MGTO Director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, participates in the opening ceremony with other guests
The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), together with local travel trade, is promoting the destination at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart 2026, held from 18 to 20 August in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, inviting international travel trade to participate in next year’s PATA Travel Mart to be held in Macao. During the event, Macao tourism was also highlighted with projects from MGTO and three integrated resort enterprises receiving a total of seven awards in different categories of marketing, sustainability and social responsibility in the PATA Gold Awards 2026.
Now in its 49th edition, the PATA Travel Mart (PTM) is one of Asia Pacific’s longest-standing international travel trade exhibitions, gathering over 1,100 delegates from 48 countries and regions this year. In addition to providing a platform for networking, the event includes a forum, the PATA Gold Awards presentation ceremony, several internal meetings of the association, among other activities. The 50th edition will be held in Macao, highlighting the city’s strengths as international exchange platform.
Share about destination’s tourism development strategy at PTM forum
MGTO Director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, is in Malaysia to attend the PATA Travel Mart and participated in the opening ceremony of the event held this morning (19 August), alongside PATA Chairman, Henry Oh, PATA CEO, Noor Ahmad Hamid, Ministry for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak, YB Dato Sri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Chairman of Sarawak Tourism Board, YB Dato’ Dennis Ngau, and CEO of Sarawak Tourism Board, YBrs. Dr. Sharzede Salleh Askor, among others.
Yesterday (18 August), MGTO Director also featured among the speakers of the PTM Knowledge Forum, in a session themed “From Vision to Reality: Sustainable Tourism in Action”. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes elaborated on Macao’s experience in leveraging the tourism industry to achieve a diverse and sustainable development, sharing insights into the Macao SAR Government’s “1+4” appropriate diversification development strategy, community tourism development approach, initiatives as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, and more.
Business networking at top international travel trade show
MGTO set up a booth at PTM 2026, where it is joined by a group of nearly ten representatives from Macao integrated resort enterprises, travel agencies and a destination management company, to participate in the three-day event, with the aim of increasing international visitor source markets. Under the theme “Experience Macao”, the booth is decorated with images of Macao’s iconic tourist landmarks, such as the Ruins of St Paul’s and the Cotai strip, along with the city tourism mascot Mak Mak, creating an inviting environment for MGTO and the travel trade to exchange and conduct business contacts with counterparts from around the world.
Seven Macao tourism projects endorsed with PATA Gold Award
One of the highlights of PTM, the PATA Gold Awards 2026 gala dinner and award presentation ceremony, was held on 18 August. Supported by MGTO for 31 years, the ceremony opened with a speech from Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, who also delivered the PATA Gold Awards to the winners together with the PATA Chair and the PATA CEO. Aiming to set standards for excellence and innovation in the tourism industry across Asia Pacific in marketing, sustainability and social responsibility, the PATA Gold Awards winners are selected by an international jury.
This year, Macao was once again among the winners, receiving a record of seven of the 32 awards distributed. MGTO was recognized with two PATA Gold Awards: POP MART MACAO CITYWALK was bestowed with the Destination Marketing Campaign (Destination Management Organisation - Asia) award and CreatorWeek Macao 2025 received the Most Engaging Social Media Campaign award.
Additionally, Melco Resorts & Entertainment received two PATA Gold Award: one in the category of Marketing Campaign - Hospitality (Hotel, Resort, Management company) for “House of Dancing Water Premiere” and another in the category of Climate Action Initiative (Industry) for “RISE to Go Above & Beyond.” Sands China Limited also received two PATA Gold Awards: one in the category of Printed Marketing Campaign (Industry) for “Sands China Presents: Dopamine: Fountain of Happiness Artbook” and another in the category of Sustainable and Inclusive Marketing Campaign for “Empowering Inclusive Communities: The Sands Shopping Carnival.” MGM China received one PATA Gold Award in the category of Human Capital Development Programme for its “Unleashing Greatness – MGM’s Human Capital Development Programme.”
Marketing awards for POP MART MACAO CITYWALK and CreatorWeek Macao
MGTO’s awarded POP MART MACAO CITYWALK, spanned 108 days between June and September last year, integrated Macao’s UNESCO World Heritage status with contemporary “trendy toy” characters, successfully contributing to the revitalization of community tourism and driving business to local SMEs. By integrating six cross-border e-wallets, the campaign transformed emotional IP engagement into tangible economic growth, attracting over 723 thousand visitors and facilitating MOP 3.64 billion in total e-wallet transactions.
The awarded CreatorWeek Macao 2025, organized by MGTO and held in October last year, effectively presented Asia’s first east-meets-west influencer festival, uniting leading creators, platforms, brands, and communities through summits, live performances, and immersive “tourism +” experiences across the city. With 184 creator groups participating, the content created about the event and Macao generated over 1.5 billion global impressions, reached more than 2 billion cumulative KOL followers, and contributed to over 25% inbound tourism growth, positioning Macao as a youthful, international and innovative destination.
Prestigious industry event PATA Travel Mart will be held in Macao next year
During PTM 2026 in Malaysia, MGTO took the opportunity to invite participants to join next year’s PATA Travel Mart, which will be held in Macao from 20 to 22 September 2027.
Ten years after Macao last hosted PTM in 2017, MGTO is gearing up to welcome PTM 2027 and take advantage of this international event to provide a firsthand updated on the dynamic “tourism +” development as a world centre of tourism and leisure. The travel mart is also set to showcase Macao’s role as an international exchange platform and help to build a wider international network, offering participants the chance to fully leverage the destination’s unique advantages as a “precision connector” between the Chinese mainland and the world.
