News

Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) invited a policy and legal expert from China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) again to present two explanatory seminars in Macau and elaborate the legal content of the "Tourism Law of the People's Republic of China" specifically for tour guides and travel agencies. As the "Tourism Law of the People's Republic of China" has come into force in Mainland China since 1 October 2013, MGTO invited Director General of the Policy and Legal Department of CNTA, Liu Xiao Jun to come to Macau today (22 November) and address local tour guides and travel agencies about the "Tourism Law of the People's Republic of China" in two trade seminars. MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes attended the seminars as well. During the explanatory sessions, Liu Xiao Jun elaborated on some widely-concerned clauses in the Tourism Law. He also took time to respond to various issues encountered or concerned by Macau trade after the Tourism Law took effect. MGTO previously invited another policy and legal expert from CNTA in July to address two seminars in Macau and introduce the main points of the Tourism Law for related officials and travel trade in town. With the Tourism Law in force, MGTO also sent official letters to the trade for circulation, reminding them to ensure their itinerary details coincides with the content of the contract signed between Macau's ground receiving agents and Mainland China's tour operators organizing tours for Mainland residents to Macau during their itinerary planning for Mainland tour group visit to Macau; the Office also urged the trade to carry out the content of their itinerary program exactly when they tend on the visitors. With regard to Mainland tour groups to Macau, MGTO has received four assistance enquiries; a case about dispute between a Mainland tour-group leader and members along with one complaint from tour group members about waiting for too long since the Tourism Law took effect in the Mainland on 1 October until 21 November.
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To promote development of local creative industry, Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) hosts the opening ceremony of Master, Affection, Painting – Exhibition of Che In Lei on the 22 November. From 22 November 2013 to 15 March 2014 at IFT Educational Restaurant and Team Building, the exhibition showcases the Chinese ink paintings of the instructor Ms. Che In Lei and her students. Interested parties are welcome to come to pay a visit. IFT invited the renowned Chinese ink painting master, Ms. Che In Lei to teach its newly-opened Chinese Ink Painting course, which has commenced in November 2013. The Chinese Ink Painting course offered by IFT focuses on not only the painting techniques, but also personal quality and self-cultivation, as well as nurturing talents through delving into the essence of the traditional culture. In the class, students created unique Chinese ink paintings with freehand brushwork and their impression of arts. The Exhibition showcases 18 recent Chinese ink paintings of Ms. Che In Lei and her students, featuring plum blossom, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, flowers, birds, mountains, rivers, etc..The works demonstrates the elegancy and upright of Chinese ink painting and ties of friendly apprenticeship and inheritance between Ms. Che In Lei and her students, in order to promote the traditional arts of Chinese ink painting to the public. To cope with Macao SAR Government's policy to develop and promote creative industry, IFT started to offer short and fundamental courses in this area in the recent years. During the years, IFT has continuously explored courses which are up-to-date, interesting and practical for the community. Today, courses in the areas of graphic design, advertising design, painting, photography, multimedia creative design, video production, souvenir production, floral design, leather craft and many others in various levels and areas are running at IFT. Regarding graphic design courses, Corporate Identity Design, Diploma in Advertising Design, Poster Design courses are offered, while photography courses are even subdivided into varied courses including commercial photography, creative photography, fine art photography, reportage photography and salon photography. In souvenir production we are offering silver clay, model production, mosaic, felt, paper artwork, accessories, etc. Recently, the Institute has launched two creative arts courses including leather craft, and DIY recycle design series – floral production and stationery production, receiving positive response among the public. To further develop the career of creative industry talents in Macao, IFT is providing learning opportunities for them. Concerning the lacking creative art administrative management talents in Macao, IFT has been running an Art Administration programme for the third year and has invited renowned overseas professors to deliver lectures and teach courses at IFT. Local culture and arts associations and industry talents are welcome to enroll in the course, in order to better the atmosphere of culture and arts development of Macao. IFT will continue to offer more diversified cultural and creative courses to the public and interested parties in the future.
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IFT Tourism Research Centre (ITRC) will be holding a public seminar "Successful Growth Strategies for SME" on 29 November between 1530 to 1700 at Conference Room, Posada de Mong-Há, Institute for Tourism Studies by Professor Levent Altinay and Dr. Maureen Brookes from Oxford Brookes University, U.K., and Dr. Ruth Yeung from IFT. The issues of successful growth strategies for SME with examples from the UK and other countries, government policy and support, technology and innovation by SMEs will be discussed at the seminar. The seminar will be conducted in English with simultaneous Cantonese interpretation and free of charge. While seats are limited, please visit IFT's website http://www.ift.edu.mo/EN/Event/Index/43/1707 for further information and registration. Should there be any enquiry, please feel free to contact Ms. Virginia Hong at 85061-253.
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Consumer Council conducted its 'Supermarket price survey' for November on 21st November for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12th June. Surveyed locations included 8 supermarkets in São Lázaro and São Lourenço Parishes. 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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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals increased by 2% year-on-year to 2,394,195 in October 2013; same-day visitors accounted for 53% of the total, at 1,269,280. In October 2013, visitors from Mainland China increased by 5% year-on-year to 1,514,373, coming primarily from Guangdong Province (708,375) and Fujian Province (64,801); Mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme totalled 677,292. Moreover, visitors from Taiwan, China (89,248) and the Republic of Korea (38,632) increased by 3% and 12%, while those from Hong Kong (543,580) registered a 4% decrease. Long-haul visitors from the US (16,563), the UK (6,017) and France (4,479) increased by 1%, 7% and 24% respectively year-on-year; visitors from Canada (7,579) decreased by 14%, while those from Australia (9,872) held stable. The average length of stay of visitors held stable from a year earlier, at 1.0 day in October 2013; overnight and same-day visitors stayed an average of 2.0 days and 0.2 day respectively. In the first ten months of 2013, visitor arrivals totalled 24,305,018, an increase of 5% year-on-year. Visitors from Mainland China and the Republic of Korea increased by 11% and 6% respectively, while those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, China decreased by 4% and 8%. Long-haul visitors from the US (144,826), Australia (88,352) and Canada (59,988) saw year-on-year decline; on the contrary, those from the UK (49,614) registered year-on-year increase.
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The University of Macau (UM) will confer honorary degrees on four distinguished individuals, namely Prof. Jiang Shusheng, Prof. Sérgio Machado dos Santos, Dr. Xue Hanqin, and Prof. Yu Kwang Chung, in recognition of their outstanding achievements in their areas of expertise as well as their contributions to UM's development. Chui Sai On, chancellor of UM and chief executive of Macao SAR, has approved the University Council's proposal to confer the Doctor of Education honoris causa degree, the Doctor of Science honoris causa degree, the Doctor of Law honoris causa degree, and the Doctor of Letters honoris causa degree on Prof. Jiang Shusheng, Prof. Sérgio Machado dos Santos, Dr. Xue Hanqin, and Prof. Yu Kwang Chung respectively. The honorary degree conferment ceremony will be held on 7 December on UM's new campus. Bachelor degrees and higher degrees will also be awarded at the ceremony. Prof. Jiang Shusheng is a world-renowned physicist. He was the vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress and the chairperson of the China Democratic League. He was the president of Nanjing University from 1997 to 2006. Under his leadership, Nanjing University made significant progress on various fronts including research, teaching, and internationalisation. Since 1985, he has undertaken many key research projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation and the Ministry of Education. He has received many honours and awards, including the second prize of the Scientific and Technological Progress Award from the Commission of Education (the predecessor of the Ministry of Education), the first prize of the Scientific and Technological Progress Award from the government of Jiangsu province, and the third prize of the State Natural Science Award; as well as the title of "Middle-Aged and Young Expert with Outstanding Contributions at National Level". All his life Prof. Jiang has cared deeply about higher education and technological innovation. He has spared no effort in promoting academic changes and collaboration among higher education institutions in the four Chinese-speaking regions of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao. In 2005, he initiated gatherings of university heads from the four Chinese-speaking regions to explore the way forward for higher education in the Chinese communities. Prof. Sérgio Machado dos Santos is the former rector of the University of Minho, Portugal, and is now its honorary rector. As a university leader, Prof. Santos's CV rolls out a long list of strong credentials for different aspects of higher education, not least his significant role in in the national accreditation of higher education. As the former president of the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities (CRUP) in the mid-1990s, and as the person in charge of the accreditation and recognition of UM's programmes by the Portuguese Ministry of Education, Prof. Santos made significant contributions to UM's gaining international recognition. These programmes of UM were also subsequently recognised by the European Union. Prof. Santos has also played an important role in making UM, then a Portuguese public university, into a CRUP member. It was because of Prof. Santos that UM successfully made the crucial step, which has greatly benefitted UM's graduates seeking further development in Portugal, the European Union, and elsewhere. Prof. Santos is Membro Conselheiro (advisor-member) of the Portuguese Engineers Professional Association (Ordem dos Engenheiros) and has been awarded several honorific titles of distinction, including the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of UNIVALI, Brazil, and the insignias of Grã-Cruz da Ordem de Instrução Pública (1995) and Grã-Cruz da Ordem do Infante (2002) by the president of the Portuguese Republic. His current research work mainly focuses on higher education policies, particularly quality assurance. Dr. Xue Hanqin was a senior Chinese diplomat and is the first Chinese woman to be appointed judge of the International Court of Justice. She is currently a guest professor in the School of Law at Wuhan University. Apart from having rich experience in diplomacy and international law, she also actively promotes legal education and research in China through academic publications. In June 2010, she became the first Chinese female judge and the second female judge of the International Court of Justice. Her appointment not only enhanced the status of China in international legal affairs, but also brought fresh impetus to the International Court of Justice and international law. She has published numerous works and articles on international law in Chinese and English, garnering widespread accolades. Because of her achievements in this field, she was elected member of the Institut de droit international. She advocates resolving international disputes through peaceful means and cooperation. She has made outstanding contributions in the areas of international judiciary, diplomacy and legal research. Prof. Yu Kwang Chung is a literary master who enjoys great renown in the Chinese communities, especially for his modern poetry and prose. In addition to being a prolific writer, he is also a well-known translator with impressive mastery of several languages, including English, German, and Spanish. In his literary career spanning over 40 years, Prof. Yu has published many original and translated works. He has received numerous prestigious prizes and honours, including the Wu San-lien Award in prose, and the Best Book of the Year Award from the United Daily News of Taiwan (he had been awarded this award four times). Because of his outstanding contributions in literature, UM's Department of Chinese in 2007 invited Prof. Yu to give a talk entitled "Poetry and Music". Prof. Yu was awarded honorary doctorates by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Chengchi University, Taiwan, in 2003 and 2008 respectively.
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The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government, in collaboration with the Xiling Seal Society and the Macao Calligraphers and Seal Engravers Association, promotes the exhibition "Traces of a Century of Epigraphy - The Art of the Masters of the Xiling Seal Society", to be held on November 30th, Saturday, at 5:00pm, at the Tap Seac Gallery. The exhibition features 39 original calligraphy and painting works by renowned artists including Wu Changshuo, Ma Heng, Zhang Zongxiang, Sha Menghai, Zhao Puchu, Qi Gong, and Jao Tsung-I. It also showcases 24 oracle bones with ancient Chinese script property of Macao collector Mr. Peter Siu. The Xiling Seal Society was created by Zhe School seal artists Ding Ren, Wang Shi, Wu Yin and Ye Ming in 1904 in the vicinity of the Xiling bridge at the Gushan Mountain, near the West Lake in Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province. Wu Changshuo was its first president and the society had the mission to preserve seal stones, study seal arts, and promote calligraphy and painting. The society is one of oldest, most influential academic organizations in the international seal engraving circle, thus being hailed as 'The Top Academic Society'. In its centennial history, Xiling has congregated many of the best and most important artists in the Chinese artistic community, who were well versed in seal engraving, calligraphy and painting, verifying and studying relics, and Chinese literature and history, such as Li Shutong, Huang Binhong, Fu Baoshi, Pan Tianshou, and Feng Zikai. To celebrate the society's 110th anniversary, the Cultural Affairs Bureau together with the Xiling Seal Society and the Macao Calligraphers and the Seal Engravers Association organise this event at the Tap Seac Gallery. Its former and current Presidents are famous calligraphers, painters, and seal engravers who have incorporated profound Chinese philosophy and cultural contents into their consummate techniques, creating many artistic masterpieces. The society's three vice-presidents have been invited to attend the opening ceremony, and nearly 10 professors specializing in ancient Chinese texts from Tsinghua, Fudan, Zhejiang, Jilin, and Sun Yat-sen Universities will also lead their delegations to attend the opening. It will certainly be a grand event attracting prominent scholars and experts from around the globe! "Traces of a Century of Epigraphy - The Art of the Masters of the Xiling Seal Society" will run until 9th of February at the Tap Seac Gallery. Admission is free. Opening hours: 10am to 7pm.
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A carnival and an exhibition featuring the services of 'Consumer Arbitration Centre' will be held by Consumer Council this Saturday (23rd November) from 3PM to 5PM at Rotunda de Carlos da Maia. Citizens are welcome to participate in the event. Consumer Council continues to hold its carnivals and 'Consumer Arbitration Centre' exhibitions on Saturdays in November. This week, the Council will have another carnival held at Rotunda de Carlos da Maia from 3PM to 5PM. On-site quiz games, booth games and information about 'Consumer Arbitration Centre' will be exhibited during the event. For inquiry, please call 8988-9315.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI (125.22) for October 2013 increased by 6.18% year-on-year, attributable to rising charges for eating out, higher rentals for dwellings and dearer prices of vegetables. In comparison with October 2012, notable increase was observed in the price index of Housing & Fuels (+12.88%); Health (+6.93%); and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+6.70%) on account of higher rentals for dwellings, dearer prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas and vegetables, as well as rising charges for eating out and out-patient services. On the contrary, price index of Communication decreased by 2.54%. The CPI-A (125.63) and CPI-B (125.59) increased by 6.94% and 5.96% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for October 2013 increased by 0.15% month-to-month. Higher prices of Winter clothings and rising rentals for dwellings drove up the price index of Clothing & Footwear; and Housing & Fuels by 1.42% and 0.86% respectively. However, price index of Transport; and Recreation & Culture decreased by 0.68% and 0.42% upon lower airfare and gasoline prices, as well as reduced charges for package tours. Moreover, price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages dropped by 0.24%. The CPI-A and CPI-B increased by 0.11% and 0.16% respectively month-to-month. For the 12 months ended October 2013, the average Composite CPI increased by 5.51% from the previous period. Price index of Housing & Fuels (+9.58%); and Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+8.87%) registered noticeable increase, while price index of Education and Communication decreased by 2.26% and 2.20% respectively. The average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 6.08% and 5.42% respectively. The average Composite CPI for the first ten months of 2013 increased by 5.45% year-on-year; the average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 6.04% and 5.33% respectively. The 2008/2009-based Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP6,000 to MOP18,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP19,000 to MOP34,999.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that value of retail sales for the third quarter of 2013 totalled MOP 15.55 billion, down by 2% compared with the revised figure of MOP 15.88 billion in the second quarter. Retail sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery amounted to MOP 4.49 billion (29% of total), which was followed by sales of Goods in Department Stores (16%), Leather Goods (11%) and Adults' Clothing (9%). Value of retail sales for the third quarter increased by 23% year-on-year, with marked increase being observed in sales of Communication Equipment (+50%), Leather Goods (+29%) and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+27%). Value of retail sales for the first three quarters of 2013 reached MOP 47.30 billion, up by 21% year-on-year; sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (MOP 14.53 billion) and Goods in Department Stores (MOP 7.39 billion) accounted for 31% and 16% of the total respectively. After removing the effect of prices, volume of retail sales for the third quarter of 2013 increased by 25% year-on-year, with notable increase in sales of Communication Equipment (+61%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+38%) and Leather Goods (+32%). Meanwhile, volume of retail sales held stable over the second quarter, of which sales of Motorcycles, Parts & Accessories (+47%) and Motor Vehicles (+17%) saw significant quarter-to-quarter increase; on the contrary, sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery decreased by 14% quarter-to-quarter. Volume of retail sales for the first three quarters of 2013 increased by 22% year-on-year. In respect of the comments of the retailers, about 68% stated that sales volume in the third quarter of 2013 increased or held stable over the previous quarter, up by 10 percentage points compared with those holding the same sentiment in the second quarter of 2013, while 32% reported decrease in sales volume. In terms of the retail prices, about 63% reported stable prices, 31% stated an increase and 6% noted a decrease. In comparison with the same quarter of 2012, about 74% expressed that the stock level was normal in the third quarter of 2013, while 6% indicated that the stock level was low. As regards business outlook for the fourth quarter of 2013, about 35% anticipate that sales volume will increase from the third quarter, 43% expect sales volume to remain stable, while 22% foresee a decrease. Concurrently, about 71% predict stable retail prices, 24% expect an increase, while 5% predict a decrease in retail prices.
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