News

The Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil have agreed that holders of the Macao SAR Passport are exempted from visa requirements when entering the Federative Republic of Brazil for a stay of maximum 90 days. On the basis of reciprocity, nationals of the Federative Republic of Brazil are also exempted from visa requirements when entering the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) for a stay of maximum 90 days. The above-mentioned arrangement has been effective since 24th March 2006. The Government of the Macao SAR and the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil expect that mutual exemption of visa requirements will further promote bilateral ties of business, trade and tourism. At present, a total of 69 countries and territories have agreed to grant visa-free access or visa on arrival to Macao SAR Passport holders; while 7 countries have agreed to grant visa-free access to Macao SAR Travel Permit holders.
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According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, unemployment rate for December 2005 - February 2006 was held stable at 3.9%, same as the result of November 2005 - January 2006, but decreased by 0.2 percentage point compared with December 2004 - February 2005. The underemployment rate was 0.9%, down by 0.2 and 0.3 percentage point respectively compared with November 2005 - January 2006 and December 2004 - February 2005. Number of the unemployed searching for their first job was about 900, which represented 8.4% of the total unemployed population, down by 0.3 percentage point over November 2005 - January 2006. Compared with November 2005 - January 2006, the unemployment situation was improved in Manufacturing; and Transport, storage & communications sectors when the situation for other sectors was similar to that of November 2005 - January 2006. Total labour force was estimated at 263,000 in December 2005 - February 2006; the employed and the unemployed populations were 253,000 and 10,000 respectively. Labour force participation rate was 64.5%, up by 0.3 and 2.1 percentage points respectively compared with November 2005 - January 2006 and December 2004 - February 2005.
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Macau has been chosen as the shooting location for the last episode of the most popular TV series in Korea – “Gung”. One of the heritage sites, the Ruins of St. Paul’s was also included in the shooting locations. Macau Government Tourist Office, who supported and assisted the filming of this series, believes that the popularity of the series will help to promote Macau tourism. “Gung” is the most popular TV series with 28 per cent audience rating, representing a quarter of the Korean population, 10 million viewership per week. This series has already been exported to many Asian countries and regions, including Mainland China, Taiwan China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Japan. The director of “Gung” purposely featured Macau as the backdrop of the last episode in which various architectures of the “Historic Centre of Macau” and other scenic spots were filmed. TV series has a big potential audience market. Through the broadcast of "Gung", billions of audience will be able to see the beautiful Macau city at home. More will then know about Macau and this will result in a great promotional effect. The "Gung" production crew arrived Macau last Friday and started their 3-day (Mar 25-27) location shooting. Their shooting locations included Hac Sa Beach, Cheoc Van Beach, Ruins of St. Paul's, the Leal Senado Building, among others.
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Director of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) João Manuel Costa Antunes introduced to the tourism related trade, civil associations and media today (March 28) about the new “Macau Business Tourism Centre” that will enter into operation shortly. MGTO invited representatives from the hotel, aviation and tourism industries, civil associations in Macau that have organized convention and exhibition activities in recent years and media to take part in a briefing on the “Macau Business Tourism Centre”. Antunes outlined the objective, mission, roles, strategies and services of the “Macau Business Tourism Centre” to the participants. Antunes expressed that the tourism industry of Macau is facing both opportunities and challenges brought by its rapid development, and Macau has to capitalize on the opportunities to nurture the territory into to a prominent business tourism destination in the region. It is the right time to establish a business tourism center to promote the development of the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions industry in Macau. He said that the objective of setting up the “Macau Business Tourism Centre” within the structure of MGTO is to understand the needs of the local industry and strengthen the liaison work among the trade. The Centre is an “interactive” unit that listens to the views and opinions of the trade and civil associations to achieve the common goal of the industry. Antunes also stressed that the “Centre” will, through defining Macau’s main strategic orientation in relation to different competitive destinations in terms of Business Tourism, position Macau as an innovative and dynamic destination for international meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions. He pointed out that the “Centre” will also encourage the public and private sectors to jointly produce competitive products and services with high quality. It will increase the awareness of local businesses and relevant government departments on the importance of the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions industry in Macau, in particular the economic benefits it generates. He continued that the “Centre” will organize training courses and exchange activities, as well as conduct relevant studies and analysis on 6 areas, namely marketing, industry support, research, training, bidding and event/special projects. The “Macau Business Tourism Centre” is located at Senado Square, the former headquarters of MGTO. This five-storey building includes an information counter and a gallery on the ground floor; a computer research centre on the first floor; marketing, industry support, research, training and bidding units on second floor; events/projects unit on the third floor and video and slides archive on the fourth floor.
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Crime investigation chiefs from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have held their 12th working meeting in Macao today, to further enhance efforts to work closer together to combat crime cross-boundary crime.. They reviewed co-operation in police work over the past year and followed up on agreements made in the meeting last year. They briefed their counterparts on the on public security situation in their jurisdictions, exchanged views and experience on combating crime and discussed security issues. The parties have agreed on the following, among other forms of co-operation: 1.Enhancing co-operation in criminal investigation;
2.Enhancing exchanges of intelligence on gambling-related crimes;
3.Exchanging information on fraud offenders;
4.Establishing the mechanism to exchange information on cross-boundary prostitution;.
5.Enhancing exchanges of intelligence on drugs abuse and trafficking, internet-related crimes and credit card frauds; and 6.Organising joint operation to step up the fight against organised crime.
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Every year on 23 March the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and its 187 Members, as well as meteorological communities worldwide, celebrate World Meteorological Day. This Day commemorates the entry into force, in 1950, of the Convention that created this specialized agency of the United Nations System. For the year 2006 was chosen the theme “Preventing and mitigating natural disasters”. This choice was made in recognition of the fact that 90 per cent of all natural hazards are related to weather, climate and water and also due to the vital role played by WMO and the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in all countries in contributing to the prevention, preparedness and mitigation of natural disasters, as well as those arising from environmental emergencies. A synopsis of extreme events in the recent past shows their growing impact on sustainable development. This Bureau prepared a programme of approximately one month in order to inform the population about the different areas of human activities in which the meteorology plays an important role, in general, and, in particular, about the activities undertaken by SMG which contribute for the reduction and mitigation of natural disasters, contributing for the sustainable development of the MSAR. In the beginning of the commemoration activities of the “World Meteorological Day 2006”, it has taken place on days 1 and 2 March the “Second Technical-Scientific Seminar on Seismology Among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao”, which gathered seismologists, geophysics and meteorologists from the three regions. The organization of this 2nd Seminar contributed without question to the prestige of Macao in this area, in a time that the world is expecting solutions from the scientific community. The discussion results are indubitably considered fruitful, not only for the SMG staff but also for the people that work in the area of the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters. A celebration ceremony will be held at SMG headquarters, on 23 of March, with the presence of the Secretary for Transport and Public Works Eng. Ao Man Long, who will preside, with informative objectives, trough the mass media, about the importance of the Meteorology and his contribution for preventing and mitigating natural disasters in MSAR. One of the issues of the program includes a short briefing about the very important role played by the Operation Center for Civil Protection referring activities of civil protection resulted from extreme meteorological phenomena. The Remote Sensing System by Laser Beam (Lidar) of SMG, which is result of the technical collaboration between this Bureau and the City University of Hong Kong, will be inaugurated. Meteorological lectures conducted in the last three years in this occasion, are one of the activities more popular in Macao secondary schools, which reflects the great interest of the schools and students about the meteorological phenomena. In this regard there were 31 lectures attended by 5335 students, 26 lectures attended by 5616 students and 24 lectures attended 5616 students, respectively in 2003, 2004 and 2005, which confirms this enthusiasm. For this year, are already confirmed 28 lectures which will be attended by about 5200 students. Lectures in the secondary schools, which will be conducted between 13 and 31 of March, about meteorological and geophysical subjects, include areas of great interest nowadays, for instance earthquakes and their effects, air quality and health, prevention and mitigation of disasters related with typhoons, heavy rains and its impact, climate change and the Lidar System of SMG. Scientific lectures are prepared and presented by SMG Meteorologists based on the most recent findings and data concerning the themes for presentation. At last, find enclosed the message from the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, Prof. Dr. Michel J.P. Jarraud on the occasion of the World Meteorological Day 2006 (in Chinese, Portuguese and English).
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Information from Statistics and Census Service showed that visitor arrivals reached 1,773,926 in February 2006, corresponding to a year-on-year increase of 16.5%. As the Chinese New Year holidays continued until the beginning of February, visitors from Mainland China totalled 1,006,275, up 20.9%; visitors from Hong Kong also grew considerably by 10.4%, whereas those form Taiwan, China dropped 8.1%. Meanwhile, same-day visitors accounted for 52.9% of the total arrivals, at 939,089. Visitors came mainly from Mainland China (56.7% of the total), Hong Kong (30.8%) and Taiwan, China (6.3%). Among those from Mainland China, 565,315 (56.2%) arrived in Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme. In the first two months of 2006, the cumulative number of visitor arrivals totalled 3,435,319, a year-on-year increase of 17.5%. Mainland visitors rose 16.7% to 1,934,002, which accounted for 56.3% of the total; those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, China shared 31.3% and 6.0% respectively. Furthermore, same-day visitors made up 52.5% of the total, at 1,802,808. Analyzed by mode of transport, visitors arrived by sea surged 20.5% to 1,263,183 in the first two months of 2006, with 1,192,708 arriving at the Outer Harbour (+17.2%) and the majority of these visitors were from Hong Kong (59.8%) and Mainland China (29.6%). Visitor arrivals at the Inner Harbour leaped 130.3% to 70,475 while 62.4% were from Mainland China. At the same time, visitors arriving by land through the Border Gate rose 16.1% to 1,992,151. The majority of the visitors came from Mainland China (75.3%) and Hong Kong (17.8%). In addition, visitor arrivals by air were 179,985, up 12.1% compared with the same period of last year, with 178,010 arrived at the Macao International Airport (+12.0%). Visitors from Taiwan, China (53.5%) and Mainland China (20.9%) were the major users of this access.
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Statistics and Census Services released the results of Manpower Needs and Wages Survey for the fourth quarter of 2005. The survey coverage has been extended from Wholesale & retail trade; Transport, storage & communications to include, for the first time, Security activities; and Sewage, refuse disposal & sanitation activities; however, the own-account workers engaging in these industries were excluded. Information on the number of employees, earnings and number of vacancies was extrapolated based on the results obtained from 813 statistical units successfully interviewed, as follows: At the end of the fourth quarter of 2005, a total of 20,000 paid employees were working in Wholesale & retail trade, within which 11,088 were in retail trade. Compared with the same period of 2004, number of paid employees in Wholesale & retail trade increased 10.6%. In December 2005, average earnings (excluding year-end bonuses, holiday allowances, profit-sharing bonuses and other similar bonuses) for full-time employees in Wholesale & retail trade was MOP 6,439, up by 7.8% over the same period of 2004. Transport, storage & communications took on 6,661 paid employees, with 2,219 working in Supporting & auxiliary transport activities. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2004, number of paid employees in this sector decreased 9.7%, while their average earnings for December 2005 increased by 13.7% to MOP 11,895. Security activities had 2,872 paid employees, with an average monthly earnings of MOP 5,136. There were 519 paid employees working in Sewage, refuse disposal & sanitation activities, the average monthly earnings amounted to MOP 9,876. At the end of December 2005, Wholesale & retail trade reported to have 2,269 vacancies, of which 1,490 vacancies were in Retail trade. In addition, Transport, storage & communications; Security activities and Sewage, refuse disposal & sanitation activities had 557, 826 and 3 vacancies, respectively. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, over 60.0% of the vacant posts in the Wholesale & retail trade and Sewage, refuse disposal & sanitation activities required working experience. Most of the vacant posts in the Wholesale & retail trade; Transport, storage & communications; and Security activities required junior secondary education or lower in educational attainment. Besides Cantonese, Mandarin was the more preferable language skill in Wholesale & retail trade (49.2%), while English was more desirable in Security activities (60.7%) and Sewage, refuse disposal & sanitation activities (66.7%).
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The Heath Bureau has urged the public to help eradicate mosquitoes and keep their homes clean, following confirmation of the first case of suspected dengue fever this year. A statement from the Bureau said the 53-year-old patient was admitted to Kiang Wu Hospital on Tuesday. His condition remained stable. The construction worker started to have symptoms of dengue fever -- fever, joint pains and chronic headache -- from March 7, and developed erythemas, when was sent to hospital. The patient said mosquitoes had bitten him several times where he worked, at a construction site in NAPE. He had also visited Zhuhai twice at the end of February. His family members had no symptom of the disease. The Health Bureau dispatched a team to eradicate mosquitoes in a 200-metre radius of the construction site.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that number of visitors arrived in Macao in package tours totalled 201,060, up 10.0% over January 2005. Visitors from Mainland China (161,875) had a year-on-year growth of 11.5% but those from Taiwan, China (9,654) decreased 35.8%. In view of the Chinese New Year holidays, visitors from Hong Kong (7,917) showed a drastic increase of 82.0% over January 2005. Subsequent to the continuous improvements of the local economy and the income level of the residents, more people preferred to travel outside Macao during the Chinese New Year holidays. Number of Macao residents travelling in package tours totalled 29,011 in January, a remarkable year-on-year increase of 134.3%. Mainland China, Thailand and Taiwan, China were the three more popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 78.2%, 5.9% and 3.9% of the total respectively. Meanwhile, 32,064 residents travelled under own arrangements using services provided by the travel agencies, a jump of 80.5% over January 2005; Mainland China (33.0%), Hong Kong (30.0%) and Taiwan, China (15.0%) were the major destinations. As a result of the openings of several new hotels in the past few months, the number of guest rooms available in the hotel industry increased by 11.3% (+1,114 rooms) over the same month of 2005 to 11,015 at the end of January 2006. In addition, a total of 327,331 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments, up 8.1% over January 2005. The average hotel occupancy rate was 64.5%, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3 percentage points, the highest average was in 3-star hotels, at 70.4%. The average length of stay of hotel guests was 1.16 nights, which fell by 0.04 night compared with January 2005. The majority of the guests came from Mainland China (57.9%), Hong Kong (27.2%) and Taiwan, China (2.8%). In January 2006, hotel guests (excluding Macao residents) accounted for 39.3% of the total number of tourists, which was lower than the 42.8% in January 2005.
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