News

From the first quarter of 2008, the Statistics and Census Service will release information on the Private Sector Construction and Real Estate Transaction in one publication, to facilitate data users in getting both statistics simultaneously. In addition, with the objective to enhance the accuracy of the transaction prices of building units, the survey coverage has been extended to include the building units purchased and sold under Intermediate Transfer of Title (payment of 0.5% of stamp duty) and those that have been scheduled for re-evaluation; meanwhile, respective data for 2007 has been re-calculated accordingly. In the first quarter of 2008, the construction of 12 new buildings, with a gross floor area totalling 104,435 m², has been started. Upon completion, these buildings will provide 282 units, 467 and 346 parking space respectively for cars and for motorcycles. Meanwhile, a total of 5 buildings and the gross floor area of 89,186 m² have been completed, altogether providing 26 units, 264 parking space for cars and 64 parking space for motorcycles. There were 3,189 cases of real estate sale and purchase contracts made in the first quarter of 2008, comprising 4,364 units that amounted to MOP4.24 billion, down by 3.4% and 37.6% respectively over the preceding quarter. Moreover, the total value of mortgage loans amounted to MOP23.87 billion, which soared notably by 1.6 times compared with the preceding quarter. In the first quarter of 2008, a total of 6,518 building units, amounting to MOP12.72 billion, were purchased and sold with stamp duty paid to the Finance Service Bureau, down by 7.3% and 4.2% respectively over the preceding quarter. Besides, 2,323 units (MOP8.4 billion) were purchased and sold under Intermediate Transfer of Title. The majority (4,563 units valued at MOP10.99 billion) of these transactions were residential units that accounted for 70.0% of the total number of building units. Among these residential units, 3,167 units were situated at the Macao Peninsula, 1,380 at Taipa Island and 16 at Coloane Island. Analyzed by the transaction price, 797 residential units (17.5% of the total) were purchased and sold for more than MOP4,000,000; 1,149 units (25.2%) were in the range of MOP2,000,000 to MOP4,000,000; 715 units (15.7%) were in the range of MOP1,000,000 to MOP2,000,000; and 1,902 units (41.7%) were under MOP1,000,000. In the first quarter of 2008, the average transaction price of the overall residential unit amounted to MOP24,583 per square meter of usable area, up slightly by 0.1% over the previous quarter. The average transaction price of residential unit in the Macao Peninsula rose by 6.0% to MOP20,532 per square meter, but the average price of that in Taipa Island went down by 6.8% to MOP33,058 per square meter. Meanwhile, the average transaction price of the industrial units and office amounted to MOP5,715 and MOP21,665 per square meter of usable area, down by 14.7% and 8.2% over the fourth quarter of 2007.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that per-capita spending of visitors for the first quarter of 2008 increased by 5% year-on-year to MOP 1,730. Per-capita spending of Mainland visitors took the lead, at MOP 3,430 and that of Hong Kong visitors was MOP 1,127. Compared with the first quarter of 2007, per-capita spending of tourists went up by 6% to MOP 2,365, but per-capita spending of same-day visitors was MOP 576, a decrease of 9%. Per-capita non-shopping spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors rose by 11% year-on-year to MOP 994, of which the expenses on accommodation and food & beverage accounted for 45% and 37% respectively. However, per-capita shopping spending decreased by 3% to MOP 737, with the expenses on local food products and clothing sharing 29% and 23% respectively. Per-diem spending of visitors was MOP 1,484, a decrease of 2% over the first quarter of 2007. Mainland visitors had the highest per-diem spending, at MOP 2,423. In the first quarter of 2008, the average length of stay of visitors extended by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 days. The average for tourists increased by 0.1 day to 1.7 days, while that for the same-day visitors was same as the first quarter of 2007, at 0.2 day.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, today expressed deep sympathy for victims of the powerful earthquake that hit Wenchuan in Sichuan Province. Mr Ho expressed his feelings as the Macao SAR Government announced that it would donate 100 million RMB to the Central Government co-ordination centre, which is responsible for rescue. The Macao Foundation would donate 10 million RMB. After yesterday’s earthquake, the Macao SAR Government had contacted the authorities there for a better understanding of the extent of the disaster. The Government also called on the Macao community to act and help the victims. The Public Security Police and Macau Government Tourist Office have set up two round-the-clock emergency hotlines for Macao residents who might need assistance relating to the disaster. The numbers are 28573333 and 28333000. So far no calls for help are received.
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In relation to the article released by the Portuguese newspaper “O Clarim” on 9th May titled: “UNESCO refuses to promote Macau Heritage”, Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) denies any refusal of UNESCO in Paris to promote Macau heritage. In 2007 MGTO acknowledged a proposal from her France Office to launch an exhibition around the theme of Macau heritage in cooperation with artist Mr. Charles Chauderlot with UNESCO headquarter as a venue proposed by the artist. However, considering a relatively lengthy procedure to get the permission for any exhibition at UNESCO headquarter, MGTO Head Office instructed the France Office to look for another venue for this exhibition, which is the current status of the project. Neither MGTO nor the artist Charles Chauderlot admit any mention of refusal of UNESCO in Paris to promote Macau heritage and there is no reference at all by UNESCO about any change of status of Macau Heritage Sites.
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Commissioned by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao S.A.R. and coordinated by the Institute For Tourism Studies (IFT), a policy research on tourism development and carrying capacity of Macao was compiled in November 2007. In this research, the Tourism Research Centre of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) was invited by IFT to join the research team. In June 2007, team members from IFT and CASS jointly conducted a series of interviews with different local government departments and tourism stakeholders and had on-site observations at various tourist attractions. Based on primary and secondary data, CASS compiled the final report to provide suggestions for the strategic development of Macao’s tourism industry. The report pointed out that Macao’s tourism industry currently enjoys a number of opportunities and strengths because of her unique background. Firstly, Macao not only enjoys a strategic location in the East Asian area where the highest potential economic growth can be found, but also profits from solid support from the Central Government as an independent policy-making authority (special administrative region). Secondly, Macao not only understands how to capitalise on its tourism and gaming industry to attract more tourists, but is also aware of the risk of over-concentration in these main sectors. Therefore, using Las Vegas as a reference, Macao is exploring other diversified tourism products such as exhibition, entertainment, cuisine and leisure to make tourism development sustainable. Also, with these developments and benefits of new policies such as CEPA, Macao can now attract more tourists from China and other parts of the world. However, when focusing on and enjoying the strengths and opportunities, Macao should still monitor the potential threats and weaknesses in its tourism development. For the gaming industry, its business risk and negative effects on the local community cannot be ignored. Macao also needs to face competition from other regions in Asia Pacific. Locally, limitation in land area and human resources stands in the way of tourism industry development. Finally, one should not overlook the changing relationship between China and Taiwan, as any change will trigger off various impacts on Macao’s economic and tourism development. To tackle the mentioned issues and capitalise on the strengths, the report raised different suggestions. From a strategic standpoint, Macao is suggested to diversify its current set of tourism-related industries and look actively for business opportunities by cooperating with neighbouring tourism destinations (e.g. in Pan Pearl River Delta) and attract human and capital resources globally. Also, Macao’s tourism industry would benefit from more environmental and heritage protection. From a policy angle, Macao needs to have urban planning in place in order to improve urban infrastructure management and property development. Also, Macao could consider establishing a central promoting force (e.g. including departments in the area of economics, culture and tourism) equipped with the necessary human and financial resources to effectively promote Macao abroad to attract more tourists, investment and cooperation opportunities. The promotion could centre on but not limited to Macao’s unique gaming and ex-Portuguese colonial culture. Based on the fact that Macao has limited human resources, the report suggests that the Government put more effort in education and training to raise workforce quality. Besides that, Macao is suggested to consider establishing a “clean” image, which refers to Macao being an environmentally clean and socially peaceful city. Finally, the Government is advised to place emphasis on tourism-related researches, by inviting foreign experts to team up with local tourism stakeholders and scholars. This will create good conditions for the long-term sustainable development of Macao’s tourism industry. For any comments and queries about this survey, please kindly contact the Institute For Tourism Studies.
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The Government is to submit proposed revisions to three electoral legislations to the Legislative Assembly for discussion, following public consultation that resulted in the proposed modifications. In a press conference today, the spokesperson of the Executive Council, Mr Tong Chi Kin, said the Council had finished discussing the revisions of the Chief Executive Election Law, the Electoral Law for the Legislative Assembly and the Voter Registration Law, which included further changes, following a one-month public consultation in February and March. The Government received 7,468 responses in the consultation period, with 86.5% (6,458) of them agreeing with the changes proposed by the Government. Mr Tong said this showed that most people supported the Government’s objectives in facilitating elections and in prudently promoting democratic development by revising the three laws. The revised drafts are in line with the spirit of Annex I and II of the Basic Law, he said. The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Florinda Chan, explained the changes made after the public consultation. The changes would mean if any candidate is convicted for corrupt conduct in elections, the votes obtained are deemed invalid. And any seats won by the candidate on the same list are also invalid, with re-election to be held for these seats. The Government also suggested making more severe punishment for corrupt conduct, notably those involved in corruption or bribery. Some offences could carry a maximum jail term of eight years. Given the term of office of the Chief Executive and members of the Legislative Assembly, the time limitation of prosecution will be extended from one year to four and five years. Ms Chan said the Government had all along been studying the issue of constitutional development in Macao, and would continue to listen to opinion from different sectors.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that Macao registered 420,786 visitor arrivals in package tours in March 2008, up by 16.6% from a year earlier. Visitors from Mainland China (305,008) recorded a year-on-year growth of 22.2%, while those from Hong Kong (23,837) and Taiwan, China (19,111) dropped by 26.0% and 39.0% respectively. In the first quarter of 2008, visitors arrived in package tours grew by 13.5% over the same quarter of 2007 to 1,197,559. In light of the Easter holidays, the number of Macao residents travelling in package tours in March 2008 surged by 64.5% year-on-year to 20,672. Mainland China, Thailand and Japan were the three most popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 77.9%, 5.9% and 5.0% of the total respectively. In the first quarter of 2008, Macao residents travelling in package tours rose by 20.8% over the same quarter of 2007 to 53,275. Meanwhile, 28,888 residents travelled under individual arrangements using services provided by travel agencies, up by 4.2% over March 2007. Hong Kong (41.7%), Mainland China (26.3%) and Taiwan, China (11.3%) were the major destinations. In the first quarter of 2008, Macao residents travelled under such arrangements rose by 17.4% compared with the same quarter of 2007 to 91,636. At the end of March 2008, the total number of guest rooms available in the hotel sector increased by 3,146 (+24.1%) from a year earlier to 16,195 rooms. In March 2008, a total of 563,029 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments, representing a year-on-year growth of 18.0%; the majority of the guests came from Mainland China (47.3%) and Hong Kong (25.3%). The average hotel occupancy rate dropped slightly by 0.4 percentage point to 75.7%, with 4-star hotels leading at 80.1%; in addition, the average length of stay of hotel guests extended by 0.1 night to 1.3 nights. Total number of hotel guests reached 1,608,952 in the first quarter of 2008, up by 20.6% over the same quarter of 2007. In the first quarter of 2008, visitor-guests staying in hotels accounted for 42.8% of the total number of tourists, up from 41.7% in the same quarter of 2007.
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The number of crimes recorded in the first quarter of this year saw a slight increase of 8.6% compared with the same quarter last year, with serious assaults down by 55.6% while robbery and theft up by 34%. Releasing the crime statistics for the first quarter of 2008 at a press conference today, the Secretary for Security, Mr Cheong Kuok Va, said police would continue to fight crime with effective measures. The total number of crimes recorded in the first quarter stood at 3,345, an increase of 8.6%. However, the number of serious assaults, intimidation, blackmail, forgery and transferring counterfeit money cases plummeted between 23.6% and 55.6%. The number of violent crimes went up by 13.6%, with arson up 157.1%. Cases of snatching and theft increased by 34.3% and 34.2%, drug trafficking by 55.6% and drug abuse by 31.1%. Juvenile crimes remained about the same, with an increase of one case, to 40, with 90 young people having been involved in crimes. In the same period the police have arrested 982 people and transferred them to the Public Prosecutions Office. They also caught 19,199 illegal immigrants and overstayers in the same period.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that in the first quarter of 2008, 732 new companies were incorporated, down by 8.2% year-on-year, while the total registered capital surged by 117.6% to MOP169 million. The majority of these new companies were operating in Wholesale and Retail (212), Business Services (147) and Construction (131), accounting for 29.0%, 20.1% and 17.9% respectively of the total. The registered capital of the new incorporations in Wholesale and Retail took up 38.9% of the total, at MOP66 million. Meanwhile, number of dissolution of companies totalled 105, involving MOP422 million in registered capital. Most of the dissolved companies (30) were operating in Wholesale and Retail, representing 28.6% of the total. The registered capital of the companies in dissolution in Recreational, cultural and other activities accounted for 83.1% of the total, at MOP350 million. In the first quarter of 2008, 530 were incorporated with the registered capital of MOP50,000 or less (72.4% of the total), whereas the respective capital (MOP15 million) made up merely 9.1% of the total registered capital. Meanwhile, there were 12 new companies incorporated with the registered capital of MOP1,000,000 or more and the total registered capital amounted to MOP120 million (70.7% of the total). In addition, 87.7% of the new incorporations were limited companies. The majority of the capital of the new companies came from Macao (MOP97 million), Hong Kong (MOP60 million) and Mainland China (MOP7 million). Moreover, Guangdong Province (MOP4 million) topped the list of the capital coming from the Pan-Pearl River Delta provinces. Analysed by the place of residence of the shareholders, 418 new companies incorporated in the first quarter of 2008 were established solely by Macao shareholders and 109 were solely by shareholders from Hong Kong. There were 44 new companies incorporated jointly by shareholders from Macao and Mainland China, and 33 were joint ventures between Macao and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, there were 33 new companies incorporated jointly by shareholders from countries/regions other than Macao.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) is exhibiting at the Arabian Travel Market 2008 (ATM) in Dubai to extend open arms to visitors from the Middle East. MGTO has been exploring opportunities to expand the tourism market from the Middle East, a market with huge potential. Last year, MGTO showed its first appearance at ATM and was very well received. This year, Head of Research and Planning Department Cheng Wai Tong together with tourism industry representatives from hotels, ferry company, convention and exhibition centre as well as travel agencies from Macau will be participating at the 4-day event to promote Macau. The city is represented with a stand decorated with the colors and promotional theme for this year, “Experience Macau”, to highlight Macau’s multi-faceted tourism products. In 2007, Macau received over 7,500 visitors from the Middle East, which is double the number in the year 2006 of 3,700 visitors. This has proven Macau as a favourable tourism destination for visitors from the Middle East. Arabian Travel Market, the industry's leading travel and tourism exhibition is expected to attract over 23,449 industry stakeholders from over 100 countries/regions.
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