activities in 2009, with approximately 413,000 participants.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that under the influence of the seasonal factor, consumption of Electricity decreased by 9.4% over the previous quarter to 743 million kWh in the first quarter of 2010, of which consumption by the Business and Public sectors (617 million kWh) dropped by 9.1% and that by Households (126 million kWh) fell by 10.6%. Local generation of Electricity totalled 205 million kWh, up by 13.6% quarter-to-quarter; imports of Electricity decreased by 15.0% to 579 million kWh, bringing its relative importance to total available supply to drop by 5.2 percentage points to 75.0%. Imports of Natural Gas for electricity generation increased substantially by 90.8% from 14.04 million cubic metres in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 26.78 million cubic metres. With persisting low temperature in the first quarter of 2010, consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) increased by 7.2% quarter-to-quarter to 11,488 tonnes, of which consumption by both the Business (7,258 tonnes) and Household (4,159 tonnes) sectors rose by 7.2%. Meanwhile, imports of LPG increased by 10.0% to 12,364 tonnes, with the average price of imports registering an increase of 9.1%. The average price of all types of fuels increased from the previous quarter, with that of Bottled LPG and Unleaded Gasoline rising by 8.1% and 4.9% respectively quarter-to-quarter, and 32.8% and 18.7% respectively year-on-year. At the end of the first quarter, stock of LPG totalled 3,672 tonnes, up by 32.6% quarter-to-quarter; stock of Common Kerosene (246,000 litres) and Fuel Oil (20.79 million litres) increased by 20.4% and 16.0% respectively.
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A delegation of Macau participated in the 8th worldwide exhibition for incentive travel, meetings & events (IMEX 2010) at Messe Frankfurt in Germany from 25th – 27th May this year. With the aim to further explore business opportunities and elevate Macau’s presence in the European market, the Macau Business Tourism Department (MBTC) of the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) exhibited together with 6 industry partners in the IMEX 2010, which include representatives of resort hotels, DMCs (destination management companies) and industry associations from Macau. MGTO received a total of 9 group appointments and 13 individual pre-scheduled appointments during the trade show. In addition, there was a fairly number of hosted buyers approached the Macau promotional booth for product updates and inquiry about the latest version of the “Strategic MICE Market Stimulation Program’. On the occasion, a cocktail reception was organized on 26th May at the Macau promotional booth which had successfully attracted more than 50 hosted buyers to attend, to network and to establish business contacts with our industry partners. To assist international meetings and event planners to understand what Macau can offer, the newly debut MICE promotional video was played and the new 2010 version of the Macau Meeting Planner’s Guide was also disseminated at the show. The guide provides handy information such as MBTC introduction and services, general information of Macau, convention and accommodation facilities, as well as contact details of local service providers such as DMCs, conference and event management companies. IMEX is one of Europe’s most important congress and conference trade shows. According to the organizer, 3,500 exhibitors from more than 150 countries are represented at the IMEX 2010, and it is anticipated that the fair will attract more than 3,800 hosted buyers this year. AACVB – Greater efforts for Asia Taking the opportunity of IMEX 2010, the Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus (AACVB) held a meeting in Frankfurt of Germany on 24th May. After the re-launch in May last year, AACVB has been accelerating its promotional efforts to drive more MICE traffic to the Asian region. Representatives from Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Thailand attended the meeting. Apart from project updates by each member, exploration of future cooperation and marketing programs were also discussed during the meeting.
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The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) is promoting Macau at the World Travel Fair 2010, which opened today in Shanghai and runs until 29 May. MGTO Deputy Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes led a delegation with officials and travel trade to the event to showcase Macau’s potential as a leisure and business tourism destination. Shanghai World Travel Fair (WTF) opened this morning at the Shanghai Exhibition Center. Shanghai Tourism Administration Director Dao Shuming launched the three day long event, with Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes being one of the invited guests for the ribbon cutting ceremony of WTF. WTF is a big scale outbound tourism fair in Mainland China and this year is expected to attract more visitors and participants, as Shanghai is a draw for tourists and travel trade for being the host of World Expo 2010, providing a bigger exposure to Macau’s promotion. The Macau delegation headed by Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes to WTF includes MGTO officials and Macau travel trade representatives from Air Macau and several local hotels, in a total of around 20 people. The Macau booth at WTF takes the form of a heritage building and is decorated with MGTO’s colorful campaign “Experience Macau!”, giving a glimpse of the historic and the new Macau. In the afternoon, MGTO hosted a cocktail reception at the Macau booth to boost relations with travel trade, media and other guests. A WTF Awards Ceremony will take place in the evening during the welcome dinner of the exhibition. On Friday, an Outbound Tourism Forum will take place as part of the WTF program. MGTO deputy director will be one of the guest speakers at the daylong event. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes will talk about Macau’s tourism goals and strategies, the city’s tourism resources and the latest tourism developments. The forum’s agenda includes a release of an Outbound Tourism Market Report of the Yangtze River Delta of China, among other topics. Mainland China is Macau’s top visitor source market and a priority focus for MGTO’s promotions. In the first four months of the year Macau welcomed 8.2 million visitors (a 12.4 percent year on year increase), of which 4.3 million or 53.3 percent came from Mainland China, 20 percent more than the same period last year.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for February-April 2010 was 3.0% and the underemployment rate was 2.0%, up by 0.1 and 0.2 percentage point respectively over the previous period (January-March 2010). Total labour force was 323,300 in February-April 2010 and the labour force participation rate stood at 71.1%, both remained unchanged from the previous period. The employed population totalled 313,700 and the number of the unemployed was 9,600, of which 4.9% were fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, down by 1.0 percentage point over the previous period. Analyzed by industry, employment of Real Estate & Business Activities saw increase from the previous period, while that of the Construction Sector and Hotels, Restaurants & Similar Activities registered a decrease. In comparison with February-April 2009, the labour force participation rate and the unemployment rate dropped by 1.5 and 0.8 percentage points respectively; meanwhile, the underemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage point.
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The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the first quarter of 2010. Survey coverage comprised the Manufacturing; Hotels & Restaurants; Financial; and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sectors, excluding own-account workers, as well as insurance agents and brokers not directly employed by insurance companies. At the end of the first quarter of 2010, the Manufacturing sector had 15,203 paid employees, down significantly by 22.7% year-on-year, with those working in Manufacture of Wearing Apparel decreasing notably by 35.6% to 7,679. In March 2010, average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) of full-time employees rose by 11.2% year-on-year to MOP5,780, with Sewing machine operators earning MOP3,480 in average. The Hotels & Restaurants sector took on 48,287 paid employees, up by 4.2% year-on-year, with 31,483 working in hotels. In March, average earnings of full-time employees rose by 1.3% year-on-year to MOP9,970. Earnings of Housekeeping staff amounted to MOP6,080. The Financial sector had 5,507 paid employees, down slightly by 0.8% year-on-year, with 4,630 working in banks. The average earnings of full-time employees in March rose by 5.6% year-on-year to MOP18,550 and that of Bank tellers was MOP10,760. The Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sector had 1,057 paid employees, up slightly by 0.4% year-on-year. The average earnings of full-time employees in March went up by 1.3% year-on-year to MOP22,230. At the end of March 2010, the Manufacturing sector reported 1,457 job vacancies; the Hotels & Restaurants sector had 3,696 vacancies, and the Financial and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sectors had 214 and 23 vacancies respectively. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 73.9% of the vacancies in the Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sector and 61.6% of those in the Manufacturing sector required working experience. As regards educational attainment, 98.1% of the vacancies in the Financial sector and 95.7% of those in the Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sector required senior secondary education or higher. With respect to the indicators that measure the inflow and outflow of human resources, as well as staffing needs of the sectors, the Hotels & Restaurants sector had the highest employee turnover rate and recruitment rate, at 6.8% and 6.0% respectively; meanwhile, the job vacancy rate of the Manufacturing sector stood at 9.2%.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) promotes tourism in two important outbound cities of India, Mumbai and New Delhi. MGTO organized well-received Mini Marts in Mumbai (May 18) and New Delhi (May 20) and welcomed 145 and 125 Indian tourism representatives respectively. 7 Macau tourism industry representatives from Aviation, travel agencies, hotels, resorts, MICE and entertainment segments joined MGTO to promote their products and seek business opportunities in India. Staffs of MGTO Marketing Division, Product and Special Project Department, in conjunction with representatives of the Macau tourism industry introduced the latest tourism situation, leisure tourism, convention facilities and tourism products to the participants. Meanwhile, industry representatives of Macau engaged in one-on-one discussions with Indian counterparts, essentially airlines and travel agents for MICE and leisure segments. Last year, Macau received over 100 thousand visitors from India, registered a growth of 30 per cent over 2008. The first four months of this year, Macau received nearly 40 thousand visitors from India, with an increment of 67.8 per cent over same period of last year.
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Following the visit of the Macao Financial Sector delegation organized by the Monetary Authority of Macao (“AMCM”) to Maputo three years ago, and since the conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bank of Mozambique, Anselmo Teng, Chairman of Board of Directors of AMCM and Wilson Vong, Deputy Director of AMCM Banking Supervision Department, were invited to participate in an international symposium organized by the Bank of Mozambique in Maputo, to celebrate its 35th Anniversary on 17 May 2010. The seminar was attended by more than 700 delegates from financial regulatory authorities of Portugal, Portuguese speaking countries and African nations; and from financial institutions of Mozambique. The Governor of Bank of Mozambique, Principal Advisor of IMF African Department, Secretary General of the South African Development Community, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Vice-Governor of the Bank of Portugal, Chairman of AMCM, Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Brazil and Minister of Finance of Mozambique made theme speeches surrounding the impact of financial tsunami on Africa, South America, Europe and Asia and the lesson derived therefrom. The attendees discussed with one another proactively on this topic. Chairman Teng delivered his theme speech entitled “International Financial Crisis, Impact on Asia and Lesson for Macao”. The speech introduced the latest economic development of Asia and the Mainland of China, summarized the economic and financial situation of Macao before and after the crisis and the prospect, elucidated the lesson learned by Macao and the global village, which included strengthening of macroprudential supervision, regulation of long term risk capital requirements, aversion of regulatory arbitrage, supervision of financial derivatives and credit rating agencies. Simultaneously, Mr. Teng emphasized the traditional linkage between Macao and Portuguese speaking countries, which embodied the fulfilment of the function of Macao as the economic and commercial liaison platform between China and Portuguese speaking countries. Through participation in this seminar, communication between AMCM and financial regulatory authorities of Portuguese speaking countries has been enhanced. There is also an increased understanding of the most up-to-date financial strategies adopted by Portugal, Brazil and African nations in response to the financial tsunami.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the number of visitor and non-resident arrivals totalled 2,628,113 in April 2010. Total visitor arrivals increased by 13.1% year-on-year to 2,111,563. Same-day visitors (1,076,157) accounted for 51.0% of the total visitor arrivals, with 529,445 coming from Mainland China. Analyzed by place of residence, visitors from Mainland China grew by 17.3% year-on-year to 1,052,610 (49.8% of total visitor arrivals), with 390,031 travelling to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme, up by 13.9% from April 2009 (342,458). Visitors from Hong Kong (694,595) and Japan (26,590) rose by 13.4% and 25.0% respectively; besides, visitors from the Republic of Korea (25,268) and India (12,622) also registered notable increases. However, those from Taiwan, China (111,872) and Malaysia (30,408) decreased by 3.8% and 4.9% respectively. Visitor arrivals totalled 8,226,784 in the first four months of 2010, up by 12.4% year-on-year. Visitors from Mainland China (4,386,985); Hong Kong (2,421,414); and Taiwan, China (442,087) increased by 20.0%, 3.2% and 2.8% respectively. Moreover, visitors from the Republic of Korea (108,421) and India (39,609) also registered remarkable growth. In the first four months of 2010, same-day visitors accounted for 51.7% of the total visitor arrivals, at 4,257,017. Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by sea totalled 3,391,805 in the first four months of 2010, up by 10.9% year-on-year. Visitors arriving at the Outer Harbour increased by 4.6% to 2,160,671, with the majority coming from Hong Kong (52.1%) and Mainland China (24.9%); meanwhile, those arriving at the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa went up by 24.9% to 1,107,183. Visitor arrivals by land increased by 13.9% year-on-year to 4,261,467 in the first four months of 2010; those arriving through the Border Gate totalled 3,908,709 and the majority were visitors from Mainland China (78.7%) and Hong Kong (14.0%). Visitor arrivals by air rose by 9.8% year-on-year to 573,512 in the first four months of 2010. Visitors arriving at the Macao International Airport went up by 10.4% to 566,691, with the majority coming from Taiwan, China (36.3%); Mainland China (29.6%); and Malaysia (8.0%).
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that value of retail sales for the first quarter of 2010 was MOP 6.85 billion, of which retail sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery took the largest share of 23%, at MOP 1.57 billion. This was followed by retail sales of Goods in Department Stores (16%), Adults' Clothing (10%), Leather Goods (9%), Goods in Supermarkets (8%), Motor Vehicles (6%), Cosmetics and Sanitary Articles (3%), Communication Equipment (3%), Automotive Fuels (3%), Household Electrical Appliances (3%) and Goods in Pharmacies (3%). Value of retail sales for the first quarter of 2010 surged by 36% from the revised MOP 5.03 billion a year earlier. Compared with the revised MOP6.53 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, value of retail sales rose by 5%, with notable increase in the retail sales of Leather Goods (+20%) and Household Electrical Appliances (+19%). However, value of retail sales of Motor Vehicles and Automotive Fuels decreased by 11% and 3% respectively. In the first quarter of 2010, about 42% of the retailers reported decrease in the sales volume from the fourth quarter of 2009, up by 8 percentage points from the previous quarter; 58% reported that the sales volume remained stable or showed increase. In terms of retail prices, about 57% reported that the prices were stable, 21% stated that the prices increased whereas 22% reported the prices decreased. Compared with the first quarter of 2009, about 66% said that the stock level was normal in the first quarter of 2010, while 21% indicated that the stock level was low. Regarding the business outlook for the second quarter of 2010, about 61% expect sales volume will increase or remain stable compared with the first quarter, while 39% expect a decrease. Meanwhile, about 87% expect the retail prices will remain stable or increase, whereas 13% expect a decrease. After removing the effect of price changes, volume of retail sales for the first quarter of 2010 rose by 25.1% year-on-year, with remarkable increase being observed in the sales volume of Household Electrical Appliances (+68.9%), Leather Goods (+56.1%), Motor Vehicles (+40.9%), Goods in Department Stores (+36.7%), Communication Equipment (+36.3%), Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (+30.8%) and Adults' Clothing (+29.5%). Quarter-to-quarter, volume of retail sales in the first quarter of 2010 registered an increase of 3.0%, with that of Household Electrical Appliances and Leather Goods rising by 20.2% and 18.0% respectively.
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