News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the total number of visitor and non-resident arrivals was 2,030,708 in June 2009. Continuously affected by the adverse impact of the human swine influenza pandemic, visitor arrivals for June 2009 decreased by 15.9% year-on-year to 1,458,105. Analysed by place of residence, visitors from Mainland China were 680,894 (46.7% of total visitor arrivals), a year-on-year decrease of 21.7%, with 232,161 travelling to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme, down drastically by 51.0% from June 2008 (473,734). Visitors from Hong Kong (492,000); Taiwan, China (89,374); Malaysia (24,937) and Singapore (24,323) also decreased by 4.2%, 19.9%, 29.4% and 2.7% respectively. Same-day visitors (779,004) accounted for 53.4% of the total visitor arrivals, with 392,698 coming from Mainland China. The cumulative visitor arrivals totalled 10,370,979 in the first half year of 2009, down by 11.4% year-on-year. Visitors from Mainland China (5,127,933); Hong Kong (3,326,335), Taiwan, China (617,545) and Malaysia (161,079) decreased by 17.3%, 0.3%, 8.1% and 30.1% respectively, while those from Japan (169,127) registered slight increase of 1.4%. Cumulative number of same-day visitors accounted for 53.7% of the total visitor arrivals, at 5,570,981. Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by sea totalled 4,185,160 in the first semester of 2009, down by 5.0% year-on-year. Visitors arriving at the Outer Harbour decreased by 26.8% to 2,874,213, but those arriving at the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa surged by 332.0% to 1,169,283. Visitor arrivals by land dropped by 16.0% year-on-year to 5,429,028 in the first six months of 2009; those arriving through the Border Gate totalled 5,046,318 and the majority were visitors from Mainland China (76.1%) and Hong Kong (15.5%). Visitor arrivals by air went down by 9.2% year-on-year to 756,791 in the first half year of 2009. Visitors arriving at the Macao International Airport decreased by 9.1% to 742,676, with the majority coming from Taiwan, China (38.4%) and Mainland China (23.6%).
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Macau Government Tourist Office supports Macau Pass S.A. to launch a special edition of MACAUpass bus cards featuring Macau’s world heritage sites. The first batch of MACAUpass bus cards comes in the design of Guia Fortress and will be available for sale at the Macau Pass Customer Service Center and convenience stores within the tourism district from July 25. “The launch of bus cards featuring world heritage sites by MACAUpass helps to boost the promotion of world heritage in Macau. Being a wonderful souvenir for visitors and commemorative collection for Macau citizens, the bus card serves as a strong tool in tourism promotion and social education”, expressed Director of MGTO João Manuel Costa Antunes. As a gesture of support, MGTO will purchase a number of the world heritage edition of MACAUpass bus cards for promotional purpose. MACAUpass will launch more versions of the bus card featuring world heritage sites, packaged in limited sets of five cards, and an ordinary edition of a single card for visitors and Macau citizens, available at the Macau Pass Customer Service Center and convenience stores within the tourism district near world heritage sites. For details of MACAUpass, please visit http://www.macaupass.com.mo/
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To resolve the Lehman Brothers Mini-bond Series incident at an earlier date in the best interests of all parties concerned, this Authority has been, together with our Macao distributors, endeavouring in all respects culminating in settlements between some affected investors and distributors. The 16 Hong Kong distributor banks have now unanimously agreed to repurchase these investment instruments from eligible investors. The repurchase proceeds will be equivalent to 60% or 70%, as the case may be, of originally invested capital. In the event that the realized value of the collaterals involved differs from the proceeds arising from aforementioned calculations, investors will be entitled to additional sums according to proposal. The 4 Macao distributor banks of the Lehman Brothers Mini-bond Series have agreed to follow suit. Investors who have come to terms with the banks shall be entitled to the difference between the amounts they have received and the amounts stipulated in the proposal. The banks involved will liaise with clients shortly with a view to arranging the repurchase. This Authority welcomes the proposal and the proactive action of our Macao distributor banks and deems that it has fully taken into consideration the interests of both the banks and investors involved and looks forward to a smooth implementation of the proposal.
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Macao today reported three new Influenza A (H1N1) cases, bringing the total number of such cases to 139. One of the infected patients was a doctor who worked for the emergency room division of Hospital Conde S. Januário. Before developing flu symptoms, the doctor had meals with a friend who had flu symptoms. It was uncertain whether the doctor had contracted the virus at work or by other source, the Health Bureau announced. Due to the extensive contact with a great number of patients every day, medical staff might still contract the virus even the most stringent protective measures were adopted, the Bureau said. The two other cases were classified as imported cases. To date Macao had reported 139 Influenza A (H1N1) cases, with 25 patients receiving treatment. Six patients had recovered and were discharged from hospital today, taking the total number of discharged patients to 100. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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Macao today reported six imported and three local Influenza A (H1N1) cases, bringing the total number of such cases to 136. The nine new cases were four male and five females aged between 6 and 33. Among the three local cases, two were Judiciary Police officers. To date the total number of infected officers was 13. The third local case was the son of one of the infected officers. To date Macao had reported 136 Influenza A (H1N1) cases, with 31 patients receiving treatment. Four patients had recovered and were discharged from hospital today, taking the total number of discharged patients to 94. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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Three more Judiciary Police officers were infected with the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, taking the total number of infected police officers to 11. They were among six new cases reported today, taking the total number of such cases to 127. The new cases – three male and three female – were aged between eight and 42. Twenty-eight patients were receiving treatment and all of them were in fair and stable condition. Four patients had recovered and were discharged from hospital today, taking the total number of discharged patients to 90. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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Macao today reported 14 new Influenza A (H1N1) cases, eight of them Judiciary Police officers. The officers developed flu symptoms between Thursday and Friday. They carried out an operation on Thursday morning but it was preliminarily ruled out as the cause of infection, the health authorities announced. Out of the 14 new cases, 12 of them were male and two were female. They were aged between five and 44. To date Macao had reported 121 Influenza A (H1N1) cases, with 30 patients receiving treatment. Two patients had recovered and were discharged from hospital today, taking the total number of discharged patients to 86. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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Macao today reported four imported and one local Influenza A (H1N1) cases, bringing the total number of such cases to 107. The five cases were two male and three females aged between 6 and 25. To date Macao had reported 107 Influenza A (H1N1) cases, with 20 patients receiving treatment. Four patients had recovered and were discharged from hospital today, taking the total number of discharged patients to 84. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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Macao reported eight more cases of Influenza A (H1N1) cases today, four local and four imported, taking the total number to 102. Five more people had recovered and were discharged from hospital today, bringing the total number of patients discharged to 80. Twenty people were receiving treating at home and hospital. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate. For inquiry, please contact the Influenza Response and Coordination Centre: Tel: 28700800 (round-the-clock), fax: 28700863.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI for June 2009 rose by 1.10% year-on-year to 126.10, of which the price indices of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco; Clothing & Footwear; and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages went up by 13.88%, 9.07% and 5.10% respectively. The price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco recorded a significant year-on-year growth due to a 19.39% upsurge in the prices of cigarettes. As regards Clothing & Footwear, price indices of footwear (+11.32%) and women’s clothing (+8.02%) registered marked rise while notable increase was observed in the price indices of fresh seafood (+31.49%), fresh fish (+25.06%) and fruit (+12.72%) in the subgroups of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages. On the contrary, price index of Transport registered a year-on-year decrease of 10.06% on account of falling prices of gasoline. The CPI-A and CPI-B for June 2009 were 127.88 and 125.60 respectively, up by 1.05% and 1.16% year-on-year. The average Composite CPI for the first half year of 2009 went up by 2.54% over the same period of 2008. For the 12 months ended June 2009, the average Composite CPI rose by 5.31% over the preceding period. The Composite CPI for June 2009 increased by 0.39% month-to-month, with the price indices of Transport; Clothing & Footwear; and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages rising by 2.57%, 0.60% and 0.57% respectively, attributable to a pick-up in the selling prices of gasoline, higher prices of women’s clothing, soaring prices of fish & seafood during the fishing moratorium, as well as rising prices of vegetables. However, decreasing rentals for housing drove down the price index of Housing & Fuels by 0.12%. The CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 0.35% and 0.40% respectively month-to-month. The Composite CPI for the second quarter of 2009 increased by 1.79% over the same quarter of 2008, with marked increase in the price indices of Clothing & Footwear (+10.75%), Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+9.76%) and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+6.11%). The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP3,000 to MOP9,999. The CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 to MOP19,999.
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