News

The 27th Macao Arts Festival (MAF) Outreach Programme features 22 programmes and 41 activities, including talks, masterclasses, workshops, backstage tours, exhibitions, school performances, art critique, accessibility services, movie screenings and post-show talks, offering the audience a full range of tailor-made artistic experiences. Several activities take Shakespeare as theme, offering an interpretation of the playwright’s outstanding works. On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the MAF organized special outreach activities dedicated to the playwright: Artistic Director of the Taiwan Contemporary Legend Theatre, Wu Hsing-Kuo, and renowned Hong Kong theatre director, Tang Shu-Wing, present “A Dialogue between Masters – Wu Hsing-Kuo x Tang Shu-Wing - Searching for the Contemporary Meaning of Shakespeare”, sharing their interpretation and understanding of Shakespeare’s plays; Associate Professor of English at University of Macao, Katrine K. Wong, will introduce the cultural and historical context of theatrical music commonly practised at Shakespeare’s time and will explore the dramaturgical significance of music in Shakespeare’s Macbeth; following the opening show A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there will be a backstage tour for the audience to see the set and props of each act of this performance, and intimately experience the romance and aesthetics of the work; in “1 Night! Shakespeare”, the audience will experience Shakespeare’s poetic charm and romance through the eyes, ears and taste buds. Keng Yi-Wei, who is both an experienced art critic from Taiwan and the artistic director of the Taipei Arts Festival, will develop the appreciation for Robert Wilson’s interpretation of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape; the “Into the Wild” – Workshop by members of Theater HORA offers an artistic workshop to Macao residents with cognitive disabilities; the “Sharing Session on Exchange with Overseas Theatre Professionals” offers opportunities of mutual artistic exploration for local performers and artists; Tim Spooner, the producer of The Assembly of Animals, will guide children in exploring interesting tools and materials to make animals . In what concerns masterclasses, TAO Dance Theater encourages participants to traverse the limits of their bodies and experience their relationship with space and with other dancers; Canadian group Le Patin Libre, debuting in Asia, shares with the local experienced ice skaters their contemporary ice skating and street dance fusion techniques . “Dolphins’ Circles – An Exhibition of Ocean Stories for Children” will be held in the Old Court Building offering guided tours; the children’s show Circles will be organised in schools to familiarise children with issues of marine conservation; some sessions of this show also offer theatrical interpretation; the movie screening Touch of the Light provides audio description (in Cantonese) and accessible captions service, in order to allow people with visual or hearing impairments to enjoy arts without barriers. The MAF continues to stimulate art critique. This year, aside from the Critics-in-Residence Programme, the Festival features Simple Critique inviting the audience to comment each performance; the winning art critics will have the chance to watch shows at next year’s Macao Arts Festival for free. Secondary Students’ Writings on Macao Arts Festival carries on the appreciation and writing skills development mission of potential future art critics. Several shows also offer post-show talks that bring artists and public closer; selected movies will be screened in different venues, offering the public a series of entertaining evenings. More outreach activities are provided, and most of them with free admission. Limited seats are available and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. For more information, please refer to the Macao Arts Festival booklet or visit the Festival’s webpage at www.icm.gov.mo/fam. Reservations are available online through www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event, or by phone. For more information and reservations, please call IC through tel. 8399 6699, during office hours.
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Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) is hosting spring banquets and travel marts in Taiwan on 3 and 4 March, to present its major goals this year and showcase Macao’s tourism products, festivals and events in 2016 while enhancing its exchange and partnership with travel trade and media in Taiwan. The mission aims to foster Taiwan market growth, attract various market segments and widen the diversity of visitor source markets for Macao. MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes and Deputy Director Cecilia Tse are joining the spring banquets and travel marts held in Taipei and Kaohsiung today (3 March) and tomorrow (4 March) together with over 20 members of travel trade from Macao. Director of Taipei Office, Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits, Man Hongwei, Head of Macau Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan, China, Nadia Leong Kit Chi, Chairman of Travel Agent Association of Taiwan, Louis Hsu, and Chairman of Taipei Association of Travel Agents, Wu Zhi Jian, were present in the spring dinner tonight among others. Heads of Kaohsiung Association of Travel Agents is also invited to the spring banquet in Kaohsiung tomorrow. Great performance of Taiwan market in 2015 As Director Senna Fernandes remarked, Taiwan has long been the third largest visitor source market for Macao. Last year, Taiwanese visitor arrivals topped 980,000 in Macao, a rise of 3.6% over 2014, with a remarkable surge of 10% in overnight visitors to a record of 450,000 and more. The volume of overnight visitors from Taiwan in January 2016 even spiked up by 30%. The significant rises have proved Macao one of the major leisure destinations for Taiwanese residents to visit. According to figures provided by the Statistics and Census Service, 45.6% of Taiwanese visitors, equivalent to over 450,000 visitor-times, stayed overnight in Macao in 2015. Close to 380,000 overnight visitors stayed in hotels, accounting for 84% of all overnight visitors from Taiwan last year. 66.8% of hotel overnight guests from Taiwan stayed in five-star hotels and 26.8% in four-star hotels. The number of Taiwanese visitors who stayed in four-star hotels rose drastically by 32.6% over 2014. The average length of stay in Macao hotel establishments for Taiwanese visitors was 1.8 nights. The above figures show that the Taiwan market performed remarkably last year. Attract various market segments to experience Macao their own style A total of four airlines in Macao currently offer direct flights between Macao and the three cities in Taiwan including Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. Targeting the Taiwan market, MGTO will keep joining hands with airlines and tour operators to develop cultural, festive and shopping tour packages, itineraries and styles to explore Macao, tailor-made for a diversity of market segments such as family visitors, office workers, female visitors, newlyweds and silver peers. Moreover, the Office will carry out more promotion activities targeting travel trade in different cities and counties of Taiwan and support local trade across Taiwan to form an alliance to promote travel to Macao. Riding on the promotional alliance and travel fairs, tour operators can jointly promote themed group tours to Macao, such as World Heritage tours and “Step Out, Experience Macao’s Communities” walking tours, to attract visitors from different districts of Taiwan to come to Macao, explore different communities and experience the city’s aroma in their own style. MGTO has launched a brand-new promotional video themed “Experience Macao Your Own Style” in 2016, to convey the key message that every visitor can enjoy a memorable trip in Macao in any style the visitor wishes. MGTO's Public Relations Consultant in Taiwan will design different styles for Taiwanese residents to experience Macao according to their preference. MGTO continuously supports Macao to radiate a stronger synergistic effect by rolling out an array of promotional activities across visitor source markets to showcase a colorful calendar of events combining tourism, cultural and sports elements. Moreover, the Office is dedicated to developing a greater variety of tourism elements in different combinations and widening the level of collaboration between tourism, culture and sports for a more far-reaching effect of destination marketing, to showcase Macao’s image as a City of Events. Beyond the city, the Office also strives to widen and deepen its partnership with other destinations around the region by carrying on its efforts to promote multi-destination tourism products, so that visitors with different demands can enjoy a greater variety of choices. The above efforts are made to foster visitor market diversification in hope of drawing more Taiwanese visitors to Macao. This press release is available at: http://industry.macaotourism.gov.mo/en/pressroom/index.php
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The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, today said the Government respected and complied with the principles of the rule of law and the independent power of the judiciary, as stipulated in the Basic Law. The Government upheld the same principles when handling an ongoing criminal case of corruption under investigation by the Commission Against Corruption involving staff at the Public Prosecutions Office, he added. Mr Chui’s comments were made this morning before he left for Beijing to attend the opening of the 4th Session of the 12th National People's Congress. The case had been reported to the Central Government, Mr Chui told reporters. The Government strictly adheres to – and the Central Government supports – the principle of the case proceeding according to the law. The case was not scheduled as a topic for discussion when he meets officials in Beijing, Mr Chui added. Mr Chui urged the community to understand the issue from the perspective of two principles: first, a respect for the independent power of the judiciary and a need for confidentiality in dealing with accused persons; second, everyone was entitled to the presumption of innocence until they were proven guilty. Mr Chui said it nonetheless saddened him if a public servant was investigated in a case regarding a suspicion of criminal conduct. The Chief Executive stated he had been informed about the case approximately one year ago by the Commission Against Corruption. The Commission operates independently, free from any interference, as a matter of principle, he added. Mr Chui also commented on reporters’ questions relating to technical legal issues that the case raises for Macao’s judicial system. The system had undergone nearly 16 years of development since 1999 based on the principle of independence, and was capable of further development, he said. Abiding by the law and respecting the independent operation of the judiciary are core values of the Macao Special Administrative Region, he stressed. In addition, Mr Chui said the Government would work toward improving transparency when handling issues relating to a private property project on Estrada do Campo in Coloane, he said. This might include the disclosure of more information about the project’s environmental evaluation as submitted to the Government. Regarding whether the Chief Executive might exercise his post’s discretionary power in relation to the property project, Mr Chui said he would closely study the matter with the Secretary for Transport and Public Works and with legal advisors. Macao’s legal system for planning matters had been enhanced by three pieces of legislation: the implementation of the Land Law; the Urban Planning Law; and the Heritage Protection Law. This enhanced system would in many cases minimise the need for the exercise of the Chief Executive’s discretionary power, Mr Chui said.
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For the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June, Consumer Council conducted its specific price surveys on refrigerated and frozen pork on 3 March. Result of the mentioned survey has been uploaded to the Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo). For inquiry, please call the Council’s hotline: 8988 9315.
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The graduation theses of Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) Year 4 students, Gabriela, Geng Jiayu, Raul Chang Monteiro and Yuna, Pan Yuan, were selected for inclusion in the 4th International Student Conference in Tourism Research (ISCONTOUR 2016) which will be held from 23 to 24 May 2016 at IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, Austria. ISCONTOUR 2016 is an international conference providing a platform where students and graduates of Bachelor and Master degree programmes can submit and present to the public their tourism-related research papers based on their approved BA- or MA-theses. Each accepted paper has undergone a thorough double-blind review process by a minimum of 3 members of the Research Programme Committee before being selected. IFT is proud that 3 of its undergraduate students received an invitation to participate in the event. With the start of the 2015/16 academic year, IFT’s Bachelor of Science daytime degree programmes have incorporated a capstone graduation requirement consisting of a research-based investigation of the current state of affairs within the Macao tourism industry to ensure that our graduating students have capacity, not only in practical operations but in analysing and understanding how to utilise currents trends in the industry. To date 132 undergraduate candidates in total have successfully completed this research component in the first semester of this academic year. IFT is the only higher education institution in Macao that includes this individual research component as a graduation requirement for all its Bachelor of Science undergraduate candidates. Established in 1995, the Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao (IFT) offers the most extensive selection of tourism and hospitality related bachelor degree programmes in Macao, and about twenty thousand participants attend its vocational and professional training courses annually. IFT collaborates with 97 universities and tourism organisations around the world, and builds strong links with 500 leading tourism and hospitality corporations to offer internship opportunities to its students. Being the first institution accredited by the UNWTO.TedQual Certification System for tourism education, IFT has the most bachelor degree programmes certified under the System of any tertiary education establishment worldwide. IFT has received the Medal of Merit in Tourism from the Macao SAR Government, and won twice the Gold Award in ‘Education and Training’ from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
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The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) releases the new data series of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2015 after the major revision. Owing to the continuous decline in exports of tourism and gaming services, GDP for the fourth quarter of 2015 contracted by 14.4% year-on-year in real terms, a notable deceleration from the 21.0% decline in the previous quarter. Total exports of services shrank by 19.1%, as decrease in visitor arrivals and total visitor spending dragged down exports of other tourism services and gaming services by 6.1% and 25.4% respectively. Domestic demand weakened, with private consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure rising marginally by 1.3% and 1.6% respectively, and gross fixed capital formation falling by 17.4%. Exports and imports of goods decreased by 12.7% and 13.8% respectively, while imports of services dropped by 7.9%. Economic growth for the first three quarters of 2015 was revised upwards to -21.9%, -23.7% and -21.0% respectively. The implicit deflator of GDP that measures changes in prices increased by 3.0% year-on-year in the fourth quarter. For the whole year of 2015, GDP shrank by 20.3% year-on-year in real terms, with a 22.8% drop in the first half of the year and a smaller decline of 17.7% in the second half. The economic contraction was mainly due to the continuous decrease in exports of services, down by 26.8% year-on-year, of which exports of gaming services tumbled by 33.4% and exports of other tourism services dropped by 11.6%. Meanwhile, domestic demand expanded at a slower pace, up modestly by 1.9% year-on-year, with growth in private consumption expenditure, government final consumption expenditure and gross fixed capital formation easing to 2.4%, 4.2% and 0.9% respectively. External demand slackened, as exports and imports of goods rose at a slower rate of 10.2% and 0.1% year-on-year respectively, whereas imports of services fell by 3.4%. In 2015, GDP amounted to MOP368.7 billion and per-capita GDP was MOP 574,790 (about USD 71,984). The implicit deflator of GDP increased by 4.4% year-on-year, while the economic growth for 2014 was revised downwards to -0.9%. Please read attachment! As regards GDP structure by major components, relative importance of net exports of goods and services to GDP dropped significantly from 53.4% in 2014 to 40.7% in 2015 on account of the substantial decline in exports of services. On the contrary, domestic demand increased year-on-year, bringing its relative importance to GDP up from 46.6% in 2014 to 59.3% in 2015, of which the share of private consumption expenditure (25.7%), government final consumption expenditure (9.5%) and investment (24.2%) rose by 5.8, 2.5 and 4.5 percentage points respectively. Please read attachment! Major revision to GDP is conducted about every five years, which includes the incorporation of the latest international statistical standards and the application of up-to-date statistical results and new data sources, with the aim to ensure the quality and comparability of statistics in order to give a more accurate view of the economy of Macao. This major revision covers the following main areas: (1) Enhancing the computation methods for imports and exports of gaming services; (2) Improving the estimation method for gaming expenditure of local residents, and revising the private consumption expenditure by making reference to the latest results of the Household Budget Survey; (3) Revising the non-gaming expenditure of visitors in accordance with the supply and demand balancing principle of the supply and use tables; (4) Adopting new data sources by incorporating estimates of offshore trade activities.
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Owing to the “MONKEY LABEL STAMP” will be sold out soon, please be informed that the label stamp “Old Streets and Alleys” will be replaced for sale gradually in the automatic stamp vending machines with effect from March 2nd.
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The Government has launched its “Thousand Talents Programme”. It aims to provide young people with a better understanding of the country’s development and to help enhance the competiveness of Macao’s young people in employment markets. The programme – one of the Government’s key strategies for talent cultivation – was previously outlined by the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, in his Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2016. A total of 1,000 young people will have the opportunity to join study visits to the mainland in the coming three years. Participants will include students of Macao’s high schools and young people that are studying in local universities or overseas. Mainland provinces such as Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and mainland cities including the municipality of Shanghai are among the destinations for study visits this year. The programme also aims at enhancing exchanges between young people from the mainland and from Macao. Activities during the visits will include leadership training, talks with outstanding achievers, and discussions on innovative technology and cultural creativity. The Government upholds the principles of “Letting Macao thrive through education” and “Building Macao with talent” as the foundation of its education policy. It also has the general policy aim of creating more favourable conditions for cultivating well-rounded young people of talent. The “Thousand Talents Programme” is headed by the Chief Executive’s Office and coordinated by the Macao Foundation, with support from the Ministry of Education and the All-China Youth Federation. Applications to join the programme opened on March 1. For more details, please visit: http://www.fmac.org.mo/1000program/.
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Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) has at all times endeavoured to implement the policies of the Macao SAR Government, by enhancing regional co-operation and highlighting the advantages as the business and trade co-operation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, in order to actively promote Macao’s economic diversification. At the same time, IPIM´s Mainland liaison offices in Hangzhou, Jieyang, Chengdu, Shenyang and Fuzhou constantly serve as the bridge to actively promote trade and interactions between Macao, Mainland China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. In 2015, the five liaison offices have jointly contributed to attract bilateral investments between Mainland China and Macao, involving investments totalling nearly 3 billion Patacas, involving the fields of high technology, tourism, real estate, biomedicine, new energies for electricity generation, logistics and warehousing, and environmental technology. IPIM´s outreach programme assists Mainland China and Macao´s enterprises to attract investment from abroad and “going global” In 2015, IPIM assisted Macao enterprise to establish businesses on the Mainland involving a total investment of nearly 2.3 billion Patacas, and by means of the outreach programme, successfully introduced to Macao a renowned Mainland listed company, the Newland Hi-Tech Group which intended to set up a high technology industry platform and intelligent transportation system in Macao. In this connection, Newland Group incorporated a new company in Macao – the Macao Newland Tech Co Ltd. According to its General Manager, Mr. Liu Jindong, “IPIM´s referral and support were extremely important to the set up of the company in Macao.” Mr. Liu stated thanks to the continuous efforts of the Fujian and Macao governments, the active support of IPIM´s liaison office in Fuzhou, which acted as a go-between and provided advisory services on policies and business referrals, Newland´s intelligent transportation system and environmental protection technologies became key elements of the trade and economic co-operation between Fujian and Macao, and through the said high technology, promote the development of Macao´s economic diversification. For the first phase of development, the company plans to increase its investment to one billion Patacas. Mr. Liu hopes that in view of Macao´s role as a business and trade co-operation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, Newland intends to use Macao as a window to establish relationship with the international market, especially the markets in the Portuguese-speaking Countries and the coastal areas along the “Belt and Road”, and also to use the city as a support base for the group´s head office, and thus disperse its high-tech intelligent industrial chain to the neighbouring regions, including Shenzhen and Guangzhou, intending also to play a role in the field of international scientific and technological co-operation. On the other hand, according to the statistics, in 2015, IPIM´s Mainland liaison offices assisted in the trade in goods and services, involving contracts amounted to 17 million Patacas and 8 Million Patacas, respectively. Support to Mainland Macao´s companies to develop bilateral trade As far as promotion of trade between Mainland China, Macao and Portuguese-speaking Countries are concerned, IPIM´s Mainland liaison offices, by drawing attention to principal trade and economic activities that are held in Macao, try to attract government officials and enterprises in the Mainland to visit the city, to participate in fair-related activities. According to preliminary statistics, in 2015, IPIM´s liaison offices have assisted in the organisation of approximately 900 visitors to participate in exhibitions in Macao. The liaison offices have also promoted and organised about 100 business visits to Macao involving approximately 500 persons from Mainland China. Furthermore, IPIM´s liaison office in Mainland China also assisted in the signing of 17 agreements between government agencies, chambers of commerce and business associations of Macao and Mainland China. They are also following-up on 60 co-operation projects with the participation of Macao and Mainland China´s enterprises, resulting in the signing of 24 co-operation agreements, in the areas of convention and exhibition, trade and economic interaction, products agency, research and development of new products and environmental technologies. As far as Macao is concerned, last year, IPIM´s Mainland liaison offices has assisted 360 Macao entrepreneurs to participate in trade fairs in several Chinese provinces, as well as organising about 70 business visits for approximately 450 entrepreneurs. Trade promotion by developing the functions of the service platform for trade and economic cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries It is worth mentioning that, in 2015, IPIM´s Mainland liaison offices have made progress in the development of the business and trade co-operation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. For instance, IPIM´s liaison office in Fuzhou have gathered data on 80 local professionals familiar with the Portuguese language, thus enriching the capacity of the Economic & Trade and Human Resources Portal between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (http://platformchinaplp.mo), while the liaison office in Shenyang has assisted local enterprises to import wine and chocolate from Portugal, which successfully entered the local hotel market and E-commerce sales channel. In January this year, the liaison office in Fuzhou has set up an area to showcase food products from Portuguese-speaking Countries, for the first time in Mainland China, and received positive feedback from the local distributors. As a matter of fact, through IPIM, a Fuzhou wine distributor has already started negotiations with a Macao enterprise to act as its agent for table wines.
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The Civil Aviation Authority of Macau SAR launches its new homepage www.aacm.gov.mo today which enables readers to browse through and search information more conveniently with the enhanced content and layout as well as the optimized channel for opinion submission. The fast development of internet has motivated people in places everywhere to browse through the different websites or other online platforms to obtain information. The homepage has therefore become an important element in devising promotional strategies. The new AACM homepage is constructed with its content targeting at the audiences including the industry, the local residents and the media, which include the Macao aviation laws and regulations, standards and requirements, technical documents and aeronautical circulars, procedures for flight applications and other services and so on; in what concerns passengers or residents, the new website provides information about passenger guide on security issues, requirements for performing flying activities, civil liability regime (for example, delay in transporting passengers and baggages) and interesting facts about aviation. In addition, residents can now take opportunity of the online systems to submit their enquiries, complaints and opinions; in what concerns the work of the news media, considering the usual enquiries made by them on statistics and in the hope of facilitating their work, the new homepage has a new chapter on “traffic statistics” which publishes data on the airport traffic figures, the destination network and other industry information. AACM ensures that the homepage is secure on the technical aspect. The sessions about the Macao Confidential Aviation Reporting System and the online complaint channel are equipped with SSL functions, ensuring that the transmission of personal information is done in a highly secure environment. AACM also makes sure that the new homepage is easily read and compatible, which means that the homepage has the pure text version and the mobile version, it supports the commonly used browsers (but best viewed in Google Chrome) and words can be enlarged. The homepage can be well loaded in different gadgets such as desktop computer, notebook and electronic pad. The new homepage is published in Chinese, Portuguese and English.
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