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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the fourth quarter of 2012 increased by 4.45% year-on-year to 133.78, attributable to dearer prices of handbags and rising charges for restaurant services. Notable increase was observed in the price index of Clothing & Footwear (+16.46%); Transport & Communications (+7.15%); and Entertainment & Cultural Activities (+6.73%) on account of rising prices of handbags, as well as higher charges for outbound transport and entertainment services. Price index of hotel rooms decreased by 2.40% year-on-year. The average TPI (124.31) for the whole year of 2012 increased by 6.05% year-on-year, with marked increase being recorded in the price index of Restaurant Services (+12.98%); Entertainment & Cultural Activities (+10.97%); and Clothing & Footwear (+10.16%); however, price index of hotel rooms decreased by 0.63%. TPI for the fourth quarter of 2012 rose by 10.99% quarter-to-quarter, of which hotel room rate increased notably during the National Day holidays, the Macao Grand Prix, Christmas break and New Year's Eve, pushing up the price index of Accommodation by 31.92%. Price index of Clothing & Footwear increased by 15.84% quarter-to-quarter upon new arrival of Winter clothing. The 2009/2010-based TPI reflects the price changes of goods and services purchased by visitors. Sections of TPI goods and services are based on the consumption pattern of visitors, namely Food, Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco; Clothing & Footwear; Accommodation; Restaurant Services; Transport & Communications; Medicine & Personal Goods; Entertainment & Cultural Activities; and Miscellaneous Goods.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) launches the "Tourism Awareness Campaign" again and cooperates with local associations to organize activities. It is estimated that one fifth of Macau citizens will participate in the activities. The purpose of the campaign is to educate citizens about awareness of tourism in a widespread and effective way in order to upgrade tourism resource quality together and create a friendly tourism environment in harmony with the Macau SAR's strategic goal of building a "World Centre of Tourism and Leisure". Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Cheong U, MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes and Acting Chief of Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Maria Madalena Leong along with 22 association representatives hosted the Launch Ceremony of "Tourism Awareness Campaign" today (January 15). MGTO launches the "Tourism Awareness Campaign" again, enriching the activities and adopting different devices to cultivate citizens' courtesy towards visitors and introduce Macau tourism resources. It is hoped that every citizen can become a tourism ambassador and share Macau locals' compassion widely. 5 tourism ambassadors with whom citizens are familiar – Helpful, Friendly, Polite, Knowledge and Smiling, continue to uphold the slogan "Be My Guest･Feel at Home" and advocate Macau's warm hospitality. MGTO cooperates with 22 social organizations to organize over 50 activities at the first stage. It is estimated that 100,000 citizens will participate in the activities. The activities include various creative competitions, seminars, training courses, research, promotion activities, World-Heritage-related activities, local tours, carnivals, cultural performance, souvenirs making and game booths, etc.
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The new Director of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes announced today that the number of visitor arrivals exceeded 28,000,000 last year, registering a growth of 0.3%. MGTO outlined 6 work highlights in accord with the Macau SAR Government's strategic positioning of building a "Word Centre of Tourism and Leisure". The MGTO Annual Press Conference was held at the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Center today (January 15), followed by the Launch Ceremony of "Tourism Awareness Campaign" presided by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Cheong U. During the conference, MGTO reviewed last year's tourism development. Then Director Fernandes unveiled MGTO's development scheme and marketing promotion activities this year to over 500 attendees including MGTO representatives, travel industry partners as well as international and local media. There were over 100 Hong Kong, Macau and foreign media based in Macau or Hong Kong. MGTO expressed that, according to preliminary figures, the number of visitor arrivals in Macau amounted to 28,082,000 last year, a minor year-on-year increase of 0.3%. There were over 25,000,000 visitors from Greater China, an increase of 0.4%, whereas the number of international visitors dropped slightly by 0.5%. Nonetheless, both the number of overnight-stay visitors and hotel overnight guests rose in the past year. Specifically, the number of hotel overnight guests between January and November registered a double-digit growth. Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan were still ranked as the top 3 visitor source markets. Last year there were close to 17,000,000 Mainland visitors, marking a noteworthy increase of 4.6%. Among the Mainland visitors, 47% came from Guangdong Province. The Thailand and Korea market both showed remarkable performance, with an increase of 17.8% and 11.5% in their visitor numbers respectively. MGTO pointed out that the number of overnight-stay visitors in Macau exceeded 13,000,000 last year, constituting 48.4% of the overall visitors and marking a 5% increase. There were over 8,640,000 hotel overnight guests in the first 11 months, constituting 65% of the overnight-stay visitors and marking a 10.9% increase. Among them, the number of hotel overnight guests from Portugal, Korea and Australia achieved the highest growth rates of 48.7%, 21.2% and 18% respectively. The average length of stay of hotel overnight guests was 1.4 night. The total visitor expenditure from January to September amounted to US$ 28.44 billion, marking a period-on-period growth of 8%. In terms of hotels, the average occupancy rate of Macau hotels and guest houses in the first 11 months was 82.8%, a subtle period-on-period decrease of 0.8%; the average room rate of 3 to 5 stars hotels was US$177.10, which increased slightly by 6.4%. The number of inbound visitors in package tour from January to November surpassed 8,230,000, a period-on-period growth of 22.5%. Among others, the number of package-tour visitors from Russia, Portugal and Taiwan, China raised the most by 122.9%, 107.3% and 71.9% respectively. Up to date, there are 102 hotels in Macau among which 46 are budget accommodation, providing 26,719 rooms in total. Among them, 1,480 rooms are budget-accommodation rooms. The MGTO information counters received a total of 1,390,000 visitor feedbacks and enquiries for information last year. In terms of fighting illegal accommodation, the interdepartmental working groups inspected over 1000 premises, sealed 116 premises and unsealed 220 premises last year; in addition, MGTO had waged sanctions against 58 operators, 28 touts and 12 managing staff. MGTO completed 4 recruitments involving 77 vacancies. 48 new staff members joined the office last year. Currently MGTO has 367 employees, a rise of 12.6% compared with 2011. In terms of the UNWTO international ranking, according to the number of international visitor arrivals in 2011, Macau was ranked the 20th position around the world and the 5th in Asia-Pacific region; according to the tourism revenue in 2011, Macau was ranked the 7th place in the world and the 2nd in Asia-Pacific region. MGTO introduces 6 work highlights Director Fernandes stated that it has become the strategic orientation of Macau development to build the city into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. In pursuit of the goal, MGTO will formulate tourism policies and measures in a timely manner. It is equally important to try to extend the length of visitor stay in Macau, and not simply the pursuit of visitor arrival numbers. This year MGTO focuses on 6 work highlights: 1. Sum up planning and research, deepen tourism and leisure system; 2. Optimize industry management and training, actively promote quality tourism; 3. Develop cultural tourism products, promote events and festivals; 4. Support community tourism, strengthen public communication; 5. Innovate promotional techniques, explore new markets; 6. Participate in international organizations, strengthen regional cooperation. She pointed out that MGTO will launch a series of projects in accord with the 6 work highlights, including a proposal to carry out the "Tourism Development Master Plan" and formulation of a medium and long-term tourism development plan in an overall aspect; incessantly fighting against illegal accommodation; initiating a study of the demand on tourism human resources training and the project of "Tourism Awareness Campaign", etc.; continuously deepening Macau tourism product development including cultural, festive and shopping tourism; fostering the development of local small and medium enterprises while enhancing community attraction and launching the development plan for community tourism; carrying out promotion with multi-media and interactive devices, actively exploring new markets and promoting one-trip-multi-stops tourism; continuing to follow up tourism-related work as stated in the "Guangdong-Macau Cooperation Framework Agreement" while discussing the related cooperation schemes and following up the recommendations in the "Tourism Cooperational Planning for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau" in response to the new development in Nansha and Hengqin. Fernandes went further to present community tourism and stated that MGTO will introduce the "Development Plan for Community Tourism" to develop community tourism in cooperation with local associations. The contents include guidebook publication, cultural festival and development of tourism information systems. The target communities are the Islands and Northern Districts of Macau. Director Fernandes also mentioned the office will bring forth innovative promotion techniques and add "Vibrant Moment" on top of the 4 existing "Moments" in order to set off Macau's image as the "City of Events". With promotion by multi-media and interactive devices, MGTO has launched the Beta (trial) version of MGTO's new website and is going to introduce more Smartphone travel applications. On the other hand, the office plans to renovate its various information counters. In terms of marketing promotion, the office endeavors to exploit visitor source markets such as Southeast Asia, Russia, etc. and set up its market representative in Russia as well as promoting one-trip-multi-stops tourism. Meanwhile, MGTO plans to promote the High-Speed Rail tours to Macau. This year, the festive highlights will fall upon the 25th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest, the 60th Macau Grand Prix and the Chinese Lunar New Year Parade.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP132.5 billion (USD16.60 billion) at the end of December 2012. The reserves increased by 0.5% or MOP0.7 billion from the revised value of MOP131.8 billion (USD16.51 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves at end-December 2012 represented 18 times the currency in circulation or 146.5% of Pataca M2 at end-November 2012. The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency's exchange rates against the currencies of Macao's major trading partners, fell by 0.44 points month-to-month and 0.34 points year-on-year to 96.85 in December 2012.
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Consumer Council released its latest specific price survey on shampoos and shower gels. Price decreases were recorded for many brands of shampoo sold at different retail outlets and prices of shower gels remained stable. Consumer Council collected prices of 10 brands of shampoo and shower gel from 32 retail outlets (including supermarkets and drugstores) on 10th January and two new brands have been added to the current survey. In comparison with November's survey, prices of the surveyed shampoos and shower gels remained stable, 3 shampoo brands recorded minimal to over 10 percent of price decreases in many retail outlets. Prices of 'Rejoice Shampoo/1000ml' had been decreased by 3 to 13 percent since last surveyed. For shampoo, 'Dove damage Therapy intensive Repair Shampoo/700ml', which was sold at $39.5 to $59.9, recorded the greatest price difference of over 51 percent. Meanwhile, shower gel prices remained stable and a general price discrepancy of around 20 to 30 percent was recorded for the same brand sold at different outlets. 'LUX Body Wash/1L', which was newly added to the survey and sold at $26.3 to $44.0, recorded the greatest price difference of 67.3 percent among all surveyed shower gels. The Council indicates that selling prices of the same product are found to vary in different branches under the same supermarket chain stores. Consumers are advised to check with the data provided by the Council on its website (www.consumer.gov.mo) and its 'Supermarket price information platform' iPhone and Android apps. For enquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 8.6% year-on-year to 853,991 in November 2012. Visitors from Mainland China (642,971) increased by 9.4%, with 238,482 coming from Guangdong Province; besides, those from Taiwan, China (59,822) and the Republic of Korea (43,825) increased by 26.4% and 59.6% respectively. On the contrary, visitors from Hong Kong (27,622) decreased by 25.2%. In the first eleven months of 2012, visitors in package tours (8,235,050) increased by 22.5% year-on-year to account for 32.2% of the total visitor arrivals. Outbound residents in package tours soared by 109.0% year-on-year to 45,051 in November 2012. The most popular tour itineraries were Mainland China (76.1% of total); the Republic of Korea (5.7%); and Taiwan, China (4.9%), with 22,825 travelling to Guangdong Province. In the first eleven months of 2012, residents travelling in package tours totalled 381,836, up by 68.3% year-on-year. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased by 26.5% year-on-year to 74,297 in November 2012. The main destinations were Mainland China (45.1% of total); Hong Kong (28.0%); and Taiwan, China (14.5%). In the first eleven months of 2012, residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 32.0% year-on-year to 780,758. There were 100 hotels and guesthouses operating at the end of November 2012, providing 26,055 rooms, an increase of 3,722 (+16.7%) year-on-year, of which guest rooms of 5-star hotels accounted for 63.8%. In November 2012, the hotels and guesthouses received 839,080 guests, up by 7.5% year-on-year; the average length of stay decreased by 0.07 night to 1.4 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses stood at 86.7%, down by 1.8 percentage points year-on-year; occupancy rate of the hotels was 87.3%, with 4-star hotels leading at 90.1%. Number of guests increased by 10.9% year-on-year to 8,642,379 in the first eleven months of 2012; occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses stood at 82.8%, down by 0.8 percentage point year-on-year. From January to November 2012, visitor-guests accounted for 65.2% of the total number of overnight visitors, higher than the 62.1% in the same period of 2011.
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The 4th International Conference on Destination Branding and Marketing (DBM-IV) was recently held successfully in Cardiff, U.K. from 5 to 7 December 2012. DBM-IV was co-organised by IFT and hosted by Cardiff Metropolitan University's Welsh Centre for Tourism Research (WCTR). The first three biannual DBM conferences were previously hosted and co-organised by IFT in Macao since 2005. This is thus the first time the DBM was hosted outside of Macao, marking a greater degree of recognition at a higher international level and wider global exposure. The DBM conferences series has become one of the leading fora for practitioners and thinkers in the area of tourism destination branding and marketing and was founded in December 2005 at IFT, Macao. It now attracts a growing and very loyal following among its regular participants, which includes scholars, postgraduate students as well as industry practitioners in destination branding and tourism marketing. In addition to IFT Tourism Research Centre (ITRC) and WCTR, other co-organisers for DBM-IV include the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, University of South Carolina (USC), Finnmark University College, Norway, The Institute for Tourism, Zagreb, Croatia, and Uffindell Group. The latest DBM conference attracted 115 delegates representing 23 countries and more than 50 universities in addition to several representatives of DMOs and creative agencies, some of them are even DBM veterans who have attended the previous conferences held in Macao. During the opening session of the conference, Dr. Leonardo Dioko delivered an opening address and welcome remark on behalf of President of IFT and the founding organisations (IFT and USC). The host, WCTR led by Profs. Nigel Morgan and Annette Pritchard ensured the prominent recognition and acknowledgement of the founding role of IFT in the conference series. During the conference, IFT delegates Ms. Virginia Lau and Ms. Veronica Lam, in addition to Drs. Dioko and Ruth Yeung played active roles in presenting papers but also in chairing sessions and moderating events. The DBM IV gathered destination marketing experts from academia, industry and policy to discuss the cutting edge of this increasingly significant intersection of tourism, economic development, events and heritage management, spatial design and public diplomacy. Through organising and participating international conferences, ITRC of IFT plays a more influential role in the research of tourism locally and internationally. On top of that, it is believed that the meeting with other universities and partners during ITRC members' trip in the U.K., reviewing the past cooperation and discussing wider range of future cooperation, will reach a fruitful achievement and benefit the tourism development of Macao in the long run.
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Consumer Council published a report on the ingredients of hair dye products in its latest issue of Consumer Report, an article about its delegation's visit to Consumers International Office for Asia-Pacific & the Middle East is also featured. Nowadays, consumers like to dye hair at home and various kinds of hair dye products appear due to increasing demand of consumers. p-Phenylenediamine (PPD), an ingredient found in hair dye products, is an allergen and many countries and regions have requested the labeling of PPD on the product package if the substance is found in hair dye products. A test has been carried out by the Council to test the ingredients of hair dye products. The mentioned test was conducted according to China's standard QB/T 1978-2004 'Hair dye products' and 'Regulations for hygienic condition of cosmetics (2007 edition)' for light industry and the result was published in the latest issue of Consumer Report. All 10 samples of hair dye products tested were bought from local stores, testing result showed that no PPD was found in 3 of the samples but compounds of PPD were labeled in the package, 1 sample was found to have PPD but only compounds of PPD were labeled as an ingredient. Many countries and regions have requested the labeling of PPD on the package as PPD is prone to contact dermatitis, manufacturers have been asked by Consumer Council to improve the product package to include PPD as an ingredient to safeguard the safety of consumers. Consumers are advised to conduct skin allergic test before dyeing hair and wear protective tools according to instructions, moreover, hair dyeing should not be carried out too often to minimize the damages caused to hair. The latest issue no. 231 of Consumer Report also features recent activities of the Council, including its delegation's visit to Consumers International Office for Asia-Pacific & the Middle East and other consumer protection organizations in Malaysia. Consumers International (CI) is an independent, non-profit global organization aiming at bringing up policies and suggestions to protect consumers and promote consumer protection work. There are currently over 220 consumer groups from over 115 countries and regions worldwide as CI's official and unofficial members and the Office for Asia-Pacific & the Middle East is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Macao Consumer Council has been actively participating in CI's consumer protection work since its joining as an official member in 1997, since then, the Council has been getting information about global consumer protection work from CI and disseminating them to local consumers. The Consumer Council delegation visited the Office for Asia-Pacific & the Middle East to further inquire about policies concerning the least favoured consumers. Further, as the number of Macao citizens traveling to Malaysia and inbound tourists from Malaysia keeps on increasing in recent years, the importance of safeguarding the rights of consumers in both regions was discussed between the Council and various consumer groups in Malaysia. The Council and the concerned organizations discussed and exchanged ideas on how to improve solutions to consumer disputes, consumer education, and enhancement on interchanging information between the two regions. The Council also spent time to introduce the mechanism of 'Certified Shop'. The current issue also features the 'Code of Practice' for furniture retail industry and other information released by the 22 city-alliance of consumer organizations in mainland China. Consumer Report is now available free of charge at the office of Consumer Council (Rua Inácio Baptista, Nº 6-6A Edficio Seaview Garden R/C), and the service counter of Consumer Council at Macao SAR Government Service Centre (Rua Nova da Areia Preta, Nº52), Public Information Centre at Vicky Plaza, libraries and bookstores. Consumers may also access the resources online on the Council's official website (http://www.consumer.gov.mo). For enquiries, please call 8988 9315.
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The Heritage Foundation released today its 2013 Report on the Index of Economic Freedom, confirming Macao's high position in the world and regional rankings of economic freedom. The SAR's score of economic freedom exhibits little change at 71.7, compared to 71.8 for last year, and making its economy the 26th freest among 177 economies. Based on 10 benchmarks, the Report assesses the degree of economic freedom of individual economies around the world. Macao receives relatively high score in benchmarks such as government spending, trade freedom, investment freedom, monetary freedom, and financial freedom. The Foundation's 2013 Report says that flexibility and openness to global trade and investment have been the cornerstones of Macao's dynamic economic expansion. Macao largely maintains its transparent, free-market economic structure. The overall entrepreneurial environment is generally adequate. The rule of law is relatively well respected. Tax rates are competitively low, tariff and non-tariff barriers are nonexistent, and foreign investors can conduct business on the same terms as nationals. In the Asia-Pacific region, Macao is ranked 7th out of 41 economies, just behind Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Chinese Taiwan and Japan. The SAR, with its overall score well above the world and regional averages, is classified as "mostly free". According to the Heritage Foundation, a higher level of economic freedom is not only associated with a higher level of per capita income but also promotes economic and social progress.
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Consumer Council released its latest specific price survey on canned foods. Survey result showed that prices of over half of the 11 surveyed canned food brands remained stable. Price difference recorded for the same brand sold at different retail outlets ranged from 6 percent to over 30 percent. Consumer Council collected price of 11 brands of canned food from 20 retail outlets on 8th January. In comparison with the data collected in November, prices of 7 brands remained unchanged. In the current survey, price differences recorded for the same brand sold at different retail outlets ranged from the lowest 6.45 percent to the highest 30.07percent. 'Ma Ling Premium Ham Luncheon Meat/340g', which was sold at $15.3 to $19.9, recorded the highest price difference of 30.07 percent. 'Narcissus Brand Spiced Pork Cubes/142g', which observed a price difference of 53.08 percent in November, now dropped to only 13.85 percent. Consumers are advised to check with the survey data to make practical consumption. The specific price survey on canned foods is now available on Consumer Council's website (www.consumer.gov.mo) and in the Council's 'Supermarket Price Information Platform' iPhone and Android apps. .
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