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The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam Pak Yuen, said today he expected Macao’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow by about 10 per cent this year. During a reception, Mr Tam told the press that with the global economy slowing down and international financial market fluctuating even more wildly, he expected Macao’s economy to grow by about 10 per cent, down from his earlier projection of 15 per cent. In the economic slowdown, tourist arrivals and their expenditure could go down, and the unemployment could rise. The Government would try to boost employment of local talent and keep the unemployment rate at a relatively low level, he said. To boost employment, the Government would consider cutting the quota of imported labour in some industries and positions. However, to keep the healthy development of some industries, some quotas should be maintained. Speaking on Macao’s banking industry, he said he would not rule out the possibility of emergence of further rumours about Macao’s banking sector, after the United States House of Representatives rejected the bailout plan submitted by the US administration. Mr Tam said Macao’s banking sector had all along been healthy and well regulated, and he urged the public to maintain their confidence in the industry.
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The MSAR Government will hold celebrations to commemorate the 59th National Day on Wednesday. The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, will officiate a flag-raising ceremony at Lotus Flower Square at 8 am. Representatives from the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the MSAR, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the MSAR, the Macao Garrison of the People’s Liberation Army, Macao’s principal officials and community leaders will attend the ceremony. After the ceremony, the Chief Executive will meet more than 40 young people from Sichuan who have taken part in the rescue of victims of the Sichuan earthquake in May. At 10 am the Government will hold a reception at Macau Tower. Some government departments will also hold celebratory events including the three-kilometre National Day Marathon starting at Lotus Flower Square, and a concert at Macao East Asian Games Dome at 2:30 pm. Commemorative covers will be on sale and a stamping service will be offered at the Post Office. At 8 pm, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau and Liaison Office will hold a concert at Macao Forum, and two firework displays will be held on the waterfront near the Macau Tower at 9 and 10 pm respectively.
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According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, the unemployment rate for June-August 2008 rose by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period (May-July 2008) to 3.0%, but dropped by 0.1 percentage point year-on-year. The underemployment rate remained unchanged from the previous period, at 1.6%, but up by 0.5 percentage point year-on-year. Total labour force was 337,000 in June-August 2008; the labour force participation rate stood at 70.9%, up by 0.2 and 0.9 percentage point respectively from the previous period and the corresponding period of 2007. The employed population rose by 2,600 over the previous period to 327,000, with increases in the number of persons working in the Construction sector, Real Estate & Business Activities and Domestic Help, but decreases in the Hotel Industry and Retail Trade. With more fresh graduates and school leavers entering the labour market, the number of the unemployed rose by about 300 over the preceding period to 10,000. Among them, 19.5% (2,000) were searching for their first job, up by 6.6 percentage points over the previous period.
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The Statistics and Census Service released the results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages of the Gaming Industry for the second quarter of 2008. Survey coverage excluded junket promoters and junket associates. At the end of the second quarter of 2008, there were 45,621 paid employees engaged in the Gaming Industry, up by 1.3% year-on-year. Analyzed by occupation that are directly related to betting services, 19,183 were dealers and 11,604 were engaged in positions such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, betting service operators, etc., up by 10.9% and 22.4% respectively year-on-year. Meanwhile, 5,348 were working as casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc., down by 17.5% from a year earlier. In June 2008, average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) for full-time employees in the Gaming Industry rose by 7.4% year-on-year to MOP 15,565. Average earnings for dealers grew by 0.3% over June 2007 to MOP 13,776, while that for employees in positions such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, betting service operators, etc. stood at MOP 18,807, up by 8.9%. The average earnings for services and sales workers, including casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc. reported a year-on-year increase of 14.8% to MOP 9,180. At the end of June 2008, the Gaming Industry reported 764 vacant posts, a decrease of 4,348 or -85.1% from a year earlier. Of these vacancies, 105 were for dealers, 161 for hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, betting service operators, etc., and 196 for services and sales workers. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 58.5% of the vacancies required working experience; 79.6% required senior secondary or higher education. Besides Cantonese, other preferred language skills were Mandarin (83.9%) and English (86.1%).
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The Government would continuously learn and review from different issues to perfect contingency mechanisms so that it would solve problems promptly, the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today. As more contaminated milk products have been found, the health department stepped up examinations, as it launched medical examinations for all children and students who had consumed suspected contaminated milk, Mr. Ho told the media after he attended an opening ceremony. He said the government had also decided to expand the power of the “ Taskforce for Avian Flu”, so that it would handle all food safety issues. Talking on the recent run on two banks, Mr Ho said that everything is back to normal after Monetary Authority explained that the runs were triggered by unfounded rumours. He said Typhoon Hagupit caused widespread damage in Macao, especially some shops which suffered great losses due to unexpected flooding. Mr Ho said the Government would offer financial assistance so that they might resume their businesses as soon as possible. He stressed that the Government would learn from this experience and to perfect contingency mechanisms.
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“Arise, we who refuse to be slaves! With our flesh and blood, let us build our new Great Wall!” Whenever the national anthem “March of the Volunteers” is played, we stand at attention and sing. When the national flag slowly raises, millions of people with the same fervent mind show their patriotism. Since the national flag, national emblem and the national anthem are national symbols, special attention has to be paid when using and displaying them. In the same way, since Macao is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, its regional flag and regional emblem are symbols of the Macao Special Administrative Region symbol and should be seriously treated. Whoever, by any form, publicly offends or disrespects the national symbols or the regional flag and the regional emblem, e.g. by burning, mutilating, scrawling on, defiling, or trampling upon the national flag, national emblem, regional flag and regional emblem, is subject to a penalty of imprisonment or fine for the crimes of desecration of national symbols or desecration of regional flag or regional emblem. The improper use or display of the national flag, national emblem, regional flag or regional emblem, is also subject to a fine. Therefore, residents have to pay attention. For the purpose of helping residents in understanding more about the national and regional symbols, the Legal Affairs Bureau has issued the leaflet “Symbols of our Country and of the MSAR”, with contents introducing the symbols of our country and of the MSAR, rules for raising and lowering the national flag and regional flag, as well as rules for the use and display of the national flag, national emblem, regional flag and regional emblem, etc. Considering that foreigners may need to know more about the laws of Macao in this respect, besides the Chinese version, we also have Portuguese and English versions of the leaflet. These leaflets are available at the Legal Information Stands of Legal Affairs Bureau. Citizens may also visit our website on www.dsaj.gov.mo to download them. The Legal Information Stands are located in various places, namely Health Centres, Conde S. Januario Hospital Centre, Civil Affairs Registry, Real Estate Registry, Businesses and Vehicles Registry, Public Notary Offices, Finance Services Bureau, Identification Bureau, Macao Post, University of Macau, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Centre of Permanent Education, Centre of Educational Activities of Taipa, Macau Electricity Company, etc. Moreover, the Legal Affairs Bureau has produced a DVD entitled “Legal Provisions regarding the National Flag and the Regional Flag” which presents the procedure and stipulations on the raising and lowering of the national flag and the regional flag. Copies of the DVD have been distributed to schools, hotels, associations and some organizations. Citizens who are interested in this DVD (with captions either in Chinese/Portuguese or Chinese/English) may browse or download it from the website of the Legal Affairs Bureau.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) organized an exciting Tray Race and the World Tourism Day banquet to celebrate "World Tourism Day 2008" today (September 27).
Earlier in the day, Director of MGTO, João Manuel Costa Antunes and Deputy Directors Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes and Manuel Pires presented welcome gifts to lucky tourist William Hilder and his wife Katherine from Australia at the Macau Ferry Terminal. Souvenirs were also distributed to visitors at MGTO Information Counters throughout the day. William Hilder told that today is the birthday of his wife. He purposely arranged this trip to Hong Kong and Macau as her birthday gift. They are going to visit the Macau World Heritage and experience the nightlife entertainment of Macau. The traditional Tray Race was held in the afternoon, where waiters and waitresses ran down the stoned-path from the Ruins of St Paul's to Senado Square carrying a tray with a bottle of beer on it. The race attracted a record number of participants this year, totaling 185 waiters and waitresses from 29 hotels and restaurants in Macau. Crowds of visitors and locals cheered for the participants. The winner of the men's division was Tyrone Manlapaz Chan from Venetian Macao and the winner of the women's division was Hu Xiao Qing from Grand Lisboa. The Best Costume Awards went toYu Hong Liang of Holiday Inn and Annabelle Aquino Numata of Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16. In the evening, MGTO held a dinner banquet, attended by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Dr Chui Sai On, to celebrate "World Tourism Day". "The theme of World Tourism Day this year is “Tourism Responding to the Challenge of Climate Change”. Climate Change is a universal challenge and tourism is one of the few sectors that cut across a whole range of economic and social activities. It is furthermore a key economic and job driver in the developing world and therefore we can and must play an active role to tackle the challenge of climate response," said João Manuel Costa Antunes.
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in the third session of its General Assembly in Spain (September 1979), decided to commemorate September 27 as "World Tourism Day" each year. This is the 29th year since the celebrations commenced in 1980. The main purpose of "World Tourism Day" is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values. Each year, World Tourism Organization selects a different theme for "World Tourism Day". This year's theme is “Tourism Responding to the Challenge of Climate Change”. The host country for "World Tourism Day 2008" is Peru and official celebrations were held on September 27. Many other countries and regions also carried out activities to celebrate the day. This press release is available on http://industry.macautourism.gov.mo/en/pressroom/index.php?page_id=172
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Small-and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) affected by the recent typhoon could apply for interest-free loans of up to 300,000 patacas next week, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam Pak Yuen, said today. Mr Tam disclosed this when he met the press after discussing the effect of Typhoon Hagupit to Macao's businesses with representatives of the Macao Union General of Community Association. Mr Tam said that the Government was concerned about the operation of SMEs, which suffered losses when the typhoon struck Macao a few days ago. The board of Industrial and Commercial Development Fund would hold a meeting on Monday and would begin to process loans application on the next day, said Mr Tam. He said that affected businesses only had to provide information of their business registration, losses suffered and usage of loans when applying for loans. Staff of Macao Economic Services will meet with affected business owners and help them apply. Mr Tam also disclosed that Macao Chamber of Commerce had also asked the Government to help SMEs. Mr Tam cut short his trip to Nanning in Guangxi Province to devise measures to help residents and businesses affected by the typhoon.
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Commissioned by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao S.A.R. and conducted by the Institute For Tourism Studies (IFT), a study was completed which aimed at providing reference estimates on the optimal social carrying capacity of Macao’s tourism industry and suggest whether the existing tourism facilities and services are adequate to cope with the rapid growth in visitor arrivals. The survey was divided into 2 parts: The first part consisted of questionnaire interviews, on 44 selected days of 2007 which covered weekdays, weekends and days within the Golden Week periods. Both local residents and visitors were asked to express their perception on crowdedness and satisfaction with environmental quality, local transportation, food & beverage and retail services quality and waiting time, and border clearance performance. A total of 5158 residents and 5120 visitors were sampled. The interview locations included Leal Senado Square, Portas do Cerco, A-Ma Temple, Ruins of St.Paul, Cunha Street, Horta E Costa, Mesquita and New Yaohan. The second part was to collect data and information from government departments and stakeholders in several tourism-related sectors to estimate their full-load capacity. The study covered 8 main services and facilities, namely hotel accommodation, restaurants and dining, buses, taxis, ferries, border clearance, tourist attractions and inbound tour handling. Results from the first part revealed that local residents were generally dissatisfied with the environment and local transportation, and their perception of crowdedness became more intensive with increasing number of visitors. At the same time, visitors had similar perception of crowdedness. Nonetheless, they usually gave a more generous rating than residents to most of the indicators studied. It was found that both residents and visitors became less than satisfied with the crowded surroundings and gave generally lower ratings to the services and facilities when daily average incoming visitors reached a level of 75,537. With increasing number of daily average visitors, residents became more sensitive to crowdedness and issues with local transportation, while visitors became more sensitive to crowdedness, border clearance and environment quality. By using the technique of linear regression, it was estimated that the optimal social carrying capacity of Macao ranged from 69,000 to 79,000 daily visitors. By classifying the visitors according to their place of origin, it was found that visitors from the mainland generally had better evaluations of all services and facilities except border clearance, compared with those from Hong Kong, Taiwan Province and other places. Also, group travellers had better impression about crowdedness and local transportation than the Free Individual Travellers (FITs). Information gathered for the second part revealed that among the 8 facilities studied, namely hotel accommodation, restaurants and dining, buses, taxis, ferries, border clearance, tourist attractions and inbound tour handling, 6 of them could not meet the optimal social carrying capacity. Only restaurants and dining, and border clearance (when all 7 entry points were taken into consideration) stayed above the range. This may serve as a signal that certain sectors may need to enlarge their operation scale to meet the optimal level. However, they may face various challenges including geographical, capital and manpower limitations. As a conclusion, it was found that residents and visitors were sensitive to crowdedness and quality of tourism services and facilities as visitor arrival increased. Government departments and stakeholders may wish to focus on these issues. In view of Macao’s current limitations, one important way of sustaining tourism development is to provide better service to visitors, rather than continuously looking for new markets. Attention should also be given to better management of industry operations and facilities, manpower training, and professional transportation and town planning. For any comments and queries about this survey, please kindly contact the Institute For Tourism Studies.
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The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Chui Sai On, vowed today that the Government would spare no efforts in providing medical examination and treatment for students who might have consumed contaminated milk. This followed an earlier Government decision to suspend a milk programme for some kindergarten and primary students, and sent medical teams to these institutions to offer free medical checks for these students. The students would be given a detailed checkup if needed, and the Government would provide them the necessary treatment should any kidney stones be detected, Mr Chui said after attending a conference this morning. The milk programme was initiated by the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau several years ago to provide milk to some kindergarten and primary students every school day. So far one student was found to have kidney stones after consuming milk made from powder suspected to be contaminated with melamine. The Government had started an urgent communication mechanism with health authorities on the Mainland and in Hong Kong after the detection of melamine in some Mainland dairy products.
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