ECTAA 2025 Macao Summit now running
The European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations (ECTAA) 2025 Macao Summit opened today (3 June) at Grand Lisboa Palace Resort. Leaders of travel agencies from across Europe will be able to experience Macao’s unique “tourism + MICE” advantages during the summit.
Delegates will be invited to explore business cooperation opportunities with local travel trade, tour around Macao’s community areas and join a familiarization visit to Hengqin, allowing them to learn about the destination’s culture and tourism resources, helping to raise the city’s international profile and to expand visitor source markets from Europe.
Reinforce connections with European travel trade to expand international visitor source markets
Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes and ECTAA President Frank Oostdam welcomed this morning the delegates to the summit.
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes remarked at the occasion that it is a great opportunity for Macao to welcome this significant group of the European tourism industry, especially now that a new wave of tourism development is emerging, highlighting that travel agencies are key partners that MGTO wants to work with to continue to increase visitor flows from Europe.
Frank Oostdam said that Macao is a destination that perfectly combines heritage, culture, and innovation – offering European travelers a unique experience in Asia. Noting that his organization is proud to support Macao’s promotional efforts and is looking forward to strengthening the ties between Macao and the European travel trade, he expressed that, working together, both sides can unlock exciting opportunities for travelers and industry partners alike.
Exchange between European travel trade leaders and local trade
Held from 2 to 5 June, the summit is hosted by MGTO and co-hosted by SJM Resorts, S.A.. ECTAA members from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Malaysia (international member), the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, in a total of around 40 delegates, are in Macao for the summit, creating a unique opportunity to promote the city’s potential as a tourism destination.
MGTO Director and the ECTAA President, together with ECTAA Vice-President Heli Mäki-Fränti and the Managing Director of SJM Resorts Daisy Ho shared the details about the event in a press conference held today.
The summit includes ECTAA’s board and general assembly, along with two panel sessions with guest speakers under the theme “Developing Europe-Asia Commercial Relations in Tourism” and “Strengthening the Impact of Member Organisations.”
Another important part of the program of the event is a business networking session for delegates to meet Macao travel trade that was also held this morning. A total of 65 Macao travel trade, including travel agencies, integrated resorts, hotels, airlines, convention and exhibition venues, destination management companies, among others, joined the session to explore cooperation opportunities with leaders of European travel agencies to attract travelers from different travel segments from Europe to Macao.
Stroll around Macao’s community areas and visit Hengqin’s attractions
Delegates will also have the opportunity to experience Macao’s “tourism +” offerings on a half-day tour tomorrow (4 June) afternoon. On the evening of the same day, a gala dinner co-hosted by MGTO and SJM will close the curtain of the event.
In addition, the European delegates will join a post-event familiarization visit to Hengqin’s main attractions on Thursday (5 June) morning, organized by the Economic Development Bureau of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
ECTAA represents 80,000 travel agents and tour operators
As the umbrella organization of the national-level associations of 32 European countries, ECTAA represents 80,000 travel agents and tour operators. Hosting the ECTAA 2025 Macao Summit is part of MGTO’s efforts to prioritize reconnecting with travel trade to drive more visitor flows from Europe.
Macao is also being promoted by ECTAA as its “Preferred Destination 2025,” along with other activities conducted by MGTO with other partners to showcase the destination to the European travel trade, as part of the Office promotional work to raise the visibility of Macao in Europe and attract more international visitors.
