News

The Cinematheque．Passion under the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) has entered the second phase of experimental operation. Apart from the “Temporary Venue Booking Programme of Cinematheque．Passion” which is open for the application by members of the film industry, filmmakers and film associations, IC will hold a series of film-themed talks starting from this month. Talks are open to the public with free admission. The Cinematheque will hold the first talk entitled “Film X Critique X Audience: A Film’s Triangular Relationships” on Saturday, 30 January, from 3pm to 5pm. Hong Kong film critic, Joyce Yang, will talk about topics such as “What is film critique?”, “Why is there a need for film critique?”, “Why audiences need film critiques?” and “The role of a critic”. Joyce Yang, an active film critic in Hong Kong and member of Hong Kong Film Critics Society, has been a planner and curator of Critic’s Choice. She also published critiques on HKinema, City Magazine and Hong Kong Film, and was an instructor in the film critique workshop “Film Critics” and the Educators Workshop of “Hong Kong International Film Festival”. Other upcoming talks feature a variety of topics, including the planning and coordination of a film festival, film marketing, film editing, cinematic sound effect, film arts, film costumes and film directing, in hope of familiarising the participants with the film industry. More details will be announced soon. Limited seats are available. All interested parties are welcome to enroll in the above-mentioned talk via email (info.dpicc@icm.gov.mo) indicating as subject ‘Enrollment for the talk “Film X Critique X Audience: A Film’s Triangular Relationships”’, as well as providing name, contact number and contact email, by 29 January 2016 at 12:00pm. For enquiries regarding the talk or the Cinematheque, please contact Mr. Leong though tel. no. (853) 2892 4040 during office hours. For details, please visit the Cultural Affairs Bureau website (www.icm.gov.mo) or the Macao Cultural and Creative Industries Website (www.macaucci.com).
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To facilitate the public and philatelists for ordering new philatelic products, please note the followings: * Annex Table
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals saw month-to-month increase in December, but the annual total for 2015 decreased by 2.6% year-on-year. Visitor arrivals totalled 2,634,098 in December 2015, up by 3.7% year-on-year and 1.7% month-to-month. Overnight visitors rose by 14.2% to 1,330,283, accounting for 50.5% of the total, the highest percentage recorded since January 2013. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.3 day year-on-year to 1.2 days; the average stay of overnight visitors (2.2 days) rose by 0.3 day while that of same-day visitors (0.2 day) remained unchanged. For the whole year of 2015, visitor arrivals totalled 30,714,628, down by 811,004 year-on-year; same-day visitors (16,406,861) and overnight visitors (14,307,767) decreased by 3.3% and 1.8% respectively. The average length of stay of visitors was 1.1 days in 2015, up by 0.1 day year-on-year. Visitors from Mainland China increased by 1.1% year-on-year to 1,656,704 in December 2015, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (736,950) edging down by 0.5%. Visitors from Hong Kong (591,319), the Republic of Korea (54,880) and Taiwan (85,129) increased by 8.3%, 15.9% and 8.9% respectively, while those from Malaysia (33,981) dropped slightly by 0.9%. Visitors from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom registered year-on-year increase. Meanwhile, visitor arrivals by land (1,473,867) and by air (193,916) rose by 12.9% and 10.0% respectively year-on-year, while those arriving by sea (966,315) dropped by 8.7%. In 2015, visitors from Mainland China decreased by 4.0% year-on-year to 20,410,615, coming mainly from Guangdong Province (9,043,931), up modestly by 0.4%, followed by Fujian Province (872,291) and Hunan Province (810,502). Mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme dropped by 0.5% year-on-year to 9,519,317, with 71.2% coming from Guangdong Province and 4.8% from Shanghai. Visitors from Hong Kong (6,534,543) and Taiwan (988,059) increased by 1.7% and 3.6%, while those from the Republic of Korea (554,177) edged down by 0.1%. Moreover, long-haul visitors from the United States (182,532) and Canada (70,973) rose marginally by 0.6% and 0.5% year-on-year respectively, while those from Australia (92,404) and the United Kingdom (59,985) declined by 12.8% and 1.3%. Overnight visitors decreased by 1.8% year-on-year to 14,307,767 in 2015, attributable to a 5.1% drop in those from Mainland China (9,234,150); meanwhile, overnight visitors from Hong Kong (3,065,380) and Taiwan (450,795) increased by 9.9% and 10.0%. Overnight visitors accounted for 46.6% of the total visitors, up by 0.4 percentage points. The average stay of overnight visitors (2.1 days) rose by 0.2 day, while that of same-day visitors (0.2 day) remained unchanged. Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land decreased by 1.0% year-on-year to 17,210,946; visitors arriving via the Border Gate (88.2% of total) dropped by 2.6% to 15,176,480, while those via the Checkpoint of Cotai (2,009,551) rose by 13.1%. Visitor arrivals by sea decreased by 5.5% year-on-year to 11,413,908, with those arriving via the Outer Harbour (6,992,837) and the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa (4,098,894) dropping by 5.0% and 3.4% respectively. Moreover, visitor arrivals by air increased by 1.7% year-on-year to 2,089,774, and those entering via the airport (2,076,926) rose by 2.5%.
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The Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) is paying close attention to the serious road accident that occurred this morning in Nakatsugawa, Japan, and maintaining close contact with the Consulate-General of China in Nagoya for further developments. The GGCT and the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) regret the situation and express their condolences to the victim’s family and solidarity to the resident that is currently in serious condition. The Consulate-General of China in Nagoya informed GGCT today that two Macao residents were involved in a serious car accident, confirming that one Macao citizen male, aged 25, a current traffic police officer surnamed Kam passed away during the accident, while another Macao female resident, aged 25 and surnamed Chui, was seriously injured and brought to the hospital for treatment and is at this moment conscious. The family and friends of the victims have been in contact with the GGCT for information. The GGCT has been involved in the coordination and have been sharing of all the necessary information to the Public Security Police of Macau and the Identification Bureau for follow up of the accident. If necessary, Macao residents can call the 24-hour Tourism Hotline (853) 2833 3000.
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Consumer Council conducted its ‘Supermarket price survey’ in January on 21 January for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included 13 supermarkets in Toi San, Ilha Verde and Fai Chi Kei areas in N. Sra. de Fátima Parish. The latest ‘Supermarket Price Survey’ is now available on Consumer Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps, and on the Council’s WeChat account page. The survey is also available free of charge at the offices of Consumer Council, IACM’s Iao Hon and S. Domingos Markets, bookstores and libraries. With reference to the local six parishes and the number of supermarkets in each parish, the Council has divided around 100 supermarkets into 8 areas for price collection. The Council collects prices from these supermarkets for the provision of a more comprehensive database for consumers to check price discrepancies and make price comparisons according to their desired locations. For inquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI growth for December 2015 eased to 3.73% year-on-year. The inflation rate for 2015 stood at 4.56%, down from the 6.05% rise in 2014. The Composite CPI (107.31) for December 2015 increased by 3.73% year-on-year, down slightly by 0.04 percentage points from November (+3.77%). Remarkable increase was observed in the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+37.85%), Education (+8.93%) and Household Goods & Furnishings (+6.31%) on account of an increase in tobacco tax, higher tuition fee and rising wages of domestic helpers. On the other hand, price index of Clothing & Footwear (-2.99%) and Communication (-0.79%) registered decrease. The CPI-A (107.54) and CPI-B (105.41) rose by 3.83% and 2.89% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for December 2015 increased by 0.25% month-to-month. Higher prices of winter clothing & women’s footwear, dearer charges for package tours and cultural services such as movies, as well as rising rentals for parking spaces pushed up the price index of Clothing & Footwear, Recreation & Culture and Transport by 1.53%, 1.49% and 0.82% respectively. Meanwhile, lower prices of fresh pork and fruits tapered off the rise in prices of vegetables and seafood, causing the price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages to edge up by 0.06%. On the other hand, price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, Communication and Housing & Fuels decreased by 1.04%, 0.15% and 0.04% upon reduced prices of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and telecommunications equipment, as well as lower rentals for dwellings. The CPI-A and CPI-B increased by 0.24% and 0.35% respectively month-to-month. The average Composite CPI (107.10) for the fourth quarter of 2015 increased by 3.89% year-on-year; the average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 4.00% and 2.90% respectively. For the whole year of 2015, the average Composite CPI was 105.72, up by 4.56% year-on-year. Higher rentals for dwellings, dearer charges for eating out and rising rentals for parking spaces together pushed up the annual inflation rate by 3.7 percentage points; meanwhile, receding prices of gasoline and Liquefied Petroleum Gas helped alleviate inflationary pressures. Price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+17.33%) and Housing & Fuels (+8.06%) registered notable increase, while that of Communication and Clothing & Footwear decreased by 0.26% and 0.08% respectively. The average CPI-A (105.92) and CPI-B (104.10) for 2015 increased by 4.88% and 3.67% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general households. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 to MOP29,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP30,000 to MOP54,999.
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The Government would announce at an appropriate time any news on whether or when Macao-registered vehicles would be allowed to enter neighbouring Hengqin Island, part of the mainland’s Zhuhai Prefecture in Guangdong Province. The matter is still under discussion and there is not yet any schedule for implementation of such a plan. The Macao and Guangdong authorities have been discussing the matter according to the principles of the Framework Agreement on Cooperation between Guangdong and Macao. Recently, the Government submitted proposals to the Guangdong authorities on how to manage issues relating to the entry to Hengqin of Macao-registered vehicles. The Government also initiated research on possible adjustments to the transport network – including the area around the Lotus Bridge checkpoint linking Macao with Hengqin – in order to accommodate a possible increase in traffic. The Government is still awaiting feedback from the Guangdong Provincial Government regarding such proposals, and would make further announcements when it is appropriate to do so.
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Consumer Council conducted its ‘Supermarket price survey’ in January on 20 January for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included supermarkets near Iao Hon Market and the Border Gate area (Portas do Cerco ) in N. Sra. de Fátima Parish. The latest ‘Supermarket Price Survey’ is now available on Consumer Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps, and on the Council’s WeChat account page. The survey is also available free of charge at the offices of Consumer Council, IACM’s Iao Hon and S. Domingos Markets, bookstores and libraries. With reference to the local six parishes and the number of supermarkets in each parish, the Council has divided around 100 supermarkets into 8 areas for price collection. The Council collects prices from these supermarkets for the provision of a more comprehensive database for consumers to check price discrepancies and make price comparisons according to their desired locations. For inquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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The Institute for Tourism Studies “Career Day 2016” was held on 20 and 21 January at IFT Taipa Campus. The event aimed to provide more information on the employment trends and prospects in the tourism and hospitality industry for graduating students, thus increasing their chances of success in job hunting. 34 organisations with over 1700 of job vacancies from the tourism and services industry joined the event. These included Christian Dior, DFS COTAI LIMITADA, EGL Tours (Macau) Company Limited, Engage Limited, Fossil Macau Limited, Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip®, Galaxy Entertainment Group, Grand Coloane Resort, Grand Hyatt Macau, Holiday Inn Macau, ImagineX Macao Company Limited, JW Marriott Hotel Macau, L'Arc Macau, Lisboa Hotels Complex, Louis Vuitton Macau Company Limited, Louis XIII Holdings Ltd, Macau International Airport, Macau Legend Development Limited, Melco Crown Entertainment, MGM Macau, Milton Exhibits & Engineering (Macau) Ltd, O GROUP SWATCH (MACAU) LIMITADA, RLG Macau Limited, Sands China Ltd., Sheraton Macao Hotel and The St. Regis Macao, Shun Tak Holdings (Macau) Limited, Sofitel Macau At ponte 16, The Dairy Farm Company Limited - Macau Branch, The Nuance Group (Macau) Limited, The Ritz-Carlton, Macau, Wing On Holidays (Macau) Ltd, Wynn Resorts (Macau) Limited, Yoho Group Ltd and Yves Saint Laurent Macau Limited. Representatives from the participating organisations introduced career prospects and positions available in their companies as well as arranged on site interviews for graduating students and participants. The graduates-to-be and participants were enthusiastic about the event. Questions regarding employment trends and employers’ expectation were raised and discussed in the fair. In addition, the first batch of Culinary Arts Management graduates has just entered the labour market after graduating last year, and they are well accepted by the industry. Most of them are already working in the food and beverage industry, some are in high-end establishments in Macao, such as the Four Seasons Hotel Macao, the Galaxy Hotel, the Hotel Okura Macau, the St Regis Macao and Studio City, one graduate is in overseas management trainee programme – at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in the United States. They are already making a significant contribution to the development of the tourism industry. The employment rate of IFT graduates is always satisfactory. A graduates’ employment survey was conducted with respondents of 2013/14 graduates. According to the survey results, 87.8% of the degree programme graduates were employed, 8% graduates pursued further studies; 76.2% of the employed graduates worked in the tourism and hospitality sector, the median salary of MOP13,900. The Career Day aimed to provide a direct communication platform between students and employers, allowing students to have a better idea about the current job market and maximised their chance of successful job application.
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The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) had previously used basic prices for calculating and analyzing gross output, gross value added and industrial structure of economic activities, while data compiled at producers’ prices were simultaneously released. The difference between basic prices and producers’ prices is that the former does not include taxes on products. As the gaming sector assumes a leading role in the economy of Macao and gaming tax (a type of tax on product) is enormous, valuation of gross output and gross value added of the industry at producers’ prices (i.e. incorporating gaming tax into output of the gaming sector) can provide a more accurate measure of the contribution of the industry to the economy. The analysis of the industrial structure in 2014 indicated that gross value added of the gaming sector (including junket activities) accounted for 59.1% of the total gross value added at producers’ prices, which is 19.2 percentage points higher than the corresponding share at basic prices (39.8%). Moreover, international guidelines allow the inclusion of product taxes in the calculation of gross value added of an economic activity, and many major economies such as Mainland China, the United States and Japan use producers’ prices in their compilation. Therefore, starting from the reference year 2014, DSEC focuses on providing statistical analysis of data, such as gross value added and industrial structure, at producers’ prices; meanwhile, relevant data at basic prices are also provided as a reference source for the public and to facilitate international comparisons. In 2014, Gross Value Added of all economic activities at producers’ prices decreased by 2.8% year-on-year in real terms. The secondary sector’s share of total Gross Value Added rose by 1.5 percentage points to 5.2%, while the relative importance of the tertiary sector fell by 1.5 percentage points to 94.8%, ending its continuous uptrend since 2006. As the nominal growth in Gross Value Added (+5.5%) outpaced the growth in Gross Output (+4.6%), the ratio of Gross Value Added to Gross Output of all economic activities went up from 56.5% in 2013 to 57.0% in 2014. Meanwhile, with a 7.5% rise in employed population, enterprise expenditure on employee compensation increased by 19.3%, bringing the ratio of Compensation of Employees to Gross Value Added up by 2.5 percentage points year-on-year to 21.9%. Changes in Gross Value Added of Economic Activities Economic activities showed mixed performance. Gross Value Added of the secondary sector increased significantly by 34.7% in real terms, in which Construction had the most outstanding growth. Attributable to the construction of major tourism and entertainment facilities, as well as increased investment in building construction, Gross Value Added of Construction surged by 40.6% in real terms. Meanwhile, Gross Value Added of Electricity, Gas & Water Supply increased by 15.6% in real terms. On the other hand, Gross Value Added of the tertiary sector decreased by 4.2% in real terms, resulting from an 8.4% drop in Gross Value Added of Gaming & Junket Activities owing to a decline in gross gaming receipts. Nevertheless, some service industries remained buoyant, of which Gross Value Added of Transport, Storage & Communications went up by 19.4% in real terms, Education up by 15.0%, Renting & Business Activities up by 12.9% and Hotels & Other Provision of Short-Stay Accommodation up by 12.0%. Changes in Industrial Structure The secondary sector’s share of total Gross Value Added grew by 1.5 percentage points to 5.2%, of which the relative importance of Construction rose by 1.4 percentage points to 4.3%, while that of Electricity, Gas & Water Supply and Manufacturing remained stable compared with 2013, at 0.5% and 0.4% respectively. The contribution of the tertiary sector declined from 96.3% in 2013 to 94.8% in 2014, down by 1.5 percentage points. Relative importance of Gaming & Junket Activities plunged by 4.9 percentage points to 59.1%, while that of Wholesale & Retail (5.3%) stayed virtually the same compared with 2013. Some of the service industries registered increase in their relative importance: Real Estate Activities (7.1%) up by 1.0 percentage point; Banking (4.0%) up by 0.7 percentage points; Renting & Business Activities (3.7%) up by 0.5 percentage points; Hotels & Other Provision of Short-Stay Accommodation (3.5%) up by 0.4 percentage points; Transport, Storage & Communications (2.1%) up by 0.3 percentage points. * please find the attached file
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