Tourism Development Committee Hosts Second Plenary Meeting

The CDT plenary meeting was chaired by Alexis Tam, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture (Photo courtesy of Tourism Development Committee)

The Tourism Development Committee (CDT from its Portuguese acronym) held its second plenary meeting of 2017 on 24th September. The meeting was chaired by Alexis Tam, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture and Chairman of the CDT.

Developing high-end tourist market for sustainable development

During the meeting, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) presented the latest developments of Macao tourism, with several key statistics showing significant growth compared to the same period last year. MGTO also introduced the Macao Tourism Industry Development Master Plan, which seeks to transform Macao into a world centre of tourism and leisure via various stakeholders, which include the public, tourism industry, communities and government departments. The framework and concrete concepts provided by the Master Plan are designed to help the government and public achieve the goal together.

Regarding the sustainable development of the tourism industry, Alexis Tam mentioned that apart from Japan and Korea, Macao would continue to explore tourism markets that have direct flights to each other in the future, such as organizing tourism promotional activities in Singapore and Indonesia; he also revealed that the government is planning to nurture new long distance, high-end tourism markets in Mainland China.

Meanwhile, he said that the government is co-operating with the Portuguese Government on tourism, culture, health care, education and sport. The Portuguese Government not only strongly supported Macao's application to UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of Gastronomy but also supported Macao's initiative to reorganise the Chapas Sínicas (official records of Macao during the Qing Dynasty) and apply for UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, noting both applications could elevate Macao's international reputation.

Barrier-free tourism facilities

Moreover, a representative of the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation conducted an analysis of the accessible facilities of Macao Tourism commissioned by CDT, investigated 80 tourist attractions and facilities apropos accessibility, providing a number of suggestions, which included infrastructure improvement, promotion of a barrier-free environment, optimisation of tourism facilities and services, and requirements for creating barrier-free tourism. The research also provided guidelines for the MSAR Government to develop barrier-free tourism.

Alexis Tam said that he paid close attention to the elderly and disabled regarding their equal right to join tourism activities in Macao, thus he would work closely with transportation and construction entities to optimise Macao's barrier-free facilities to benefit the community.

Members to increase tourism facilities' disaster resilience

Impacted by Typhoon Hato on 23rd August, MGTO acknowledged a decline in hotel related figures from 23rd August to 5th September, adding tourist visitations returned to normal on 11th September. Alexis Tam expressed his gratitude to the tourism industry for their co-operation during the storm, enabling society to fully recover within a short period of time. During the meeting, members mentioned that Typhoon Hato had wrought a serious impact upon SMEs, and that they expected the MSAR Government to provide more support to them whilst reviewing the limitation of disaster resilience to tourism facilities, and providing relief.

Many members of the Committee also expressed their opinions about the development of Smart Tourism as a priority; family tourism; identifying and promoting Characteristic Tourism; increasing the attractiveness of Community Tourism; strengthening the promotion of Macao as a leisure tourism city; underscoring the image of Macao as rich in Chinese and Western festivals; constructing Macao as Asia's leading hub for tourism education and training; and so forth.