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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2013 expanded by 10.8% year-on-year in real terms. Economic growth in the first quarter was underpinned by increase in exports of services, private consumption expenditure and investment, of which exports of gaming services and other tourism services increased by 8.9% and 4.9%, private consumption expenditure rose by 10.2% and investment expanded by 13.8%. Besides, the implicit deflator of GDP that measures changes in prices increased by 6.5% year-on-year. The job market stayed robust as total employment and working income rose simultaneously, pushing private consumption expenditure to expand by 10.2% year-on-year. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market increased by 10.0% and consumption expenditure abroad went up by 9.5%. Government final consumption expenditure increased slightly by 1.7% year-on-year, of which compensation of employees posed a 4.5% growth but net purchases of goods and services decreased by 3.5%. As the gauge of investment, gross fixed capital formation expanded by 14.7% year-on-year. Private investment increased by 8.7%, of which construction investment grew by 24.2%, while equipment investment shrank by 21.7%. Government investment soared by 40.6%, attributable to the construction in full swing of the Hengqin Campus of the University of Macau, Light Rail Transit and public housing, leading public construction investment to surge substantially by 40.4%; besides, equipment investment went up by 71.5%. Increase in merchandise exports sustained, up by 16.4% year-on-year; merchandise imports also benefited from rising private consumption expenditure, visitor spending and investment, up by 10.4% year-on-year. In respect of trade in services, gross gaming receipts, visitor arrivals and visitor spending saw continuous growth, which fuelled exports of services to increase by 8.5% year-on-year, of which exports of gaming services rose by 8.9% and exports of other tourism services grew by 4.9%. Moreover, imports of services went up by 1.6% year-on-year.
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Organized jointly by the Department of International Trade Promotion, under the Ministry of Commerce of the Royal Thai Government, by Koelnmesse Co., Ltd., and by the Thai Chamber of Commerce, THAIFEX – World of Food Asia 2013 was held from May 22 to 26, 2013 at the IMPACT Challenger, in Bangkok, Thailand. Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) organized a 37-member Macao Business Delegation to visit the event, on May 21-23. THAIFEX – World of Asia 2013 is currently Thailand´s fair specialized in food products fair, in terms of scale, level of professionalism, prestige and degree of internationalization. There are 1,340 exhibitors in this edition of THAIFEX, occupying 3,100 booths, up 10% from last year. THAIFEX is one of the most important food products fair in Asia and an ideal platform for the sourcing of merchandises and exchange of information. A number of trade professionals gather at this event annually, for mutual introduction, to explore and discuss about the latest international trends and products and to identity the business opportunities. During the period of their stay in Bangkok, members of the Macao Business Delegation paid a courtesy visit to the Assistant Director-General of the Department of International Trade Promotion, under the Ministry of Commerce of the Royal Thai Government, Mr. Phusit Ratanakulsereroengrit, who briefed the delegation on the latest investment environment in Thailand and the import and export laws and regulations currently in force in Thailand. On the other hand, the Executive Director of IPIM, Mrs. Irene V. K. Lau, and the Senior Manager of IPIM´s Promotional Activities Department, Mr. Sam Lei, also paid a courtesy visit to the President of the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau, Mr. Nopparat Maythaveekulchai. Both sides exchanged valuable views on how to support the development of the convention and exhibition industry and the best way to attract more MICE activities to their respective territories. The above-mentioned activities facilitated the business contacts and negotiations between members of the Macao Business Delegation and the exhibitors at THAIFEX, in the areas of food ingredients, foodstuff, frozen food, dairy products, wine, kitchen utensils, cutlery and food production equipment. It was the first time that IPIM has organized a 37-member business delegation to visit the subject event. Principal members of the said delegation included the Executive Director of IPIM, Mrs. Irene V. K. Lau, the President of the Macao Federal Commercial Association of Wine and Food Industries in Portuguese Speaking Countries and Regions, Mr. Ip Sio Man, the Vice-president of the Board of Directors of the "Associação de Pequenas e Médias Empresas de Macau", Mr. Iong Ieng Chun, the President of the Industry and Commerce Association of Macau Northern District, Mr. Wong Kin Chong, the President of the Board of Directors of the Macau Small and Medium Enterprises of Catering, Mr. Ieong Weng Seng, the President of the Board of Directors of Macau Small and Medium Enterprises Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Lam Cheok Wa, the Executive Director of Macau Importers and Exporters Association, Mr. Antonio Wong Chung Tak, the Vice President of "Ou Mun Peng Sek Sao Son Ip Seong Wui", Mr. Ling Man Yi, the Vice-President of the Macau Union Suppliers Association, Mr. Derek Szeto Bickong, and the Vice-President of the Board of Directors of Macau Chain Stores and Franchise Association, Mr. Sio Chan Tim.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 230 MICE events were held in the first quarter of 2013, down by 41 year-on-year. The average duration stood at 2.2 days, bringing a total of 203,000 participants and attendees, and the floor area used totalled 161,000 m2. There were 217 meetings and conferences held in the first quarter of 2013, drawing 29,000 participants. At the same time, 13 exhibitions were organized that drew a total of 175,000 attendees, an upsurge of 64% year-on-year; total floor area used stood at 36,000 m2. In accordance with the information collected from 10 exhibition organizers, a total of 8 exhibitions were repeated events, engaging 242 full-time workers. Besides, there were 1,144 exhibitors participated in these exhibitions and the majority came from Mainland China (39%) and Macao (34%). Professional visitors totalled 8,996, with 50% from Macao and 22% from Mainland China. Revenue of the exhibition organizers increased by 51% year-on-year at MOP5.33 million, of which Rental of Exhibition Booth accounted for 82% of total. Expenditure increased by 13% to MOP34.75 million, and the majority expenses were Publicity & Public Relation (23%), and Production, Construction & Decoration Services (22%). Information from 120 exhibitors indicated that Sales of Products took up 90% of the revenue while Rental of Exhibition Booth shared 59% of the expenditure.
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The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the first quarter of 2013. Besides comprising Manufacturing, Hotels & Restaurants, Insurance, Financial Intermediation Activities and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply, this survey has also been extended to Child-care and Elderly Care. This survey excludes the self-employed, as well as insurance agents and brokers not directly employed by insurance companies. At the end of the first quarter of 2013, Manufacturing had 11,193 persons engaged, down by 2.5% year-on-year, of which Manufacture of Wearing Apparel and Manufacture of Food Products had 3,400 and 3,541 respectively. Average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) of full-time employees for March 2013 rose by 7.5% year-on-year to MOP7,890. Hotels & Restaurants took on 69,619 persons engaged, up by 9.0% year-on-year, with those working in Hotels increased by 9.3% year-on-year to 45,599. Average earnings of full-time employees for March 2013 in Hotels & Restaurants rose by 7.9% year-on-year to MOP12,050; with waiters/waitresses of Hotels earning MOP8,500 and Housekeeping staff earning MOP7,830. Waiters/waitresses of Restaurants earned an average of MOP6,940. Electricity, Gas & Water Supply had 1,085 persons engaged, up by 2.2% year-on-year. Average earnings of full-time employees for March increased by 7.3% year-on-year to MOP24,530. Insurance took on 472 persons engaged, up by 3.1% year-on-year. Average earnings of full-time employees for March rose by 5.4% year-on-year to MOP21,560. Financial Intermediation Activities had 388 persons engaged, down significantly by 13.0% year-on-year. For March 2013, average earnings of full-time employees increased by 3.9% year-on-year to MOP13,250. Child-care and Elderly Care totalled 843 and 614 persons engaged respectively. Average earnings of full-time employees for March amounted to MOP10,280 and MOP9,900 respectively. At the end of the first quarter of 2013, Restaurants reported 2,107 vacancies, down significantly by 37.3% from a year earlier. Hotels had 2,086 vacancies, while Manufacturing offered 1,260 vacancies, on account on Manufacture of Wearing Apparel (447) and Manufacture of Food Products (515). In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 92.9% of the vacant posts in Insurance required working experience. As regards educational attainment, 77.2% of the vacancies in Restaurants required junior secondary education or lower, while 85.7% of those in Insurance required tertiary education. Besides Cantonese, all vacant posts in Financial Intermediation required knowledge of Mandarin, while 78.6% of the vacancies in Insurance required English. Meanwhile, 80.9% and 61.1% of the vacant posts in Hotels required knowledge of Mandarin and English respectively. Restaurants had the highest employee turnover rate (6.9%) and employee recruitment rate (7.6%), while the vacancy rate stood at 9.5%, the second highest vacancy rate after Manufacturing (11.0%), indicating that most of the vacancies are not filled and that the turnover of employee is prevalent.
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The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) is striving to promote the advancement of Macao's fashion design industry and thus specially launches the 2013 Subsidy Programme for Fashion Design on Sample Making, open for applications from mid-June to all Macao fashion designers. Selected finalists will have access to subsidies, up to a maximum of MOP150,000 each. The objective of the programme is to kick start the production of fashion design samples and promotional catalogues, prompting local designers to explore commercial activities and to take part in international fashion shows and marketing, in a bid to enhance Macao's fashion design standards while popularizing and promoting local creations. Applicants can apply on an individual or team (max. two persons) basis, must have a valid Macao SAR Resident Identity Card and be 18 years of age or older. The selection is divided into two stages: initial review and second review. For the initial review, applicants are asked to submit fashion design drawings of their unpublished, original fashion design works and the filled application, including information about marketing plan and relevant expenditure budgeting. A jury will pre-select a maximum of 15 entries into the second review, based on six criteria: creativity and originality, market potential, quality, overall visual effects, optimization of the marketing plan and budgeting rationale. Applicants chosen for the second review will be granted an allowance to produce a fashion sample (just one outfit from the proposed collection) based on the drawings submitted for the initial review, and have it showcased to the jury by a model of their choice. Upon completion of the second review, the jury will select, using the same criteria, a maximum of eight applicants eligible for subsidies up to a maximum of MOP150,000.00 each.
Call for entries starts June 17 and runs until August 16. Applications should be delivered to: Cultural Affairs Bureau - The Department for the Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries, Av. da Praia Grande Nº 567, Edif. BNU, 12º andar A-D, Macau. The Programme's application rules & regulations can be downloaded from www.icm.gov.mo or www.macaucci.com. For further enquiries, please contact Ms. Lam or Ms. Lau on (853) 2892 4040, during office hours.
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Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) and L'école Hôtelière et de Tourisme Paul Augier, Nice, France, signed a cooperation agreement at IFT on 27 May. Acting President of IFT, Ms. Florence Ian and Principal of L'école Hôtelière et de Tourisme Paul Augier, Mr. Francis Kolb presided over the ceremony. Details of the collaboration include: - Both Institutes agreed to engage in student academic and exchange programmes;
- Both Institutes agreed to engage in a teacher exchange programme and provide the exchange teachers with professional training;
- Both Institutes agreed to encourage mutual cooperation by undertaking joint projects in the hospitality and tourism industry;
- Both Institutes agreed to encourage their local enterprises to offer vocational placement to the exchange students.
After the ceremony, four Master Chef French Desserts Demonstration workshops will be held at IFT in the week from 27 to 31 May co-organised by both Institutes. The workshops will be conducted by the renowned and award-wining French chef Ms. Noemie Honiat, for chefs from IFT and the local industry, and students from IFT Culinary Arts Management Degree Programme, Diploma in Pastry and Bakery and Diploma in Western Culinary Skills respectively to learn proper French desserts making skills.
Graduated from L'école Hôtelière et de Tourisme Paul Augier, Chef Noemie participated in numerous competitions and won several awards including Champion of France Dessert Competition, 1st prize of the Jacques Rouard Trophee in Chocolate Sculpture and Plated Dessert in Belgium, and became one of the top 5 finalists of the French TV competition Top Chef 2012. The implementation of the agreement facilitates foreign language learning, overseas exchange and vocational placement for IFT students, and more importantly promotes teacher exchange and joint collaboration in the hospitality and tourism, aiming to advance the quality of education of IFT and educate qualified talents for the industry. In addition to provide high quality tourism and hospitality education, IFT has always been dedicating to organise gourmet demonstration workshops for industry professionals and students to experience diversified cuisines from different countries at IFT. Besides, they can take the opportunities to study the knowledge and cooking methods of overseas gastronomy so as to explore more ideas in cooking and better equip for their hospitality and food and beverage industry career and overcome the challenges of cultural diversity in the future. Through co-organising these French desserts demonstration workshops with L'école Hôtelière et de Tourisme Paul Augier, Nice, France, IFT also offered a platform for local and foreign chefs to exchange knowledge and ideas. IFT will continue providing more training for industry professionals to advance their knowledge and skills.
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Upon consultation with various tourism-related associations to discuss training needs of local tourism sector, and after careful assessment, Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) organizes tourism sector training workshops specifically for tour guides and travel agency supervisors or managers, to equip them with the proficiency to enhance service quality and work efficiency, thus strengthening the image of Macau as a tourist destination. MGTO organizes two sessions of "Technique in Handling Dissatisfied Customer for Tour Guides" to be held on May 27, 29 and on June 3, 5 respectively. The topics of each two-day workshop include "The Role & Duties of Professional Tour Guides", "Requirements for Professionalism", "Causes of Customer Dissatisfaction", "Practical Case Studies on Customers Complaints", "Role-play Exercises in Handling Complaints", etc. This workshop aims to enable tour guides to identify their role in strengthening the image of Macau as a tourist destination, revise professional skills, and practise behavioral science and inter-personal skills. In addition to this workshop, the first session of "Effective Travel Agency Supervisory Management Workshop" is also held during the abovementioned period. The topics of this four-day workshop include "The Role & Duties of Travel Agency Supervisors", "Effective Customer Service Skills", "Effective Time Management", "Training & Developing High-Performance Staff", "Success Factors for Effective Teams", etc. The second session of this workshop is scheduled on May 28, 30, June 4 and 6. MGTO encourages travel agency supervisors and managers to join this workshop to acquire effective communication skills and raise proficiency of staff, so as to achieve corporate goals through effective teamwork. The workshops are lectured by the managing director of an international management consultancy company – "Chow & Associates", who has over 20 years' experience of training for Macau tourism sector, and will adopt training methods such as short lectures, group discussions and videos appreciation. MGTO has also organized numerous retail service trainer workshops previously. By organizing different tourism-related training programs, MGTO hopes to promote and support proficiency training of the tourism sector, thus achieving continuous improvement in their service quality which contributes to building Macau into a "World Centre of Tourism and Leisure".
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Organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Macao Annual Visual Arts Exhibition 2013 – Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Category will be officially inaugurated on May 31st, Friday, at 6:30pm at the Old Court Building, located at Avenida da Praia Grande. The exhibition is part of the 24th Macao Arts Festival, serving as a platform for local artists to showcase their talents and their locally flavoured works. Unlike previous editions, this year the "Macao Annual Visual Arts Exhibition" is dedicated to Chinese paintings and calligraphy, seal carving and experimental ink washes. The open call for entries started last October and over 280 artworks were submitted. A five-member jury – composed of veteran Chinese painters and calligraphers from different regions and professional fields – finally selected 81 pieces/sets for this exhibition. Ten of the selected pieces were granted an Award of Distinction, namely: Four Seasons, by Anonymous, by Ho Loi Seng; Three Ladies, by Lei Wai Wa; Memories of the Small City, by Lei Tak Seng; Far from Prosperity, by Hong Lie; Atmosphere of Mahayana Dharma, by Chang Kuok Meng; Wen Tianxiang's Song of Righteousness, by Ye Jiehao; Illustrating a Tang Poem, by Lio Man Cheong; Innocence, by Liu Ling Ling; A Bunch of Flowers, by Sou Pui Kun; and Zhangjiajie in Rain and Mist, by Tam Chek Wun. Over its many editions, the annual "Macao Annual Visual Arts Exhibition" has sparked an enthusiastic response from artists, gathering under one roof local aficionados of art creation and displaying a true variety of flavours. The organizer hopes that this platform for showcasing arts and also for interaction and exchange will stimulate Macao's art development. The "Macao Annual Visual Arts Exhibition 2013 – Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Category" runs from June 1st until August 11th, daily from 10am to 7pm. Admission is free.
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The workshop on "International Judicial Cooperation", as organised by the Legal and Judicial Training Centre and integrated as part of the 2nd Eu-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, is going to take place on 30th May, from 3 to 7 p.m., in the 1/F Conference Room of the Macao Cultural Centre, located at Avenida Xian Xing Hai, NAPE. This workshop will feature the following keynote speakers: 1. Mr. John Hardy QC, Barrister, Queen's Counsel and Member of the SFO's Prosecution Queen's Counsel Panel of United Kingdom Government; 2. Mr. Luis da Silva Pereira, Secretary General of the European Judicial Training Network; 3. Ms. Tania Jewczuk, Judge, Regional Court of Paris, Ministry of Justice, France. The event will be conducted in Portuguese and English, with simultaneous translation into Cantonese and Portuguese. Amongst other topics, the following items will be analysed: A. Extradition in the Modern World; B. Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments under the Council Regulation (EC) 2201/2003 – (Matrimonial and Parental Responsibility Matters); C. Discussion of the Principle of Reciprocity in International Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters. The 2nd Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field between the European Union and Macao, which incorporates this workshop, has as its main objective the "Consolidation of the Macao Legal System" and is going to take place until December 2013. The execution of the Co-operation Programme is coordinated by the Law Reform and International Law Bureau, together with many entities and public departments of the Macao SAR, namely the Legal and Judicial Training Centre, the Legal Affairs Bureau, the Economic Services, the Financial Services Bureau and the Institute of European Studies of Macao.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for February-April 2013 held stable at 1.9% in comparison with the previous period (January-March); the underemployment rate was 0.8%, up by 0.1 percentage point. Total labour force was 359,400 and the labour force participation rate stood at 71.8%. Total employment reached 352,400, an increase of 600 from the previous period. Analysed by industry, increase in employment was observed in Gaming and Retail Trade, but employment in Restaurants & Similar Activities registered a decrease. Number of the unemployed totalled 7,000, an increase of 200 from the previous period; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 4.2% of the total unemployed, down by 2.0 percentage points. In comparison with February-April 2012, the labour force participation rate and the unemployment rate decreased by 0.6 and 0.1 percentage points respectively, and the underemployment rate remained unchanged.
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