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The Mayor of Shenzhen, Mr Xu Zhongheng, and an official delegation is scheduled to arrive in Macao tomorrow for a three-day visit, at the invitation of the Chief Executive, Mr Ho Hau Wah. Mr Ho will meet Mr Xu after his arrival in the morning: a meeting between Macao and Shenzhen officials will be held soon afterwards. At the meeting, the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute and the Macao Government Tourist Office are scheduled to sign an agreement and a Memorandum of Co-operation with the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Trade and Industry and the Shenzhen Municipal Tourism Bureau respectively. Mr Ho and Mr Xu will be present at the signing ceremony of two protocols that would outline ways of co-operation in tourism and commerce between the two cities. On Tuesday, the Secretariat of China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries Economic Cooperation Forum and the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Trade and Industry are scheduled to sign an agreement to promote relations and co-operation between Shenzhen and the Portuguese-Speaking Countries. Meeting with Macao entrepreneurs and visit to tourism facilities have also been scheduled for the visitors. The vice mayors of Shenzhen, Mr Zhuo Qinrui and Mr. Chen Yingchun, will accompany Mr Xu on the visit.
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The 53rd Macau Grand Prix will be held from November 16th to 19th 2006, and preparations by the Macau Grand Prix Committee for ticketing, promotions, and logistical works are already well under way. Tickets are now on sale priced from MOP50.00 for a seat at the notorious Lisboa Bend during practice, to MOP750.00 for a two-day Grand Stand race package. Tickets can be purchased from the Macau Grand Prix Committee at macaugp@cgpm.gov.mo (full details and prices at www.macau.grandprix.gov.mo). The Committee has already received an unprecedented number of sponsorship enquiries this year. Title sponsorship of the races will be confirmed shortly, as well as reservations for all hospitality areas. In 2005, the Grand Prix added another string to its already-impressive bow, with the inclusion of the final two rounds of the inaugural FIA World Touring Car Championship in the line up which also included the prestigious FIA Intercontinental Cup, the unofficial world cup of the category, and the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix. In March this year the Macau Grand Prix was included in UK-based leading motorsport magazine Autosport’s list of “Twenty of the top motorsport events you really shouldn’t miss in 2006”, describing the event as “legendary”. With two official FIA events, plus a motorcycle Grand Prix on the same programme, the 52nd Macau Grand Prix exceeded all expectations, and organisers are working hard to once again stage the three headline show-stoppers plus a wide variety of high-quality support races. Mr. João Manuel Costa Antunes, Co-Ordinator of the Macau Grand Prix Committee emphasised that the success of the event depends on the efforts of the Committee in proactively working with every sector of Macau society to ensure each year is an improvement on the last. Mr. Antunes added that because international motorsport is a global sport which is developing quickly, every effort is made to ensure that the Macau Grand Prix keeps pace with this development, and that Macau continues to be promoted as a vibrant tourist destination across the globe through the sport. This year Macau will celebrate the 40th running of its Motorcycle Grand Prix, and a programme of exciting activities is planned. Marshal training is crucial on a street circuit such as Macau’s Guia, and a comprehensive programme which includes theory and practical instruction plus written tests, will be held from April to June by the China-Macau Autosports Club (ACMC) and the Macau Grand Prix Committee. The training is for Observers, Flag, Track, Pit, Paddock and Paddle Marshals, and Track Clearers. The Macau Grand Prix has earned a well-deserved reputation for being the ultimate testing ground for drivers, particularly those on their way to the pinnacle of international motorsport - Formula One. Motor racing “royalty” who have raced on the Guia Circuit include 18 of the 22 current Formula 1 drivers, plus 10 of the 16 F1 test drivers waiting in the wings. With its history of more than half a Century, Macau is now playing host to the next generation of famous names and the grid has recently seen the likes of exciting F1 debutante Nico Rosberg, Nelson Piquet Junior, and Christian Jones, all of whom competed in the 50th Macau Grand Prix, following in the footsteps of their famous fathers before them. Bruno Senna, nephew of the late, great Ayrton winner of the first ever Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix in 1983, competed in the same event last year. The FIA World Touring Car Championship embarked upon its second season last weekend, and 20 rounds are on the calendar for 2006, with Macau again hosting the grand finale as part of the Grand Prix weekend. Over the four-day 53rd Macau Grand Prix, practice and qualifying sessions will take place on November 16th and 17th (Thursday and Friday), with the races on November 18th and 19th (Saturday and Sunday).
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicates that, in February 2006, Macao’s total value of exports amounted to MOP969 million, up 21.7% over the same month of 2005. Among this, the value of domestic exports increased 16.4% to MOP619 million and the value of re-exports rose 32.5% to MOP350 million. Value of imports amounted to MOP2.10 billion, up 42.9% over the same period of 2005. A trade deficit of MOP1.13 billion was recorded this month. During the period of January – February 2006, the value of total exports increased 33.3% year-on-year to MOP3.03 billion. In addition, both the values of domestic exports and re-exports increased 41.4% and 12.5% respectively. Moreover, the value of imports amounted to MOP4.74 billion, up 27.6% over the same period of 2005. In the first two months of 2006, Macao’s trade balance registered a deficit of MOP1.70 billion. During this period, the exports/imports ratio increased from 61.3% in the corresponding period of 2005 to 64.0%. In the first two months of 2006, the value of Textile & garment exports, which accounted for 77.1% of the total exports, increased 39.2% over the same period of 2005. In addition, the value of Non-textile exports also rose 16.8%. As the major components of non-textile exports, Machines & apparatus, parts & accessories thereof expanded 12.8%, whereas Footwear fell 44.4% year-on-year. The USA and the EU remained as Macao’s major export markets, together making up 69.7% of the total value of exports. Among this, exports to the USA, which made up 51.4% of the total value of exports, increased 47.3% over the same period of 2005; exports to the EU, which made up 18.3% of the total value of exports, also increased 58.4% over the same period of 2005. During the period of January – February 2006, Macao’s total value of imports increased 27.6% year-on-year, mainly due to the increase in the value of imports by broad economic categories, namely Fuels & lubricants (63.6%), Capital goods (29.3%), Consumer goods (23.9%) and Raw materials & semi-manufactures (21.0%). Meanwhile, Macao’s main suppliers of imported goods still concentrated in the Asian region. Imports from Mainland China and Hong Kong together constituted 51.7% of the total value of imports. Compared with the same period of 2005, the value of imports from Mainland China and Hong Kong rose 42.2% and 24.7% respectively.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today the Basic Law is the foundation of Macao's development, and harmony is the condition for the SAR to achieve long term stability. Mr Ho urged the people of Macao to fully understand the spirit of the Basic Law and to gradually strenthen social harmony. He said the Mainland was facing the issue of building a harmonious society, which is the essential condition for sustainable development in any society. Under the circumstances, there was a lot to be explored on the course of Macao's development. Thus all the conflicts which emerged during the process of development should be properly dealt with, and all factors of discord should be eliminated. He said studies and analysis were neccessary when anticipating general, strategic issues, in order to ensure social harmony and to facilitate the successful implementation of the ''One Country Two Systems'' principle.
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The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) releases the summarized information on the expenditure-based GDP for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2005 (Growth rates mentioned in the text below refer to the year-on-year growth rates unless otherwise specified) as follows: Expenditure-based GDP for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2005 In 2005, the world economy performed fairly well in general, whereas development became less balanced among different countries. Macao’s exports of goods in 2005 were adversely affected by the cancellation of the global textile and garment quota system, however, exports of services continued to be bolstered by the strong growth of the tourists from Mainland China. Moreover, the prosperity in the gaming and tourism sector brought about large amount of investment, which soared on the back of the construction in gaming and tourism facilities and became one of the impetus for economic growth. Macao’s economy settled to a sustainable and solid growth in 2005, after a rapid expansion in 2004, the real growth rate of GDP resumed to a normal pace at 6.7% in 2005, the annual GDP amounted to MOP 92.59 billion. Per-capita GDP was MOP 194,458. In the fourth quarter of 2005, a real growth of 8.9% was registered, while the growth rates for the first, second and third quarters were revised to 7.8%, 7.6% and 2.5%. In addition, the growth rate of 2004 was also revised to 28.3%. The factors that contributed to Macao’s economic growth in 2005 were as follows: -- The robust performance in gaming and tourism sector spurred significant growth in private and public investments. As a consequence, total investment went up 56.9% in real terms over 2004; -- the annual gross gaming receipts (excluding gratuities) rose 8.3% compared with 2004; -- the annual number of visitor arrivals totalled 18,711,187, a rise of 12.2% over 2004, offsetting the effect from the decrease in per-capita spending of visitors; thus total visitor spending (excluding gaming services) could maintain the level of 2004; -- the improvement in residents’ employment condition and the rise in income brought about a real growth of 7.5% in private consumption expenditure over 2004; On the other hand, the cancellation of the global textile and garment quota system and a weak economy in the Euro Zone resulted in a 11.5% fall in real terms in Macao’s exports of goods over 2004, hindering the economic performance of Macao in 2005. GDP registered real growth of 8.9% in the fourth quarter of 2005, on the back of rapid growth in investment and rebound of exports of goods. In addition, gaming and tourism sector maintained stable growth. Evolution in the structure of Macao’s economy between 2001 and 2005 Since the liberalization of the gaming industry by the Government of Macao in 2002, the economy had been expanding rapidly in the past few years. Consequently, the economic structure changed markedly, mainly represented by the significant changes in the shares of gross capital formation and private consumption expenditure. The share of gross capital formation rose from 10.6% in 2001 to 21.9% in 2005 on the back of large amount of investment. While GDP grew strongly in recent years with an average real growth rate of 12.1% between 2000 and 2005, the average real growth rate of investment and exports of services reached 27.5% and 18.7% respectively, but that of private consumption expenditure was 5.2%. As a consequence, the share of private consumption expenditure dropped from 38.9% in 2001 to 28.6% in 2005. Besides, the share of government final consumption expenditure reduced from 12.4% in 2001 to 8.6% in 2005. In terms of net exports of goods and services, an increase in net exports of services contributed by the prospering gaming and tourism sector was offset by the expanding trade deficit in goods recorded in 2005. Therefore, the share of net exports of goods and services rose slightly, only from 38.1% in 2001 to 40.9% in 2005.
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To cope with the rapid growth of Macao’s aviation, the Civil Aviation Authority (AACM) has been recruiting more staff to prepare for the large amount of administrative and inspection work in the future which is expected to arise from the liberalization of the market. In order to provide adequate working space for staff, with the coordination of the Office for the Development of Infrastructures (Gabinete para o Desenvolvimento de Infra-estruturas), AACM started the preparation work for a new office since last year. Inaugurated by the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Eng. Ao Mn Long, the ceremony for the commissioning of the new office was held on 31 March 2006, along with the President’s inauguration. The new office is located on the 18th floor of Centro Comercial Cheng Feng on Alameda Dr. Carlos Assumpção, 336-342. In addition to providing a more spacious area, an independent zone is specially assigned to handle licensing as AACM expects more and more aviation license holders to come up after the new airlines have commenced operation. Besides the commissioning ceremony, Secretary Ao Man Long also appointed Mr. Chan Weng Hong to be President of AACM on the same day. Mr. Chan started his career in AACM since 1994 as senior technician (técnico superior) in the Department of Airport Infrastructure and Air Navigation and was then promoted to Assistant to Director in the same department in 1998. He was promoted to Vice President one year afterwards, where he remained until his promotion to President of AACM on 31 March 2006. Mr. Chan possesses rich knowledge in aviation. He graduated from the Mississippi State University, Mississippi, U.S.A with the Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and completed his Master of Science and Technology in Aviation in the University of New South Wales in Australia. He holds the private pilot license (Aeroplanes) and the air traffic controller license (Macau Tower) and has acquired professional training in air transport, air law, flight instrument procedures and so on. Mr. Chan stated that aviation is a highly technical and professional world business which must meet international standards and gain international recognition. AACM will continue to guarantee the safe and efficient development of aviation in Macao and conform to their four values: integrity, responsibility, professionalism and team work. Facing the liberalization of the aviation market, AACM expects that the new airlines will come into operation commencing the second half of 2006. By that time, AACM will focus on tasks relating to application for new air operator certificate, application for new routes, registry for new aircraft type and so on. If necessary, AACM may seek the assistance of the International Civil Aviation Organization in the certification work. In terms of aviation policies, the SAR government will continue to adopt very liberal policies to provide better operational environment for the local operators and attract more mainland and foreign airlines to operate to Macao so as to increase the use of the Macau International Airport and boost its status as a regional hub. To achieve this, AACM will continue to negotiate new bilateral air services agreements with countries around the world. In the first quarter of this year, the Authority has already initialed two air services agreements respectively with Greece and Slovakia. With regard to the issue of Macao’s airlines flying through mainland cities to beyond points or mainland airlines flying though Macao to beyond points, the issue of which is of much concern to the industry, AACM has held discussions, in an open manner, with the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) since 2003. Due to the fact that a lot of technical and legal issues are involved, the discussion for a resolution takes time. Despite this, the SAR government has already invited high ranking officials of CAAC to visit Macao this year to discuss the issue. In terms of regional cooperation, to reduce the redundancy in inspection and therefore lower the costs of the operators, AACM will continue to cooperate with CAAC and the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong SAR (HKCAD) in mutual acceptance of all maintenance standards and aircraft maintenance engineer licensing. Furthermore, to aim for the safe and smooth operation of air traffic in the Pearl River Delta Region, a working group comprising people from AACM, CAAC and HKCAD has been established to study the issue and a draft plan for the air traffic management and implementation in the Region targeted for the year 2020 has been devised. After the plan has been put into implementation, the capacity of the airports in the Region will be greatly increased and the flight procedures will be improved. In addition to the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, the event was also attended by the consultants of the Cabinet of Secretary Ao Man Long, the directors of his subsidiary government bodies and aviation representatives.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service showed that in 2005, total number of visitor arrivals increased 12% over 2004 to a new record of 18,711,187. Visitors came mainly from Mainland China and Hong Kong, sharing 56% and 30% of the total respectively. Subsequent to the implementation of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) to more provinces and cities, a total of 5,331,419 Mainland visitors travelled to Macao under the IVS, a remarkable growth of 52% over 2004. The number of visitor arrivals in package tours also increased 7% over 2004 to 2,675,753. Favourable developments of the local economy induced more residents to travel abroad. In 2005, number of residents travelling in package tours went up 39% over 2004 to 294,787 when those travelled under own arrangements using services provided by the travel agencies also increased 17% to 333,768. The hotel industry recorded a 4% growth to receive 4,121,088 guests in 2005. The opening of several new hotels in 2005 increased the supply of guest rooms, bringing the average hotel occupancy rate to drop by 4.6 percentage points over 2004 to 70.9%. The average length of stay of hotel guests was 1.22 nights, which was same as 2004. Per-capita spending of visitors was MOP 1,523 in 2005, down by 7% over 2004; per-capita spending of Mainland visitors topped with MOP 3,078. Compared with 2004, per-capita spending of visitors arriving by sea and by land was MOP_1,235 (-10%) and MOP 1,827 (+16%) respectively, while that of visitors arriving by air was MOP 4,881, similar to that of 2004. In 2005, per-capita non-shopping spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors was MOP 851, down by 4% over 2004. Visitors from Mainland China led with MOP 1,221. The largest share of the per-capita non-shopping spending of visitors went to “food and beverage” (40%) and “accommodation” (36%). Per-capita shopping spending of visitors posted a 10% decrease over 2004, with MOP_672, among which Mainland visitors took the lead with MOP 1,856; followed by those from Southeast Asia and Taiwan, China, with MOP 509 and MOP 441, while that of Hong Kong visitors was MOP 209. Spending on “food and candy” (26% of the total shopping spending) and “clothing” (20%) took the largest share. Per-diem spending of visitors was MOP 1,333 in 2005, a drop of 8% over 2004. Visitors from Mainland China had the highest per-diem spending of MOP 2,200. The average length of stay (1.1 days) of visitors was identical to that of 2004; the average for the tourists and same-day visitors was 1.7 days and 0.2 day respectively.
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Statistics and Census Service released the results of the Manpower Needs and Wages Survey of the Gaming Industry for the fourth quarter of 2005, which excluded junket promoters and junket associates. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2005, there were 26,118 paid employees working in the Gaming Industry, an increase of 22.8% compared with the same period of 2004. Analyzed by occupation, 15,213 were engaged in positions that are directly related to betting services, such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, dealers, betting service operators, etc., while 5,382 were engaged as services and sales workers, including casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc., up 30.7% and 9.4% respectively compared with the same period of 2004. In December 2005, average earnings (excluding year-end bonuses, holiday allowances, profit-sharing bonuses and other similar bonuses) for full-time paid employees rose by 5.0% over December 2004 to MOP 11,269. Average earnings for the positions that are directly related to betting services was MOP 11,603, up by 1.6% over December 2004. The average earnings of the services and sales workers increased by 5.6% compared with December 2004 to MOP 6,667. At the end of December 2005, there were 6,167 vacant posts in the Gaming Industry, of which 3,586 were related to hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, dealers, betting service operators, etc., while services and sales workers had 1,777 vacancies. As regards recruitment prerequisites, 43.8% of the vacant posts required working experience; 68.3% required senior secondary or higher education. Besides Cantonese, other preferred language skills were Mandarin (63.7%) and English (49.5%).
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According to the information released by the Statistics and Census Service, resident population of Macao was estimated at 488,144 as at 31 December 2005, an increase of 22,811 over 2004; the annual growth rate for 2005 was 4.8%. Among the resident population, 51.7% were female and 48.3% were male. In terms of age distribution, the youth population (aged 0-14) accounted for 15.6%; the adult population (aged 15-64) and the elderly population (aged 65 and over) were 76.1% and 8.3% respectively. In the fourth quarter of 2005, there were 1,080 cases of live births and 392 mortality cases. In 2005, number of live births totalled 3,671, up 11.0% over 2004. Number of mortality cases reported was 1,615, up 5.3% compared with 2004; the major causes of death were “Diseases of the circulatory system”, “Neoplasms” and “Diseases of the respiratory system”. There were 884 cases of notifiable diseases reported in the fourth quarter of 2005, and the annual total was 2,442 cases, which included “Varicella (chickenpox)” (1,411 cases), “Tuberculosis of lung” (362 cases) and “Enterovirus infection” (218 cases). Meanwhile, 455 cases of marriage were registered in the fourth quarter of 2005; the annual total was 1,734 cases, down by 0.2% over 2004. In 2005, the median age of the first marriage was 26.9 for female and 29.7 for male. In the fourth quarter of 2005, 2,863 persons were granted authorization to reside in Macao and the annual total was 11,395 persons, bringing the year-end balance to 50,159 persons, an increase of 11,131 persons compared with 2004. Total number of legal immigrants from Mainland China was 3,335 in 2005, with 802 arriving in the fourth quarter. Among those arriving in 2005, 69.4% were female. In addition, the majority of the immigrants came from Guangdong that accounted for 69.8% of the total in 2005. In the fourth quarter of 2005, 171 illegal immigrants were repatriated and the annual total was 516 persons, up 28.0% over 2004. The year-end balance of the non-resident workers in 2005 was 39,411, an increase of 11,675 compared with 2004.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today that Macao and Zhuhai were interdependent and he hoped that the two cities would work closer together to enhance co-ordination and communication to their mutual benefit. He said they were interdependent ''like the lips and the teeth'' on a face, and Macao would continue to promote co-operation. Mr Ho was speaking at a meeting with a delegation of top Zhuhai officials who were visiting Macao, including the Secretary of the Zhuhai Municipal Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC), Mr Deng Weilong, and the Deputy Secretary, Mr Wang Shunsheng, at Government Headquarters. Mr Ho began by thanking the Zhuhai Municipal Government for its support in many areas, which had contributed significantly to the successful implementation of ''One Country, Two Systems'' in Macao. He said areas for co-operation would continue to increase and he hoped they would explore further the methods of co-ordination and communication with greater flexibility and effect under the co-operation mechanism of the Guangdong-Macao Cooperation Joint Conference. The visiting Mr Deng, in response, said he agreed with Mr Ho and added that the two sides shared the same objectives in co-operation. The Zhuhai Special Economic Zone had been established for more than 20 years and had made significant progress. The prosperity and stability of Macao, as well as its support, had facilitated the development of Zhuhai, he said. Mr Deng became Secretary of the Zhuhai Municipal Committee of CPC last August and this was his first visit to Macao in this official capacity. He is also the chairman of the Standing Committee of the Zhuhai Municipal People's Congress. Mr Wang, the Deputy Secretary of the Zhuhai Municipal Committee of CPC, is also the mayor of the city. The delegation is scheduled to return home tomorrow.
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