News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total spending of visitors (excluding gaming expenses) amounted to MOP13.3 billion in the third quarter of 2012, up by 10% in comparison with MOP12.1 billion in the third quarter of 2011. Spending of overnight visitors totalled MOP11.3 billion and that of same-day visitors was MOP2.0 billion. In the third quarter of 2012, per-capita spending of visitors was MOP1,822, an increase of 12% from a year earlier. Per-capita spending of visitors from Mainland China was MOP2,302, with that of IVS visitors at MOP2,514; while spending of visitors from Singapore and Japan stood at MOP1,673 and MOP1,550 respectively. As regards per-capita spending of long-haul visitors, those from Australia, the US and the UK spent MOP1,167, MOP1,056 and MOP961 respectively. Per-capita non-shopping spending of visitors rose by 16% year-on-year to MOP952, of which expenses on Accommodation and Food & Beverage accounted for 48% and 37% respectively. Japanese visitors and Singaporean visitors had a relatively high per-capita non-shopping spending of MOP1,381 and MOP1,247 respectively. Per-capita shopping spending of visitors amounted to MOP869, went up by 7% year-on-year. Shopping items included Local Food Products (23%), Jewellery & Watches (19%), and Shoes, Handbags & Wallets (17%). Visitors from Mainland China had per-capita shopping spending of MOP1,304, with IVS visitors reaching MOP1,615. In addition, per-capita spending of overnight visitors increased by 13% year-on-year to MOP3,081, while that of same-day visitors decreased by 15% to MOP549. Per-capita spending of overnight and same-day Mainland visitors accounted for MOP3,974 and MOP666 respectively, and the respective spending of IVS visitors reached MOP4,411 and MOP1,003.
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22 consumer organisations in China participated in the annual city alliance meeting in Nanjing on 12th November and a list of reports and surveys were released on the same day to suggest improvements for the related industries in mainland China. The first three reports released were 'Report on the safety condition of textile products in express hotels', 'Report on the safety condition of indoor environment of 100 city new homes', and 'Suggestions on consumer disputes arise from flight delays'. Participants at the meeting included cities like Macao, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and China Consumer News, etc. Each year, a meeting is held at each member city to report and share the works completed by the 22 members.
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Organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government and co-organised by the Printmaking Research Centre of Macao, the 1st Macao Printmaking Triennial is a grand international exchange event in the area of printmaking, featuring nearly 100 works by renowned printmakers from 11 counties and regions. These important hubs of printmaking creativity in Asia include Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and India. The exhibition opened on 17th November 2012 in the Old Court Building, located at Av. da Praia Grande, and runs until 17th February 2013. Present at the opening ceremony were the President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, Dr. Ung Vai Meng, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Macao S.A.R., Zhang Xiaoguang, Deputy Director-General of the Department of General Affairs of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao SAR, Shen Weizhong, Member of the Cultural Consultative Council of Macao, Mr. Carlos Marreiros, Director of the School of Arts at the Macao Polytechnic Institute, Ms. Hsu Hsui-Chu, Acting Vice President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, Mr. Kent Ieong Chi Kin and Deputy Chief Editor of the Macao Daily News, Ms. Lio Chi Heng (representing the Director of the Macao Daily News). Macao was the first transit stop of Western missionaries coming from afar to China in the 15th Century. They not only introduced the first batch of exquisite Western copper-plate prints for missionary purposes but also the typographic press and lithography in succession. Macao was once a strategic port of the Maritime Silk Road, which can be attributable to the vigorous trade prompted by the flourishing printing business. A professional printmaking course has been offered in the School of the Arts of Macao Polytechnic Institute (formerly the Visual Arts Academy) since its establishment in the 1980s, which held two international printmaking exhibitions in Macao in 1992 and 2000. This year, the 1st Macau Printmaking Triennial, launched by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and curated by veteran local printmaker Wong Cheng Pou, seeks to give an overview of the newest aspects of contemporary printmaking in Asia. Printmaking organisations and educators from different countries have been invited to select and screen artists to represent their respective regions in the event. The wide variety of printmaking works chosen for this exhibition range from simplistic, explicit traditional woodblock prints to mainstream silk screen prints, copper-plate etchings, and innovative prints produced by sophisticated computers. Works on display also include special prints employing unique production methods. The Triennial is definitely a feast for the eyes - and not to be missed by printmaking and art aficionados! This year's event features four awards, including one Special Award, with a cash prize of 100,000 Patacas, and three Review Panel Special Awards, with cash prizes of 20,000 Patacas each. The panel of five judges included Professor Chen Yi, of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Mr. Chu The-I, Director of the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts, Japanese artist Takeshi Kanazawa, Chief Curator for Art and Special Projects of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Mr. Tang Hoi Chiu, Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and Archt. Carlos Marreiros, member of the Cultural Consultative Council of Macao. The Special Award of the 1st Macao Printmaking Triennial goes to the Korean artist Kwak Nam Sin, whose work is titled "The Day when I was Blue". The three Review Panel Special Awards are presented to Chinese artist Wang Li Xing, and to Thai artists Tinnakorn Kasornsuwan and Vimonmarn Khanthachavana, for their works titled "Fresh Water Lake IV", "Home II" and "Pincushion in Hand 2005", respectively. At the Grand Opening, more than 60 printmakers from various places were present, symbolising an important milestone in the development of Macao's arts and their emergence in the global art arena.
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The University of Macau's (UM) Ceremony for Conferment of Honorary Degrees and Higher Degrees 2012 was held today (16 November). Dr. Chui Sai On, chief executive of Macao SAR and chancellor of UM, presided over the ceremony and met with three honorary degree recipients. In his speech, Dr. Chui said that UM has made progress in soft and hard strengths, with rapid advancement in scientific research, and with the new development mode, UM should shoulder greater responsibility and become the backbone of Macao's cultural innovation and science and technology development. He said that the SAR government will continue to provide policy- and resource-wise support to UM in its future development. At the ceremony, UM conferred honorary doctorates upon Prof. Arden Lee Bement, Jr., Dr. Ambrose So Shu Fai and Prof. Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, in recognition of their outstanding contributions in the areas of research, culture and education. PhD degrees, master's degrees, postgraduate diplomas and certificates, and the Outstanding Academic Staff Award were also presented at the ceremony. UM Rector Wei Zhao congratulated honorary degree recipients and the 427 postgraduates. He said sports train people's mind and body while research helps people explore the unknown and challenge the limit. That's why Macao needs scientific research in. He said in recent years, thanks to UM's vigorous support of research, the university has made significant advances in scientific research, as evidenced by the numerous prestigious awards in science and technology. He thanked students, alumni and faculty for their concerted efforts and contributions. Prof. Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, representative of the honorary degree recipients, said in his speech that UM best exemplifies Macao's achievements in education. With a history of over thirty years, UM excels in teaching, research and community service. Under the leadership of Rector Wei Zhao, UM has evolved its own character and enjoys academic freedom. All this puts the university in good stead for realizing its goal of becoming a world-class university.
Prof. Mok Kai Meng, dean of the Honours College, highly commended Prof. Arden Lee Bement, Jr. in his citation. He said that over the years, Prof. Bement has led various significant programmes and activities, benefiting the world with his science and engineering contributions, from managing programmes in metallurgical research, nuclear structural materials, defense weapons technology, biomaterials, manufacturing technology, isotope power sources, to the design, fabrication and irradiation testing of advanced nuclear fuel elements, and application of competitive technologies. In academia, Prof. Bement has led teaching and research programmes to facilitate understanding, formulating and shaping of policy on critical issues in areas such as economics, agriculture, poverty, climate change, and energy sources for improving people's lives. He was the director of the United States National Science Foundation (NSF), leading the agency to advance in its mission of encouraging, identifying and funding the best ideas and most promising people for the benefit of the world. Prof. Jacky So, dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, highly commended the accomplishments of Dr. Ambrose So Shu Fai in his citation today. As he said, "Dr. So is a cultured man of action with a heart for his nation, and serves as a role model for others." Dr. So holds numerous important positions, including being a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Portugal in Hong Kong SAR, and a member of the Economic Development Council and of the Cultural Consultative Council of the Macao SAR government. He works with relentless effort toward the sustainable development of Macao's economy, and is committed to advancing exchange and cooperation among Macao, Hong Kong, China and Portugal. Dr. So is currently Chief Executive Officer of SJM Holdings Limited. In 2008, he ushered Macao into the international financial market by planning and facilitating the Hong Kong stock exchange listing of SJM, Macao's only locally rooted gaming concessionaire. A gifted calligrapher, Dr. So is dedicated to the promotion and development of Chinese culture, and has organised many activities promoting cultural exchange over the years. Dr. So has been awarded the Medal of Merit - Culture by the Macau SAR government. Prof. Philip Chen, dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, highly commended Prof. Andrew Chi-Chih Yao in his citation. He said that Prof. Yao has made many original and significant contributions to computer science, including laying concrete foundations for modern cryptology on which computational complexity is based, formulating the theory of communication complexity and the theory of pseudo-random number generation, and establishing a new paradigm for quantum computation, communication complexity and teleportation. In 2000 Prof. Yao was awarded the Turing Award by the US Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), becoming the first Chinese scientist to have won this prestigious award ever since its founding. Prof. Yao was under the tutelage of distinguished computer scientist Prof. Liu Chung Laung, who received his early education in Macao and who was also a recipient of an honorary doctorate from UM. The Most Venerable Master Hsing Yun, recipient of the Degree of Doctor of Humanities honoris causa, was not able to attend today's ceremony. Conferment of the honorary degree on Master Hsing Yun will be held separately. Prof. Hao Yufan, dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, highly commended Master Hsing Yun in his citation. He said that Master Hsing Yun is noted for his benevolent karma of advocating for Humanistic Buddhism. His Buddhism faith translates into deep compassion and compassion into philanthropic acts. He developed a system of the philosophy of Humanistic Buddhism that opens up wider study of Buddhist logic (Hetuvidya), purifies people's mind through sangha and performs philanthropic deeds for the needy. The manifestation of his compassion is secular rather than just ethereal, his Buddhist wisdom worldly rather than metaphysical, thus giving a new twist to the conventional understanding of Emptiness - the very heart of Buddhist doctrine. He tries to find the best of different faiths as the greatest denominator to bridge the differences, and construct a common religious discourse that can speak to every religion. The Humanistic Buddhism that Master Hsing Yun spent more than seven decades forging sprawls the entire Chinese-speaking communities all over the world. He has founded dozens of kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, sixteen Buddhist colleges, over fifty Chinese schools, and several universities. Towards the end, UM presented the Outstanding Academic Staff Award to Prof. Rose Lai Neng from the Faculty of Business Administration, Prof. Tong Io Cheng from the Faculty of Law, Prof. Zhang Meifang from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Prof. Yuen Ka Veng from the Faculty of Science and Technology, and Prof. Li Shaoping from the Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, in recognition of their contributions to education, research and society.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the 27 banks in Macao had a total of 5,317 employees at the end of the third quarter of 2012, up by 2.9% year-on-year. Analysed by occupation, 1,158 were directors and managers, up by 13.1% year-on-year; 2,347 were clerks, with 861 being bank tellers. In September 2012, average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) of full-time employees amounted to MOP21,150, up by 6.3% year-on-year. Average earnings of bank tellers stood at MOP12,330 and that of technicians and associate professionals was MOP18,230, up by 6.8% and 4.2% respectively year-on-year. At the end of the third quarter of 2012, the Banking Sector had 155 job vacancies, down by 8.3% year-on-year, with 82 vacancies for clerks, including 45 for bank tellers. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 59.4% of the vacancies required working experience and 72.3% required tertiary education. Besides Cantonese, other preferred language skills were Mandarin (95.5%) and English (81.9%). In the third quarter of 2012, the Banking Sector hired 383 new employees and the employee recruitment rate (7.3%) decreased by 2.0 percentage points year-on-year. The employee turnover rate (5.7%) and the job vacancy rate (2.9%) increased slightly by 0.2 and 0.4 percentage point respectively, indicating that the mobility of human resources is stable.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 6,766 building units were purchased and sold at MOP26.93 billion in the third quarter of 2012 as per Stamp Duty record, down by 13.8% and 13.3% respectively quarter-to-quarter. Within the units purchased and sold, 4,475 were residential units sold at MOP19.75 billion, down by 19.4% and 15.6% quarter-to-quarter respectively, and Macao residents accounted for 88.2% of the transaction and 83.2% of the value. Residential units purchased and sold under MOP3,000,000 took up 45.9% and 25.5% cost MOP6,000,000 or over. Analysed by year of completion of the building, residential units completed in 2010 and after totalled 1,517 (33.9% of total), including 1,165 pre-sale units, and 1,451 residential units were completed in 1990-1999. As regards floor area of the unit, 2,345 residential units (52.4% of total) had an area of 50 to 99.9 square metres, and 28.2% were smaller than 50 square metres. The average price of all residential units amounted to MOP58,305 per square metre of usable area, up by 5.2% quarter-to-quarter; average price of those in the Macao Peninsula (MOP51,662), Taipa (MOP67,579) and Coloane (MOP81,928) increased by 8.9%, 1.2% and 4.8% respectively quarter-to-quarter. Analysed by year of completion of the building, average price of residential units completed in 1990-1999 was MOP45,593 per square metre, up by 9.0% quarter-to-quarter. Analysed by floor area, average price of residential units under 50 square metres increased by 8.0% quarter-to-quarter to MOP45,862 per square metre; the average price of those having 150 square metres and over dropped by 4.4% to MOP80,682 per square metre. In addition, the average price of office units increased by 3.1% quarter-to-quarter to MOP49,245 per square metre, and that of industrial units rose by 0.5% to MOP18,844 per square metre. In the first three quarters of 2012, number of building units purchased and sold decreased by 24.4% year-on-year to 18,203, yet total value increased by 5.4% to MOP69.69 billion. A total of 12,374 residential units were purchased and sold at MOP51.45 billion, down by 17.5% and 2.2% respectively year-on-year. In the third quarter of 2012, a total of 3,497 cases of real estate sale and purchase contracts were made, down by 1.0% quarter-to-quarter, and the number of units dropped by 5.3% to 4,127. Moreover, there were 2,619 cases of residential mortgage contracts signed, down slightly by 0.5% quarter-to-quarter. In the third quarter of 2012, gross floor area of buildings completed totalled 612,904 square metres, altogether providing 1,573 units (1,502 are residential units), 1,319 parking spaces for cars and 188 parking spaces for motorcycles. Gross floor area of buildings completed totalled 1,560,013 square metres in the first three quarters of 2012, providing 2,499 units (2,404 are residential units).
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Consumer Council released its latest specific price survey on shampoos and shower gels. Result showed that prices of various brands of shampoo sold at different retail outlets recorded minimal to 12 percent decreases whereas prices of shower gel brands remained stable. Consumer Council collected prices of 8 brands of shampoo and shower gel from 32 retail outlets (including supermarkets and drugstores) on 13th November. In comparison to September's survey, 4 surveyed shampoo brands recorded price decreases at different retail spots. 'Pantene Pro-V Shampoo/750ml', which was sold at $56.0 to $60.0 in most retail outlets, recorded price decreases of 3 to 12 percent in comparison to last time's data. A price increase of 18 percent was also observed for the same brand at Watson's (Rotunda De Carlos Da Maia) due to price adjustment this month. For shampoo, 'Dove damage Therapy intensive Repair Shampoo/700ml', which was sold at $39.7 to $59.9, recorded the greatest price difference of almost 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. 'Dove beauty Nourishing Body Wash/1000ml', which was sold at $37.0 to $48.0, differed for 29.7 percent. 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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The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP133.9 billion (USD16.77 billion) at the end of October 2012. The reserves increased by 0.8% or MOP1.1 billion from the revised value of MOP132.7 billion (USD16.62 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves at end-October 2012 represented 19 times the currency in circulation or 156.0% of Pataca M2 at end-September 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 0.48 points month-to-month but rose by 0.91 points year-on-year to 97.07 in October 2012.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, attended the plenary meeting of the Legislative Assembly today where he answered questions from 26 legislators on his Policy Address for the Fiscal Years 2013 delivered yesterday.
The questions covered policies on housing, human resource, social security, education, economic diversification, personnel training, child-care, smoking control in casinos, performance management system, population, anti-corruption, mandatory building inspection and inflation.
Housing policy attracted the most questions. Adhering to the principle of "Home for all in a contented society", Mr Chui said the Government would recommence accepting applications for Home-Ownership Scheme Housing and public rental housing flats in the first quarter of next year.
This would also enable the Government to gauge actual housing demand by the public for a further scientific study, Mr Chui said.
In addition to the 19,000 public housing units being completed as planned and another 6,300 units being planned as earlier announced, more land would be allocated for public housing.
He said statistics had shown that property prices moved like a wave and would not remain high forever. Thus he appealed to residents who plan to buy properties to carefully consider their own purchasing power. He said a sufficient supply of land would be guaranteed.
There were signs of overheating in the private housing market and the Government would introduce necessary measures to stabilise the market and to protect Macao's financial system, the Chief Executive said. Data collected from overseas and the World Bank suggested that mortgage payments should not exceed 40 per cent of total family income. On the "Macao property for Macao resident" policy, Mr Chui said since this was a new concept, it would require an in-depth study and a collection of public opinion. He said the Government would build residential units reserved for Macao residents on five pieces of newly reclaimed land to provide more choice for buyers.
On inflation, the Chief Executive said the Government would begin to amend laws to further protect consumers and to add more channels for importing commodities to Macao. He said large-scale enterprises should take responsibility in building a quality living environment in which residents could deliver their expertise to promote social mobility for society's well-being: he also urged them to raise staff salaries.
The Chief Executive said the Government would continuously strive to build long-term effective mechanisms and to share the fruits of its developments with all residents of Macao.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 21.9% year-on-year to 749,496 in September 2012. Visitors from Mainland China (538,178) increased by 23.7%, with 222,914 coming from Guangdong Province; besides, those from Taiwan, China (69,911); the Republic of Korea (35,093) and Japan (21,798) increased by 50.8%, 33.9% and 14.2% respectively. On the contrary, visitors from Hong Kong (33,208) decreased marginally by 0.1%. In the first three quarters of 2012, visitors in package tours (6,571,468) increased by 24.5% year-on-year to account for 31.5% of total visitor arrivals. Outbound residents in package tours soared by 107.6% year-on-year to 32,373 in September 2012. The most popular tour itineraries were Mainland China (82.3% of total); Taiwan, China (4.1%) and the Republic of Korea (3.8%), with 18,073 travelling to Guangdong Province. In the first three quarters of 2012, residents travelling in package tours totalled 300,153, up by 60.6% year-on-year. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased by 18.5% year-on-year to 72,833 in September 2012. The main destinations were Mainland China (49.5% of total); Hong Kong (22.5%); and Taiwan, China (15.1%). In the first three quarters of 2012, residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 33.8% year-on-year to 632,037. There were 100 hotels and guesthouses operating in September 2012, providing 26,083 rooms, an increase of 3,704 (+16.6%) year-on-year, of which guest rooms of the 5-star hotels accounted for 63.9% of the total. In September 2012, the hotels and guesthouses received 785,170 guests, up by 11.9% year-on-year; the average length of stay decreased by 0.18 night to 1.3 nights. Occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses stood at 81.0%, up by 1.2 percentage points; occupancy rate of the hotels was 81.5%, with 4-star hotels leading at 82.9%. Number of guests increased by 11.5% year-on-year to 7,018,836 in the first three quarters of 2012; occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses stood at 82.6%, down by 0.6 percentage point. From January to September 2012, visitor-guests accounted for 64.9% of the total number of overnight visitors, higher than the 61.5% in the same period of 2011.
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