• Secretary Tam addresses the Hong Kong International Tourism Convention (Photo courtesy of Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture)
  • The Institute for Tourism Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Sun Yat-Sen University ink the memorandum (Photo courtesy of Institute for Tourism Studies)

Alexis Tam Participates in Hong Kong International Tourism Convention, discusses Tourism Development of Greater Bay Area

LISTEN STOP Your browser does not support this feature

The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR Government, Alexis Tam, attended the Hong Kong International Tourism Convention on 12th December, 2018, for which he was invited to deliver an opening address. Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Acting Chief of Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture (GSASC) Stella Leong, GSASC consultant Charles Lam, and President of the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) Fanny Vong also participated in the Convention.

In his speech, Secretary Tam remarked that the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping had created new opportunities for the development of tourism and the global economy, with the Greater Bay Area steadily evolving into one of the most vital growth hubs of China. As an important core city on the Maritime Silk Road, he said that Macao depends upon rich cultural resources and a buoyant tourism industry in its march towards constructing a world centre of tourism and leisure and positioning Macao as a natural exchange platform for China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Enhancing regional and international co-operation in the tourism industry via Macao’s experiences, unique system, culture and geographical advantages was identified as a key objective. 

In addition, as one of the core cities of the Greater Bay Area, Macao will strengthen co-operation with Guangdong Province and Hong Kong to help develop the cities of the Greater Bay Area into world famous tourist destinations for multi-destination tours. 

Secretary Tam continued that the Global Centre for Tourism Education and Training, established by IFT in collaboration with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), has provided training for officials from UNWTO since 2016. Macao is willing, he added, to dedicate its training resources, tourism facilities and hands-on experiences of large integrated resort management to developing the territory as a tourism training centre in the Greater Bay Area, thereby nurturing tourism personnel for the region. 

The Secretary also remarked that Macao had been designated as a new member city of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the field of gastronomy in 2017, adding to the accolade of the Historic Centre of Macao being inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2005. Consequently, Macao is currently tapping into its potential as a creative city in order to further contribute to the development of the global tourism industry. 

As such, the government is preparing the first edition of ‘ART MACAO’, which will organise multiple arts activities and creative events from May to October. The first annual Macau international visual arts exhibition - co-organised by the government and various hotel and resort operators - will be this year’s signature event, in which both world class artists and new artists will be invited to display their latest creations in Macao. 

In the plenary session, MGTO Director Senna Fernandes observed that the recent opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao (HKZM) Bridge would enable Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao to usher in ‘multi-destination’ opportunities for tourism development. She added that as the HKZM Bridge ramps up its operations, the aforementioned destinations would co-produce more effective promotional campaigns via familiarisation visits for local and international media, related industry representatives and opinion leaders to nurture more ‘multi-destination’ tourism related itineraries and products. 

The Hong Kong International Tourism Convention - themed ‘Leveraging Belt and Road Initiative & Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development’ - was jointly organised by the Hong Kong SAR Government, Hong Kong Tourism Board, and Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong. The plenary session focused on the ‘Implications of the Belt and Road initiative on the Development of International Tourism’ as well as the ‘Relationship between the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Regional and International Tourism’.


Three Institutions form ‘Greater Bay Area Tourism Research Alliance’

The Institute for Tourism Studies of the Macao SAR, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Sun Yat-Sen University signed a Memorandum of Co-operation for the Establishment of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Tourism Research Alliance on 21st November 2018.

According to the groundbreaking protocol, the three institutions will give full play to their advantages and jointly establish the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Tourism Research Alliance to conduct research on tourism co-operation and competition relations affecting the urban agglomeration of the Greater Bay Area in order to conduct the targeted monitoring of the sustainable development of tourism within the Area. It will also jointly study the laws and problems of the development of tourism in the Greater Bay Area, providing research results to the government and other management departments in a timely manner whilst assisting government decision-making with considered opinions.

The three institutions will organise international academic activities for Greater Bay Area tourism co-operation via the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Tourism Research Alliance; conduct tourism research relevant to the Greater Bay Area; and jointly promote the process of international co-operation in the tourism industry of the Greater Bay Area whilst enhancing the level of internationalisation of the tourism industry in the Greater Bay Area.