News

Director of Macau Government Tourist Office, João Manuel Costa Antunes unveiled today that close to 25 million visitor arrivals were recorded last year. Macau will strive to establish a quality tourism destination, enhancing tourism products and improving service quality, to be in line with the development strategy of building Macau into a global center of tourism and leisure. At the MGTO Annual Press Conference held today (Jan 19) at the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Center, Director Antunes reviewed last year's tourism development of Macau and outlined this year's tourism strategies and marketing promotional activities to nearly 400 attendants including MGTO representatives around the world, travel industry partners and a hundred international and local media. Speaking at the press conference, Antunes expressed that under the policy support of the Central Government, Macau SAR government is dedicating efforts in building Macau into a global center of tourism and leisure. The tourism industry of Macau enjoyed a steady growth last year, with provisional figures showing that visitor arrivals hit 24,965,000 in 2010, registering an increase of 15% compared with 2009. The Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan continue to be the top three visitor generating markets. Visitors from the Mainland and Hong Kong scored a surge of 20% and 11% respectively. New markets such as India, Russia and the Middle East also performed well last year, with a rise of 57%, 49% and 33% respectively over 2009. Antunes noted that visitors from Asia surged by 15%, while markets in the Americas, Europe, Africa and other regions also recorded growth. From January to November 2010, 48% of total arrivals stayed overnight, among which 65% or over 7 million stayed in hotels. Half of these hotel overnight guests chose 5-star hotels. The average length of stay stood at 1.54 nights. He continued that apart from Thailand which was affected by its domestic situation, the other top nine markets registered positive gains, among which, arrivals from Korea and the Mainland jumped by 62% and 20% respectively. Korea, India and the Mainland were the three markets with the highest growth in overnight guests while the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States were the top three markets in terms of length of stay. Total visitor expenditure in 2009 reached US$17.1 billion, a rise of 4.9%. From January to September 2010, total visitor expenditure hit US$18.2 billion, a significant growth of 52.2% over the same period of 2009. According to information of visitors surveyed in the third quarter of 2010, the Mainland cemented its position as the highest-spending market, followed by Southeast Asian countries and Japan. Currently, Macau has 62 hotels and 31 guesthouses, providing 20,988 rooms (guesthouses and 2 to 5-star deluxe hotels). The average occupancy rate of 3 to 5-star hotels in 2009 was 76.1%, while in 2010, the average occupancy rate of 3 to 5-star hotels was 84.5%, representing an increase of 8.4 percentage points over 2009. The average hotel room rate was US$138.9, an increase of 7.7%. Total number of occupied rooms from January to November 2010 was 5.17 million, a surge of 22%. Currently, there are 150 travel agencies and 1,477 tour guides in Macau, among which, Thai, Korean, English and Japanese speaking tour guides recorded the highest growth last year, increasing by 100%, 13.3%, 9.6% and 9.4% respectively. He pointed out that the Macau Business Tourism Center supported 266 events last year, 31% more than 2009, with total participants of 1.2 million, representing an increase of 130%. As for the Industry Partner Program, there are a total of 177 trade partners who have joined the program till the end of last year, 18% higher than 2009. Reviewing the implementation of the “Plan to Support Macau Tourism Industry”, "Support to Leisure Tourism" consisted of “Celebrate Macau Tours” and World Heritage "Historic Centre of Macau" Free Guiding Service. From May 18, 2009 to March 31, 2010, 66 travel agencies took part in “Celebrate Macau Tours” and 54,000 tour groups were organized, involving 1.33 million visitors and 58,000 tour guides. In the aviation aspect, MGTO focused on supporting local carriers, new routes development and providing promotional budget support to airlines operating to Macau. “Support to Sichuan’s Tourism” launched in 2008 organized special packages to Sichuan and assisted in promotion of Sichuan tourism. The plan also exempted the initial renewal fees for licenses and work permits of businesses or professionals related to the tourism industry, in addition to supporting the industry’s training initiatives. “Strategic MICE Market Stimulation Program” supported 163 events in 2010, involving over 630,000 participants. The program will be extended to June 30, 2011 with updated content. Antunes expressed that the announcement of the “Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta” in 2008 consolidates Macau’s positioning as a global center of tourism and leisure. Macau is leveraging this strategic position and development direction to establish Macau as a quality tourism destination, enhancing tourism products and improving service quality, in keeping with the development strategy of building Macau into a global center of tourism and leisure. To achieve the goal of a quality tourism destination, MGTO will actively improve the management of the industry and administration, enhance the tourism environment and products, launch a new tourism promotional image and strengthen regional cooperation. He added that MGTO will continue to join forces with related government departments to optimize tourism and world heritage resources in developing a cultural tourism brand for visitors to experience the unique cultural ambiance of Macau. He pointed out that MGTO supports the development of budget hotels and will coordinate and communicate with related departments to study the re-use of small-scale buildings and land at the old districts. At the same time, MGTO will regularly review and improve the enforcement and effectiveness of the law on “Prohibition of Providing Illegal Accommodation”. Antunes noted that MGTO will review and intensify the “Quality and Honest Macau Tour” scheme, which will be expanded to other Mainland source markets beyond Shenzhen. MGTO also plans to discuss issues on "zero/negative-fare" tours with related Mainland departments. He added that MGTO plans to introduce more electronic services this year to be in line with the development of e-government. A total revamp for an interactive tourism website will also be launched to broaden the effectiveness of tourism promotion and build a friendlier online environment for visitors.
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A Beautiful Night of Music’, a Spring Festival concert presented by The Macao Chinese Orchestra featuring works in exultation of the Spring Festival, will be held this Saturday, January 23rd, at 8pm at the Dom Pedro V Theatre. The spring breeze revitalizes and awakens different aspects of life; enchanting melodies warm people’s hearts. In this concert, The Macao Chinese Orchestra will play a string of cheerful musical pieces to celebrate the jubilant Spring Festival with musical lovers on this wonderful night. The concert starts with the highly festive Spring Festival Overture and features other representative works like the Spring Festival Overture and Beautiful Night. The Spring Festival Overture by Lau Tin Wah emphasises a mellow and cheerful mood. This piece was awarded the “20th Century Masterpiece Award” by the Society for the Promotion of Chinese Culture in Beijing. Between Earth and Sky by Liu Xing marks a representative work for zhongruan, while Three-Six highlights a refreshing and exciting atmosphere. Good News Arriving at a Remote Village with its rich and colorful tones, was inspired by the districts of Yunnan. The famous Serenade No. 13 in G major (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) by Mozart will also be featured in the concert. Tickets for this concert are now available at Kong Seng Ticketing Network outlets as well as the latest seasonal brochure of the Macao Chinese Orchestra. Ticket price: MOP$40.
Ticketing hotline: 2855 5555.
Website: http://www.icm.gov.mo/ochm
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The distribution overview of the Wealth Partaking Scheme 2011 is as follow: 1. Beneficiaries
1. Holders of valid or renewable Macau SAR Resident Identity Card on 31 December 2010 are entitled to receive the cash premium. Every Macau SAR Permanent and Non-Permanent Resident Identity Cardholders will be granted 4,000.00 patacas and 2,400.00 patacas respectively.
2. Pursuant to Article 3 (2) of Law No.8/2002 regarding the circumstances of non-compulsory acquisition of resident identity card, persons below the age of 5 on 31 December 2010, will be granted the cash premium upon the obtainment of the abovementioned identification document.
3. Holders of valid or renewable Macao SAR Resident Identity Card who are currently residing abroad will be granted the cash premium, provided that they can prove that they are unable to renew their Macao SAR Resident Identity Card due to the reason of bedridden, completely or partly paralyzed. For those who have submitted the documentary proof and were granted the cash premium in the previous year, the Social Welfare Bureau is authorized to exempt them from documents resubmission if it is concluded that no new evidence is needed for the approval of current Scheme after analyzing the existing documents. 2. Modes of distribution
1. Bank transfer
The following individuals will have the cash premium disbursed by means of bank transfer:
- Persons receiving financial assistance or subsidy for senior citizens from the Social Welfare Bureau;
- Teaching staff receiving direct subsidy as well as students in tertiary education receiving student aid from the Student Benefits Fund of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau;
- Retired civil servants receiving retirement pension and other persons receiving aforesaid pension for the family of the deceased;
- Civil servants. 2. Crossed cheque mailing
The rest qualified for being awarded the cash premium will receive the crossed cheque via mail by the Identification Services Bureau. Details are as follows:
- Beneficiaries aged 18 or above will each receive a cheque made payable to the beneficiary;
- Minor beneficiaries (under the age of 18) will each receive a cheque made payable to the beneficiary, his/her father, and his/her mother, which may be deposited either into the beneficiary’s account, his/her father’s account, or his/her mother’s account. The crossed cheque will be sent via mail so as to enable the beneficiaries to get the cheque in the simplest way. On the other hand, as it is a crossed cheque, it can only be deposited into the payee’s account, in this way, even if one gets the cheque of others, in no way the cheque can be cashed. 3. Special circumstances
The Social Welfare Bureau shall be responsible for the distribution of cash premium to the following persons: persons stated in above 1 (3), minors whose guardianship has not been established, incompetent persons, and persons deprived of their liberty by rehabilitative measures or subjected to criminal punishment. 3. 2011 Wealth Partaking Scheme Schedule for Distribution
(* please find the attached file.) 4. Address change for mailing purpose
The address of holders of Macau Resident Identity Card in the database of the Identification Services Bureau is the one declared by the resident during his/her replacement for the Macau SAR Resident Identity Card. To ensure that the residents can receive in time their cheques, from 7th December 2010 onwards, those who have moved their residence can change their address information in the following ways:
- Prior to changing the address, the resident has to provide data for verification by entering his/her identity card number, his/her date of birth and his/her mother’s name (as the names of father and mother are not shown on the identity card), at the Identification Services Bureau website (www.dsi.gov.mo); - Return directly the declaration for change of address to the Identification Services Bureau. 5. Establishment of Support Centre for Wealth Partaking Disbursement
With an effort to cope with the implementation of the Scheme, the Support Centre for Wealth Partaking Disbursement was set up. The Centre is equipped with staff and a hotline to handle and entertain enquiries related to the Scheme, as well as to help solving other problems. The Centre will be opened on 18th January 2011. Which is located in Avenida da Praia Grande, n.º 762-804, Edifício China Plaza, 1st floor, shop AJ. And will open on Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays), from 9:00 to 18:00 straight. The service hotline and facsimile are 2822 5000 and 2822 3000. The official website of Wealth Partaking Scheme http://www.planocp.gov.mo provides the most up-to-dated information and it is also possible to obtain information about the status of the correspondent disbursement by entering the resident identity card number, date of birth and his/her mother’s name for verification.
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The seminar on “Double taxation agreements and tax treatment on foreign income”, being part of the 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, will take place from January 17 to 20 (from 18:00 to 21:00) and on January 21 (from 18:00 to 19:45), in the Lotus Room of World Trade Center (Av. da Amizade, n. º 918, World Trade Center Macau Building, 5th floor). This seminar will be conducted in English and will feature the following guest speakers: 1. Mr. Mo Wilhelm Paule, Tax Lawyer/Revenue Solicitor, Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Uppsala University, Sweden; Legal Coordinator in the International Tax Office of the Swedish Tax Agency and Deputy Chairman of the Tax Council; 2. Mr. Klas Patrik Lejon, Master of Laws and Bachelor of Social Science (Accounting) from Uppsala University, Sweden; Senior Tax Officer in the International Tax Office of the Swedish Tax Agency. This event is organized by the Financial Services Bureau and has about 92 participants enrolled. Among others, the seminar will cover the following subjects: Introduction to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and the Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital, Scope of the Convention, Definitions, Taxation of Income, Taxation of Capital, Methods for Elimination of Double Taxation, and Special & Final Provisions. The 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, extending until December 2012, which embodies this workshop, has the “Consolidation of the Macao Legal System” as its main objective. The execution of the Co-operation Programme is coordinated by the Law Reform and International Law Bureau, with the participation of several other MSAR’s entities and public departments, 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 Macau.
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The Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) is following closely on the flight suspension of Mandala Airlines, an airline based in Indonesia. GGCT calls on affected Macao residents to call the Tourism Hotline or contact the Embassy of China in Indonesia for information. According to information provided by the tourism trade, there are no tour groups from Macao currently in Indonesia. Until 16:00 today, GGCT has received 15 inquiries about Mandala Airlines. GGCT will continue to follow closely on the incident and maintain close contact with related entities. GGCT urges Macao residents holding Mandala Airlines’ flight tickets stranded in Indonesia to call the following hotlines or entities for information: - Tourism Hotline: + 853 28333000 - Embassy of China in Indonesia: + 62 215761044 - Macau Government Tourist Office's Representative in Indonesia: +62 2183705913 Passengers may also browse the website of Mandala Airlines (http://www.mandalaair.com/english/news0.html) for the latest information. Passengers are advised not to go to the airports before learning the latest flight arrangement.
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To further increase the scope and completeness of the Macao Database for Cultural and Creative Industries, with the aim of fostering the development, growth and exposure of these industries, the Cultural Affairs Bureau is now launching the fourth phase of its Cultural and Creative Industries Information Collection Project. The current phase targets all professional companies or institutions in the fields of publishing and original pop music. From today until the 28th of February, 2011, all relevant parties are welcome to deliver submissions to the Cultural Affairs Bureau, together with an information collection form which may be downloaded from the Cultural Affairs Bureau website at www.icm.gov.mo/dpicc. The establishment of this Database will aid the government in forming and launching beneficial policies for the promotion of the cultural and creative industries. Furthermore, the Cultural Affairs Bureau plans to use the information gathered to establish a cultural and creative industries magazine and website, providing access to information related to the cultural and creative industries in Macao and thereby creating a platform for the exchange of information to facilitate business networking and to encourage the development of Macao’s cultural and creative industries. Interested parties may complete the form and submit it, with supporting electronic files, to the Department for the Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, located at Tap Seac Square. For enquiries, please call 8399 6919 (Ms. Lam or Ms. Lao) during office hours or email info.dpicc@icm.gov.mo.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP190.2 billion (USD23.73 billion) at the end of December 2010. The reserves rose by 4.4% from the revised value of MOP182.2 billion (USD22.78 billion) for the previous month. When compared with a year earlier, the reserves increased by MOP43.6 billion or 29.8%. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-December 2010 represented 36 times the currency in circulation or 280.6% of Pataca M2 at end-November 2010. 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, rose by 0.44 points month-to-month and 0.23 points year-on-year to 89.47 in December 2010.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the fourth quarter of 2010 rose by 11.63% year-on-year to 177.03. The price indices of Miscellaneous Goods (+21.01%), Accommodation (+18.97%), Transport & Communications (+5.17%), Restaurant Services (+4.94%) and Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco (+4.74%) recorded notable increases, attributable to dearer prices of gold jewellery, airfare and food, as well as rising hotel room rates and charges for restaurant services. For the fourth quarter of 2010, TPI went up by 7.84% quarter-to-quarter, of which the price indices of Accommodation and Miscellaneous Goods increased by 42.37% and 10.28% respectively, on account of higher hotel room rates during the National Day holidays, the Macao Grand Prix and Christmas holiday period, as well as dearer prices of jewellery led by rising gold prices. On the contrary, the price indices of Clothing & Footwear; and Medicine & Personal Goods decreased by 1.35% and 0.15% respectively. The average TPI for 2010 increased by 11.13% year-on-year, with marked increase being observed in the indices of Miscellaneous Goods (+21.62%); Accommodation (+15.64%); Transport & Communications (+5.34%); Restaurant Services (+4.94%) and Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco (+4.80%). TPI reflects the price changes of goods and services purchased by visitors, which is compiled according to the consumption pattern of visitors. TPI covers 8 sections of goods and services, namely Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco; Clothing & Footwear; Accommodation; Restaurant Services; Transport & Communications; Medicine & Personal Goods; Entertainment & Cultural Activities; and Miscellaneous Goods. The base period of TPI is from July 1999 to June 2000.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours decreased by 9.3% year-on-year to 450,597 in November 2010, putting an end to the increase in the past seven months. In comparison with November 2009, visitors from Mainland China (320,866); Hong Kong (21,672); Taiwan, China (19,632) and Malaysia (12,354) decreased by 12.3%, 3.2%, 29.6% and 4.0% respectively, while those from Japan (22,608); Republic of Korea (13,501) and India (8,736) rose by 1.2%, 139.5% and 59.9% respectively. From January to November of 2010, visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 25.4% year-on-year to 5,220,695. In November 2010, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours decreased by 7.6% year-on-year to 18,775, with Mainland China (78.2% of total); Taiwan, China (4.6%); Republic of Korea (4.5%) and Hong Kong (3.9%) being the most popular tour itineraries. In the first eleven months of 2010, residents travelling in package tours totalled 224,806, up by 24.1% year-on-year. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased by 7.5% year-on-year to 45,499 and the main destinations were Hong Kong (33.6% of total); Mainland China (31.2%); Taiwan, China (17.3%) and Thailand (6.5%). In the first eleven months of 2010, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements went up by 8.5% year-on-year to 454,415. At the end of November 2010, total number of available guest rooms of the hotel sector increased by 800 (+4.2%) year-on-year to 20,059 rooms. A total of 657,487 guests checked into hotels and guest-houses in November 2010, up by 4.3% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (53.2% of total) and Hong Kong (18.8%). The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses reached 82.8%, up by 4.5 percentage points year-on-year; average occupancy rate of hotels stood at 83.5%, with 4-star hotels leading at 91.0%. The average length of stay of guests decreased by 0.05 night to 1.4 nights. Number of guests reached 7,027,702 in the first eleven months of 2010, up by 16.8% over the same period of 2009. In the first eleven months of 2010, visitor-guests of hotels and guest-houses accounted for 61.0% of the total number of tourists, down from 61.3% in the same period of 2009.
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The Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) is following closely on the flight suspension of Mandala Airlines, an airline based in Indonesia. According to information provided by the tourism trade, there are no tour groups from Macao currently stranded in Indonesia due to the suspension of flights by the airline. GGCT calls on affected Macao residents to call the Tourism Hotline or contact the Embassy of China in Indonesia for information. GGCT became aware yesterday (12 Jan) of Mandala Airlines’ decision to suspend all flights from 6:00am of 13 Jan, and immediately contacted the tourism trade and crisis team members to follow up on the situation. Information provided by the tourism sector indicated that there are no tour groups from Macao in Indonesia. The last Macao tour group to Indonesia returned to Macao early this morning. Meanwhile, two tour groups from Indonesia which arrived in Macao early this morning have been arranged by their travel agency to return to Indonesia via Hong Kong after touring Macao. GGCT urges Macao residents holding Mandala Airlines’ flight tickets stranded in Indonesia to call the following hotlines or entities for information: -Tourism Hotline: + 853 28333000 -Embassy of China in Indonesia: + 62 215761044 -Macau Government Tourist Office's Representative in Indonesia: +62 2183705913 Passengers may also call Mandala Airlines at +62 804 1234567 or +62 2156997000 or browse its website (http://www.mandalaair.com/english/news0.html) for the latest information. Passengers are advised not to go to the airports before learning the latest flight arrangement. Up to now GGCT has not received any requests for assistance concerning the flight suspension of Mandala Airlines. GGCT will continue to follow closely on the incident and maintain close contact with related entities.
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