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The opening ceremony of the Macau Government Tourist Office Annual Marketing Meeting was held today (June 25) at the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf Convention and Exhibition Center, where Director of Macau Government Tourist Office, João Manuel Costa Antunes presented the tourism development of Macau and outlined future marketing strategies to guests and MGTO’s representatives from 16 countries and regions. Speaking at the Marketing Meeting, Antunes pointed out that Macau’s tourism industry has entered a new phase of growth and is moving towards diversification. During the first five months of this year, visitor arrivals exceeded 10 million, registering an increase of 21.45% compared with the same period of 2006. Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan continue to be the three largest visitor generating markets, with growths of 19.44%, 23.21% and 1.93% respectively. Apart from markets of the greater China region, international market arrivals have surged more than 40% year-on-year during the last three years, with Southeast Asia region showing exceptionally strong performance and recorded an increase of 68.3% during the first five months. Malaysia, for the first time, became the 4th visitor generating market, showing a healthy progress towards diversification of source markets. Antunes expressed that diversification is the key message today and product diversification helps to minimize the risk of over-dependence on key products, as well as helping to reduce seasonality, spreading tourism demand more equitably throughout the year. He continues that MGTO has employed “Experience Macau” as the promotional theme this year under the slogan, “A World of Difference, the Difference is Macau” for a series of promotions around the world through its representatives. Launching the theme - “Experience Macau” gradually moves the tourism development of Macau towards the goal of source markets and tourism product diversification. MGTO counts on its representatives around the world for their strong and extensive local networks to bring the promotional effect to its full. He noted that MGTO has put forward a number of promotional activities under the theme “Experience Macau” during the first half of 2007, which include participating in major and new tourism fairs worldwide, organizing of roadshows, worldwide advertising, print/electronic media promotional publications, themed tourism routes, sales promotions among others. He also stressed that the 10 “Experience Macau!” travel routes recently launched by MGTO’s representation in Hong Kong have received enthusiastic responses. These 10 routes, targeting different market segments of luxury, family, heritage, honeymoon or couples, retired seniors, photographers, religion, university students, history scholars and sports lovers, are designed to offer tailor-made experiences for visitors with different interests and enrich Macau’s tourism products. Macau will continue to strengthen regional and international tourism cooperation to attract more visitors to Macau as a single destination or one of the destinations in regional travel, he added. Antunes stressed that Macau needs to develop more flight routes to extend its transportation networks, which are essential to the diversification of source markets. MGTO will reinforce its cooperation with airlines to draw more visitors to fly to Macau while expanding its source markets and visitor portfolio. MGTO is developing new and potential international markets namely Indonesia, Vietnam, Russia and the Middle East. He emphasized that “Independent Travel” is a travel pattern gaining great popularity in the world, and riding on this trend, MGTO is taking measures to meet the needs of the these travelers through specific promotion methods and contents, travel information tools, online travel marketing, innovative tourism services among others to provide independent travelers with convenience access to the most up-to-date information and tailor-made services to fully “Experience Macau” in their visits. “The Historic Center of Macau” is Macau’s valuable tourism resource, and when integrated with its unique blend of Chinese and Portuguese cultures, leisure and entertainment, cuisines, festivals and events as well as sports, is the charming jewel to attract visitors. The large-scale convention and exhibition venues, shopping and resort facilities to be completed soon will further drive Macau along its path of tourism diversification. Antunes expressed that the Macau SAR Government is striving to develop business tourism and the MICE industry. The "Macau Business Tourism Center" established last April has assumed the role of a platform to facilitate the development of convention, exhibition and business tourism through supporting various convention and exhibition activities and training efforts. In 2006, the "Macau Business Tourism Center" has provided services and support to 78 events since April 2006. Under the coordination of the center, the 11th Asia Pacific Life Insurance Congress, to be attended by close to 10,000 participants, will be held in Macau in 2009. Antunes continued that MGTO will put great efforts in promotion and marketing while working to enhance the overall service quality in the tourism industry, aiming to develop Macau’s tourism industry healthily and to achieve diversification. MGTO needs to strengthen the strong partnership between the private and public sectors to achieve long-term sustainable growth. Following the meeting was a mini mart hosted by MGTO for the local tourism trade to meet with the 40 some representatives of MGTO to discuss business opportunities to bring in more visitors. After the opening ceremony, a 170-member delegation comprised of representatives of MGTO, travel trade, Commission for Tourism Development as well as performers headed for Shanghai in varies groups for the marketing meeting and “Experience Macau” promotional activities.
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Four specialised groups had been formed to further reinforce science and technology co-operation between Macao and the Mainland. The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Lao Si Io, said this in Beijing as he discussed concrete collaborative items of science and technology industry with his counterparts in the first meeting of the Mainland and Macao Science and Technology Co-operation Committee. These four specialised groups focus on the relation of technology in Chinese medicinal industry, energy saving and environment industry, electron and information industry, and to make popular the knowledge. “Following the set up of these groups, we believe this will promote bilateral co-operations and as a result, Macao’s science and technology will develop rapidly,” said Mr Lao who is also the Chairman from Macao side of the Committee. He said that the government was highly concerned with Macao’s the science and technology development. After the establishment of the Macao SAR, the government launched several co-operative projects to work with the governmental sector and public organisations to boost the industry. During the meeting, the Committee also agreed on a working plan for the year 2007-2008. Both sides agreed to establish a liaison office and to call one meeting every year.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI for May 2007 rose by 0.57% over April to 113.22. The increment was mainly attributable to the increases in the price indices of Housing & fuels; Food & non-alcoholic beverages; Clothing & footwear; and Transport. Compared with April 2007, the indices of Clothing & footwear; Housing & fuels; and Transport recorded notable increases of 2.37%, 1.37% and 0.98% respectively, on account of dearer prices of women’s clothing and footwear, LP gas and gasoline, as well as higher rentals for housing. In spite of lower prices of fresh vegetables, the price index of Food & non-alcoholic beverages went up by 0.44%, as a result of higher charges for meals bought away from home. On the other hand, lower charges for outbound package tours after the Easter holidays pushed the index of Recreation & culture down by 1.56%. The Composite CPI for May 2007 registered a year-on-year increase of 4.68%. The average Composite CPI for January to May 2007 went up by 4.62% over the same period of 2006. For the 12 months ended May 2007, the average Composite CPI rose by 4.66% over the previous period. In addition, the CPI-A and CPI-B for May 2007 were 114.66 and 112.87, up by 0.62% and 0.57% respectively compared with April. The Composite CPI reflects the impacts of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 3,000 to MOP 9,999. The CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 10,000 to MOP 19,999.
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The SAR Government today announced a new reform plan for public administration, including the introduction of accountability for officials. The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Florinda Chan, announced at a press conference held today at Government Headquarter.. Ms Chan said the new plan symbolised a landmark for Macao's public administration development. "The plan not just only perfects the Government's internal operation, but will also enable all of us to have a clearer picture of the public administration reform in the long run. We'll introduce a basket of important policies step by step," said the Secretary. The policies in the reform included to step up the incorruptibility and to increase transparency of policy; to promote the ability as well as quality of the entire civil service, to propose accountability for officials in the new public servant management scheme; and to relocate power by studying the SAR government structure scientifically. "A centralised organisation will be set up especially for the reform. It is equipped with three main functions, namely consultation, decision-making and execution," said Ms Chan. She said a string of break-through tactics would be applied in the reform, such as building up the partner relationship between the government and the public by reforming the operation of existing mechanisms for consultation and evaluation, so that the public may provide constructive suggestions. The government would also focus on urgent social issues and dedicate to provide solution by advancing the government's connection with the society and its ability in executing policy, the Secretary added.
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The Statistics and Census Service released the results of the Manpower Needs and Wages Survey for the first quarter of 2007. The survey covered the Manufacturing; Hotels & restaurants; Financial intermediation and Electricity, gas & water supply sectors, but excluded own-account workers and insurance intermediaries not directly employed by insurance companies. The survey results were extrapolated based on the data obtained from 644 statistical units successfully interviewed, given as follows: At the end of the first quarter of 2007, the Manufacturing sector had 29,528 paid employees, down by 7.3% over the same period of 2006. Among them, 20,376 were working in the manufacture of wearing apparel. In March 2007, the average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) for full time employees in this sector amounted to MOP 4,789, up by 6.6% over the same month of 2006. The average earnings of the Sewing machine operators in the manufacture of wearing apparel was MOP 3,620. The Hotels & restaurants sector logged 30,563 employees, with 15,957 working in hotels. Number of employees surged by 35.0% over the first quarter of 2006, which was driven by the booming hotel industry. The average earnings for employees in March 2007 rose by 18.9% to MOP 7,078. The average earnings for the hotel Housekeeping employees and the restaurants Waiters/waitresses were MOP 4,659 and MOP 4,915 respectively. The Financial intermediation sector had 4,866 paid employees, up by 7.4% compared with the first quarter of 2006, with 4,135 working in banks. The average earnings for March 2007 went up by 4.7% to MOP 14,647 and that for the Bank tellers was MOP 8,498. The Electricity, gas & water supply sector had 1,024 paid employees, which dropped slightly by 1.4% year-on-year. The average earnings increased by 12.6% over March 2006 to MOP 20,449. At the end of March 2007, the Manufacturing sector recorded 6,550 vacancies, of which 5,025 were in the manufacture of wearing apparel. The Hotels & restaurants sector had 5,430 vacancies, while the Financial intermediation and the Electricity, gas & water supply sectors logged 261 and 27 vacant posts respectively. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, approximately 80.0% of the vacant posts in the Manufacturing sector required working experience. Over 90.0% of the vacancies in the Electricity, gas & water supply and the Financial intermediation sectors required senior secondary or higher education. Besides Cantonese, English (82.4%) and Mandarin (82.0%) were the more preferable language skills for the vacancies in the Financial intermediation sector.
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Great strides in business, culture and tourism co-operation and exchange between Macao and Fujian have been achieved, the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said in Fujian today. “The two-way economy have also grown rapidly over the past years, including business activities,” Mr Ho said in a keynote speech at a meeting where high-ranking officials from Macao and Fujian were taking part during his two day visit to the province. “By taking the advantages of Macao acting as a trading platform, Macao and Fujian have jointly opened up overseas markets, and organised delegations to study the business opportunities in the Portuguese-speaking countries,” he said. The Macao-Fujian collaboration has gone into an all-around and deeper stage, he added, when he highlighted that the Central Government has given indispensable assistance. “Following the extensive implementation of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), the degree and level of collaboration between these two places would definitely be advanced.” The Macao SAR Government is highly interested with the concept of HaiXi Economic Zone, which would be a key step in speeding up economic development of the west strait, he said. Meanwhile, the Chief Executive revealed that Macao would host a large-scale international forum on the environmental industry in 2008, which is another gateway for Fujian to seek business co-operation with the European Union. He said Macao would continue to promote partnership with Fujian, and boosting trade between Fujian and Taiwan, China, would be one of the focal points under the Macao-Fujian collaboration framework.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, is to lead a delegation of officials to Fujian Province on Sunday for a number of trade promotion events. In Fujian, Mr Ho is scheduled to meet with high-ranking officials of the province and attend an annual economic forum between Macao and Fujian, as well as a number of trade promotion events. Members of the delegation include the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam Pak Yuen; Chief-of-Office of the Office of the Chief Executive, Mr Ho Veng On, and Director of the Government Information Bureau, Mr Chan Chi Ping. The Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute will organise a group of businesspeople to attend relevant business promotion events in Fujian. The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Florinda Chan, will be Acting Chief Executive while Mr Ho is away.
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The Statistics and Census Service released the results of the 2006 Health Care Survey, which covered three hospitals providing hospital care services, 434 private clinics and health care centres providing primary health care services, as well as 214 establishments providing Chinese medicine and therapy services in Macao. In 2006, there were 2,778 persons engaged in hospitals, comprising 946 nurses and 490 doctors. The hospitals provided 980 in-patient hospital beds, with the occupancy rate increased slightly by 0.5 percentage point over 2005 to 76.4%. A total of 4,044 deliveries and 12,059 surgical operations were carried out during the year. Among the 1,577 persons engaged in primary health care services, 606 were doctors and 347 were nurses. Number of medical consultations administered totalled 2,280,000, up by 10.0% over 2005. In addition, 97.0% of the 434 establishments providing primary health care were operated by the private sector and the majority (369) were private clinics. With respect to the entire health care system, the ratio of residents to doctor (excluding dentists) was 447:1 and the ratio of residents to nurse was 424:1. In 2006, the number of blood donors registered an increase of 1.4% over 2005 to 9,122; the median age of the blood donors was 24.4. Meanwhile, the Blood Donation Centre provided 16,544 units of blood and blood components to the hospitals. Within the 503 persons engaged in Chinese medicine and therapy services in 2006, there were 119 doctors of Chinese medicine, 166 Chinese herbalists, and 22 masseurs, acupuncturists and therapists, providing approximately 669,000 consultations in Chinese medicine and therapy services.
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The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam Pak Yuen, today confirmed that Banco Delta Asia had remitted a sum of over 20 million US dollar out of Macao. The money is from dozens of accounts and the remittance was done according to instruction of several dozens clients from Democratic People's Republic of Korea, said Mr Tam at a public occasion. ''The affairs had come to an end for Macao,'' he said. When asked by reporters, He said he could not disclose where the money was sent as transaction was private matters between the bank and clients. Mr Tam said the SAR Government's management over the bank had been extended to September this year and the operation of the bank is normal and stable now. He maintained the Government regretted the US Treasury's so-called sanction over Banco Delta Asia. ''The Bank had officially appealed against the US Treasury Department's sanctions,'' said Mr Tam.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) promoted both leisure and business tourism at the 21st International Travel Expo Hong Kong (ITE). Being an official supporter of the event, MGTO organized a big delegation of Macau travel trade to participate in this travel fair, and was represented by the Head of Promotion and Marketing Department of MGTO, Ms. Cecilia Tse, in the opening ceremony this morning. ITE is a prime travel expo held annually in Hong Kong. Previous statistics show that the expo has successfully attracted an international portfolio of exhibitors and visitors, and helped creating an effective platform for the travel industry to inspire one another. The MGTO booth was decorated with a strong festive atmosphere, to align with its global promotional theme “Experience Macau!” – in addition to an eye-catching thematic signage at the reception counter, eight colorful banners were hung to echo with the main theme; while the rear entrance of the booth resembled the main gate of the A-Ma temple. As MGTO strives to position Macau as a leisure and business destination, MGTO seized the occasion to cater for trade, corporate and public visitors. Apart from actively disseminating the relevant Macau information, MGTO has also led a delegation of 32 Macau travel entities who share the same vision to co-exhibit in the expo. On top of these, MGTO has hosted a Macau familiarization tour yesterday for the expo’s hosted buyers, to showcase to them the latest development of Macau’s leisure and business tourism. During the expo, MGTO hosted an in-booth cocktail to greet HK trade partners, MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convention & Exhibition) organizers and media friends. It will also hold two on-site seminars during consumer days (16 & 17 June) for its HK promotional campaign, “the Difference is Macau”. The campaign will introduce 10 themed travel itineraries to the public, with an aim to position Macau as a “destination-for-all”. The 21st ITE is held from 14 to 17 June 2007 (14 & 15 June are trade days, while 16 & 17 June are public days) at HK Convention and Exhibition Centre. According to official release, there are over 600 international exhibitors from 50 countries and regions participate in the expo.
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