• MGTO Director Senna Fernandes and local youths engage in animated dialogue
  • Tertiary students actively express their opinions in the session

MGTO Director Engages Tertiary Students on Macao’s Tourism Mission

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Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) hosted a dialogue session between the MGTO Director and young people at the Institute for Tourism Studies on 8th March. Under the topic of forging Macao into a world centre of tourism and leisure and a City of Gastronomy, exchanges with university and college students were undertaken concerning the future of Macao's tourism industry.

MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Deputy Director Cheng Wai Tong, and Head of Organizational Planning and Development Department, Ricky Hoi, joined teachers and students from six local universities, colleges and institutes in the dialogue session.

In her presentation to around 50 young tertiary students, MGTO Director Senna Fernandes introduced Macao's positioning as a world centre of tourism and leisure, the organizational structure of MGTO, the Macao Tourism Industry Development Master Plan, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as well as the vision of Macao as a Creative City of Gastronomy, following which she exchanged ideas with students on the future direction of Macao's tourism development.

Some students said that there are not sufficient direction signs for tourists visiting Macao on foot, suggesting electronic signs could resolve the issue. Other students raised questions on how to effectively promote the diverse events and festivities as well as museums in Macao to tourists. Director Senna Fernandes reverted that the Macao SAR Government is devoting unstinting efforts in the development of smart tourism in the knowledge that future visitors will be able to obtain tourist updates and related information about tourist attractions and the environs that they are located in with a swipe of their smartphones.

Regarding enquiries on how to attract more MICE events to Macao, the MGTO Director anticipated that the inauguration of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge would help bring benefits by attracting more MICE events to the city.

Director Senna Fernandes was delighted to see students proactively thinking about Macao's tourism industry and enthusiastically expressing their opinions and aspirations for its future, in addition to sharing their thoughts about travel preferences and mindset. In having the opportunity to listen to local youth, tourism department officials noted that it would serve as a practical reference for the formulation of tourism policies and governmental administration.

Senna Fernandes pointed out that catching up with the rapid development and transformation of today's world takes relentless effort by the tourism industry at large, addressing various aspects like tourism quality, reform, innovation and inheritance in the city's march to becoming a world centre of tourism and leisure.