News

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Awards Luncheon and Awards Presentation, sponsored by Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), was held today (the 19th) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, during PATA Travel Mart 2014. Advisor of the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macau SAR Government Susana Esmeriz and the head of Training and Quality Management Department of MGTO Alice Coelho, participated at the PATA Gold Awards Luncheon and Awards Presentation. The occasion gathered around 800 guests, including delegates and media. This year, 28 Grand and Gold Awards were presented in recognition of the outstanding achievements of organizations and individuals in areas, ranging from marketing to corporate social responsibility and travel journalism. MGTO has been sponsoring the PATA Gold Awards initiative since 1996, as a contribution in building responsible tourism development of the Asia Pacific and to promote Macau. For the last three days MGTO has also been promoting Macau with a booth at the PATA Travel Mart 2014, held at Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Centre in Phnom Penh. MGTO staff joined by six Macau travel trade, from hotels and convention and entertainment centers, promoted the city as a business and leisure tourism destination at the travel show. PATA Travel Mart brings together hundreds of international buyers and sellers from around the Asia Pacific region, offering a dynamic program combining business sessions, networking opportunities and workshops. Furthermore, MGTO is also being represented at PATA Executive Board and Board Meeting, running September 19 to 21 in Phnom Penh. Founded in 1951, PATA is a non-profit membership association dedicated to building responsible development of the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry. Macau has been a member of PATA since 1958. PATA has currently 43 local chapters and 12 student chapters around the globe, including in Macau. PATA's membership boasts more than 90 government, state and city tourism bodies, nearly 30 airlines, airports and cruise lines, more than 50 education institutions and hundreds of travel industry companies.
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Consumer Council conducted its fifth 'Supermarket price survey' in September on 18 September for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included supermarkets at Lam Mau, Patane and San Kio areas in Santo António Parish. The latest 'Supermarket Price Survey' is now available on Consumer Council's website (www.consumer.gov.mo), and the 'Supermarket Price Information Platform' iPhone and Android apps. 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. Consumers may also access the resources through WAP channels on their mobile phones. 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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To extend the collaboration scope of resources sharing, the aeronautical authorities of mainland China and Macao SAR have reached a new regional cooperation agreement. The aviation fuel expert from mainland China will visit Macao every year to give technical support on the airworthiness of aircraft refueling operations. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) signed an agreement on the airworthiness of aircraft refueling operations today in Macao. CAAC will delegate an aviation fuel expert team to visit Macao every year who will analyze and perform on-site assessment to the refueling operation system in Macau International Airport. Specifically, the expert team will look at the relevant regulations, the management, the technical standards and the actual operation conditions of the service in the airport. The expert team will give recommendations on how Macao can further improve the storage, handling and quality control of the aviation fuel. Furthermore, the signing parties agree to meet regularly for technical exchanges; mainland China will help to train the Macao personnel with the respective expertise. The President of AACM said, "CAAC has reached the world class standard in both legislation and implementation of technical standards for the development and the oversight of aviation fuel products. They have set up their own research centre to conduct regular inspection of the fuel products to ensure that the refueling procedures comply with the local laws and regulations as well as the international standards. In Macao, we have a fuel supplier who is reputed in this Region. However, the operations are mainly reliant on the industry standards. The cooperation agreement we have now signed with CAAC would provide great technical support to Macao in the airworthiness of the refueling operations. This in turn will enhance both our operation safety and our safety oversight. The signing ceremony was convened at the AACM office at 12:00noon. The Chief Engineer of CAAC, Mr. Zhang Hong Yin and the President of AACM, Mr. Chan Weng Hong represented the two governments in signing the texts. The cooperation agreement is the third of its kind to be reached between the two aeronautical authorities. The other two agreements relate respectively to aircraft accident and incident investigation, and collaboration on aeronautical information services, cartographic services, flight procedures design, meteorological services and airport fire fighting services. In addition, the three aeronautical authorities of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao cooperate closely among themselves on the approval of aircraft maintenance organizations, airworthiness certification, approval of aircraft repair modifications and approval of maintenance training organizations.
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The fireworks show schedule of the 26th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest on 20 September has been revised. The schedule is updated as follow for audience's kind attention: 20 September
21:00 – Daehan Fireworks Co from Korea
21:30 – Surex - Family Company Ryszard Suzdalewicz from Poland
22:00 – Mirnovec Pirotehnika d.o.o. from Croatia The latest contest program is uploaded onto MGTO's website: http://fireworks.macautourism.gov.mo
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Macao Prison's website will have an all-round update on 22 September night. The new layout will appear in different regions at different times. All updates are estimated to be completed by the early morning of 23 September. As the new website goes into service, citizens will find it more convenient to obtain information about the Prison.
The new website of the Prison will have a brand-new layout that is concise and clear. All existing available information will be retained, and there will be a new interactive feature, "Learn More about the Work of Prison Guards", to educate citizens on the mission and the working conditions of prison guards by lively and easy-to-understand animations.
The Macao Prison website's address www.epm.gov.mo will remain unchanged. The website update will be conducted between the night of 22 September and the early hours of 23 September. During the said transition period, the new version will be made available in accordance with the update schedules of servers in different regions, and login error or failed login could occur. We apologize for any inconvenience that may cause by the loading problems and errors. Macao Prison will continue its efforts on enhancing its website and providing latest information for citizens in a timely manner. Should you have any queries, please contact prison staff by phone at 88961280 or 88961283.
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Following the exhibition "Maritime Porcelain Road – Relics from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao", the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong S.A.R. Government and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government (IC, from the Portuguese acronym) organize once again an itinerant exhibition titled "Historical Imprints of Lingnan: Major Archaeological Discoveries of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao", thereby making known the successes of the archaeological works held in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao as well as showing the results of the three regions' joint efforts within the context of the cultural cooperation meetings. The exhibition will be held at the Guangdong Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of History and the Macao Museum. The opening ceremony of the exhibition at the Macao Museum will take place on 25 September, Thursday, at 6pm, at the Museum lobby, and the exhibition will run from 26 September until 11 January, 2015, on the 3rd floor. This exhibition displays more than four hundred archaeological artefacts from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, from the Stone and Bronze Ages, going through the Qin Dynasty and the era of the Southern Han Kingdom, up to the Song and Ming Dynasties, allowing visitors to get a better understanding of the glorious civilizational history of the Lingnan region. The first part, about the Stone Age, presents objects unearthed in Lingnan's archaeological sites, namely stone and bone – locally easily accessible materials– handmade tools and ceramic pieces used in daily life. The region's inhabitants subsisted on gathering food, hunting and fishing, having a rich maritime culture lifestyle, an example of which can be found in Macao, at the Hac Sa archaeological site in Coloane. During the Bronze Age, although Lingnan was not under the rule of the Central Plains rulers, the excavated bronze items displayed at the exhibition show traces of cultural influences from those areas, which suggests that the technology for making bronze tools had already reached the region. The third part of the exhibition relates to the dispatch of troops and the conquest of Lingnan by the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty in 214 BC, who subsequently divided the region into three sections – Nanhai, Guilin and Xiang – ruled through a centralized authoritarian system. From then on and until the era of the Southern Han Kingdom, the social, cultural and external trade development of the Lingnan region witnesses unprecedented growth. The fourth and last part of the exhibition concerns the Song and Ming Dynasties, mainly presenting porcelain objects discovered in the three regions. With the discovery of various kilns, wrecked ships and archaeological land sites dated from the Song Dynasty, a large quantity of export porcelain objects were found, which bear witness to the prosperity and development of maritime transportation and trade in the South China Sea. Macao was, at the time, an important transit port in the porcelain maritime route, revealing the significant role played by the Lingnan region in the commercial exchange between China and the West. During the exhibition period, the Macao Museum organizes three lectures, two in Cantonese and one in Mandarin: "Main Achievements and Characteristics of Lingnan's Archaeological Excavations" (in Cantonese), having as guest speaker the Director of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Chau Hing Wah; "Reconstructing Lingnan's Ancient History – Guangdong's Great Archaeological Discoveries" (in Mandarin), led by the Director of the Guangdong Museum, Wei Jun; and "Macao's Recent Archaeological Works and Its Results" (in Cantonese), counting on the Head of IC's Cultural Heritage Department, substitute, Chio Ut Hong, as main speaker. Lectures will take place on 27 September, 8 November and 6 December (Saturdays), respectively, from 3pm to 6pm, at the Macao Museum Conference Hall, and are open to the public. For reservations, please call Ms. Lei on 8394 1231 during office hours. In addition to the lectures, a replica of an archaeological site and multimedia guided tour devices will be displayed and available in the educational area, on the 3rd floor of the Museum, allowing visitors to experience this kind of work in more detail as well as grasp the results achieved in the past years in terms of archaeological exploration technology and archaeological heritage protection in the Lingnan region. The Macao Museum is open daily from 10am to 6pm (ticket counters close at 5.30pm). In order to make the necessary arrangements for the exhibition's opening ceremony, the Museum will exceptionally close at 4pm on 25 September. For more information on this exhibition and other activities, please call 2835 7911 during office hours or access the websites www.macaumuseum.gov.mo or www.icm.gov.mo.
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The opening ceremony for the 24th annual meeting of the Association of Portuguese Speaking Universities (Associação das Universidades de Lrngua Portuguesa, AULP) was held on the University of Macau's (UM) new campus today (17 September). Over 200 AULP members from Portuguese-speaking countries and regions attended the opening ceremony. Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao SAR Cheong U noted that the SAR government would continue to support the AULP and would continue to promote exchange and cooperation between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries in various areas. This is the fifth time that the AULP's annual meeting has been held in Macao. This year's annual meeting was co-organised by UM, Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM), and the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), and received sponsorship and support from the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao SAR, Macao Foundation, the Macau Government Tourist Office, and the Consulate General of Portugal in Macau. Officiating guests at the opening ceremony included Cheong U, secretary for social affairs and culture of Macao SAR; Prof Jorge Ferrão, chairman of the AULP and rector of the Universidade Lúrio, Mozambique; Prof Wei Zhao, rector of UM; Prof Lei Heong Iok, president of IPM; Dr Fanny Vong, president of IFT; Dr Wu Zhiliang, president of the Administrative Committee of Macao Foundation; and Maria Helena, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office.
Secretary Cheong U noted that Macao had hosted four previous annual meetings of the AULP, and every meeting had been very fruitful, which is testament to the close collaboration between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries. He added that the SAR government would continue to support the AULP and would continue to promote cooperation between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries in various areas. He believes this year's meeting will play a positive role in promoting the development of tourism industries in Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries. Rector Wei Zhao said in his speech that although higher education institutions in Macao are relatively young, they have fostered a solid foundation which allowed them to launch various academic programmes and carry out extensive international collaborations. He added that several weeks earlier UM started the new academic year on the new campus, which signalled that higher education in Macao entered a new stage of development, so in this sense the new campus has special significance for higher education development both locally and internationally. Prof Jorge Ferrão thanked Macao for providing good conditions for this year's annual meeting. He noted that the Chinese language has more native speakers than any other language in the world, and the Portuguese language is also a much-used language, by about 250 million people worldwide; both languages play a very important role in promoting the development of political, economic, trade and cultural relations between nations as well as in the development of the tourism industry. Minister of Education and Science of Portugal Prof Nuno Crato, and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil Prof Clélio Campolina Diniz, who were unable to attend the annual meeting in person, sent their good wishes through video clips. This year's annual meeting started with the plenary meeting of the AULP and the meeting of the AULP's Administrative Council, followed by roundtable sessions on four topics, namely "Networks of Higher Education", "Portuguese, a language with future?", "Language Propagation and Tourist & Commercial Promotion", and "From Internationalization to Integration". Invited speakers included Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Cape Verde Dr António Correia e Silva, and Secretary of State of Science and Technology of Angola Prof João Sebastião Teta. 32 papers which were selected from this year's submissions were presented at the meeting. Towards the end of the meeting, the Fernão Mendes Pinto Award was presented to authors of the three best PhD dissertations in Portuguese-speaking countries for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013. The AULP is an international academic organisation. Its members come from more than 200 higher education institutions in different countries and regions, including Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, and Macao. Institutions that enjoy provisional membership status include Portuguese departments at universities in the United States, France and Italy. Currently there six institutions in Macao that are AULP members. They are UM, IPM, IFT, the International Institute of Macau, the University of Saint Joseph, and the Asia International Open University (Macau).
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) has formed a delegation of local travel trade to jointly visit Beijing and promote Macau as an incentive and business travel destination in the "The China Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition" (CIBTM). Through participating in the event, the Office facilitates networking and cooperation between Macau and Mainland trade partners to create new business opportunities. As an event co-organized by China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, CIBTM 2014 is held in China National Convention Centre in Beijing on 17 – 19 September. MGTO participates in the exhibition along with delegates who represent 19 enterprises including hotels, resorts, convention & exhibition companies, travel agencies, entertainment businesses as well as ferry companies and airlines from Macau. The key program this year comprises China Meetings Week, professional education forums, seminars, opening ceremony, networking functions, welcome dinner and so forth. MGTO promotes Macau among incentive travel organizers and presents the destination's latest business tourism trends and products to industry buyers in the event. In recent years, MGTO has sought to encourage different types of visitors, entities and enterprises to choose Macau as their incentive and business travel destination through its "Incentive Travel Stimulation Program". From January to August 2014, MGTO has received a total of nine subsidy applications from the Mainland which involved over 32,000 participants. According to the Statistics and Census Service, a total of 503 MICE events were held in Macau in the first half of this year. The number of attendees sums to 827,000. CIBTM is recognized as one of China's largest and most well-established professional exhibitions for the meetings and incentive travel industry. For the past few years in a row, MGTO has participated in the event and leveraged this valuable platform to develop a nice communication and business network between Macau and Mainland trade partners, and thus enhanced local trade's cooperation with their counterparts from the Mainland. 5,300 professionals are attending the exhibition this year including over 449 exhibitors and 424 hosted buyers.
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Given the recent security situation in the Philippines, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel security alert to Chinese citizens that reads as follows: "The Philippine police recently confirmed that a criminal gang planned to attack the Chinese Embassy, institutions of Chinese investment, Philippine shopping malls and other public facilities.
In view of the worsening security situation in the Philippines, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminds Chinese citizens not to travel during this recent period to the Philippines; Chinese citizens and Chinese institutions in the Philippines should raise their risk awareness.
In case of emergency, please report immediately to the Philippine police, and contact the Chinese Embassy and consulates in the Philippines for assistance. Consular Assistance and Protection hotline of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines
Tel: 0063-9178972695 Consular Assistance and Protection hotline of the Consulate General of China in Cebu
Tel: 0063-9175495614 Consular Assistance and Protection hotline of the Chinese Consulate in Laoag
Tel: 0063-9178051226" The Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) alerts Macao residents not to travel to the Philippines during this recent period.
From information gathered through the Macao travel industry, there is no Macao tour group currently in the Philippines. The Tourism Crisis Management Office received, up to the present moment, one enquiry but no requests for assistance. If necessary, Macao residents can call the 24-hour Tourism Hotline (853) 2833 3000 or contact the Chinese Embassy and consulates for assistance.
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In the first half-year of 2014, a total of 250 applications for temporary residency for managerial personnel, technical and professional qualification holders were received by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) (a decrease of 39 compared with the same period last year), 47 applications for major investment / investment plans (an increase of 1 compared with the same period last year), representing 84.18% and 15.82% of the total of 297 new applications in the first half-year of 2014. Approved cases for managerial personnel, technical and professional qualification holders amounted to 121 (a decrease of 17 compared with the same period last year), approved applications for major investment / investment plans totalled 29 (an increase of 9 compared with the same period last year). In accordance with the Administrative Regulation No. 7/2007, temporary residency applications for fixed asset purchases have been suspended since 4 April 2007. There were over 4,000 applications lodged before the closing date of the policy and are still being processed. Statistics of Investment Residency Applications and the Cases and Number of Beneficiaries in the First Half-Year of 2014 (* please find the attached file) For further enquiries on the residency application guidelines, please contact IPIM by visiting the website: www.ipim.gov.mo, email: gjfr@ipim.gov.mo, tel: 28712055 or fax: 28713950. Applicants may also visit the website and enquire about the progress of their residency application status online.
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