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The SAR Government will continue to enhance transparency in different administrative works, while the strength of the incorruptible helps the entire market to grow healthier. The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, made these remarks while attending the Spring reception hosted by the Macao Chamber of Commerce. Mr Ho said the future market for the local Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were optimistic, but there were many challenges ahead. He pledged that the government, in line with his 2007 policy address, would balance the needs between local employees’ working opportunities and the human resource required by the SMEs. Mr Ho praised the contributions by the Macao Chamber of Commerce over the years, and said he believed the chamber would continue to act as a model in the society.
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A delegation of the Treasury Department of the United States of America visited Monetary Authority of Macao this morning. The two parties exchanged views on current issues of international development on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). Taking this opportunity, Monetary Authority of Macao gave an update of the series of unfailing policies and measures taken by Macao on AML and CFT. The latest development and assessment given by international bodies were also introduced. The US Delegation also introduced to Monetary Authority of Macao on the latest situation of the case of Banco Delta Asia.
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Immigration authorities recorded a total of 2497153 crossing the five immigration checkpoints of the Macao SAR over the holidays (17 to 24/Feb /2007) Total number of arrivals stood at 1269911 with Border-gate: 848,842
Lotus Bridge: 678
Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal: 335,314
Inner Harbor Wharf Nº14: 38,553
Macao International Airport: 46,379
Cross-border Industrial Zone 145 Total of departures stood at 1227242 with Border-gate: 875378 Lotus Bridge: 1,073
Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal: 293,572
Inner Harbor Wharf Nº14: 21,175
Macao International Airport: 35,912
Cross-border Industrial Zone 132 Meanwhile, total number of tourist arrivals in that period stood at ,with a growth of 811,893
over the same period of last year. 17.84%
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Macau’s tourism industry has started on a bright note this year with over 760,000 visitors coming to Macau during the Lunar New Year “Golden Week” holiday (1st to 7th day of Lunar Year), a growth of 17.78% over the same period in 2006. About 420,000, or 55% of the arrivals were from Mainland China, a growth of 21.55%. Both the average occupancy rate and hotel room rate have also increased. From February 13 to February 25, Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) and the Provincial Tourism Administrations of Guangdong and Fujian have jointly operated the “Chinese New Year Tourism Notifying System” to cope with the increase in visitor arrivals. From February 18 (1st day of Lunar Year) to February 24 (7th day of Lunar Year), visitor arrivals grew 17.78% over the same period of last year to 767,122. About 422,737, or 55% of the arrivals were from Mainland China, a growth of 21.55%. Arrivals from Hong Kong have also registered a growth of 10%, from 246,000 last year to 270,000. From last Lunar New Year to the present, the total number of hotel rooms has increased from 10,747 to 12,809. In 2006, the number of overnight guests has surged 13.58% to almost 4,700,000 compared to 2005. During the Lunar New Year “Golden Week” holiday, average occupancy rate of 3 to 5-star hotels was 94.98%, an increase of 0.1 percentage point. The average hotel room rate for 3 to 5-star hotels was MOP$1154.55, a rise of 16.5% over the same period of last year. For the first time this year, the room rates of guesthouses and 2-star hotels were included in the “Chinese New Year Tourism Notifying System”. The average room rate of guesthouses was MOP284.65, while that of 2-star hotels was MOP519.14. During Lunar New Year, MGTO has reinforced supervision at various tourist attractions and entry checkpoints. MGTO’s information counters and tourist hotline operated as usual to provide visitors with tourist information. Close collaboration among various departments and the support of tourism and related entities helped to enhance the hospitality of the city to welcome visitors. In addition to the new tourism and entertainment facilities, a series of celebrations and cultural activities have taken place during Lunar New Year to give a colorful and multi-dimensional experience to both visitors and citizens. This press releases is available on the website of MGTO: http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/
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The number of visitors to the Macau Grand Prix Museum saw a 22 percent increase in 2006, with individual travelers gaining more weight compared to those brought by travel agencies to see one of the city’s main drawcards. Isaac Lai’s family is of the size of an authentic tour group, but the Hong Kong resident prides himself as the organizer of the tour that brought to Macau during Spring Festival almost twenty of his family members, from three generations. “The group includes many children and elderly people, so I tried to plan the trip in a way that could be interesting for everybody”, Lai pointed out, to explain why he included the museum in the schedule of the three-day visit to Macau. While the Lai family leader fights to gather all his family members in order to move to the next tourist spot, another family, the Shen’s, from Shanghai, found out that they could not leave just yet, as their son stayed behind to take a ride at the museum’s car race simulator. “He loves car racing, never misses an F-1 race”, recounted the proud mother of 12-year old Shen Siyue. They were taken to the museum by a family relative living in Macau, who had shown them by car the Macau Grand Prix city circuit before heading to the museum. Between the hustle and bustle of the Lai and Shen families, a tourist takes his time to observe each detail of the items on display and read the descriptions. “What grabs more of my attention at the museum were the F-3 cars of drivers who afterwards became F-1 champions”, said Portuguese Alexandre Reis, on holiday in Macau, where he has relatives. Among the more valuable items of the museum that tells the story of the Macau Grand Prix, taking place in the city streets since 1954, are the cars driven by Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher or Takuma Sato at the F-3 races in the challenging Guia Circuit, before heading to F-1. During the Chinese New Year holidays, the Macau Grand Prix Museum, of the Macau Government Tourist Office, welcomed around half a thousand visitors a day. Last year, more than 88 thousand people visited the museum.
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Seychelles, Mr. Patrick Pillay, announced on 23 February 2007 that the government of the Republic of Seychelles has agreed to grant visa free access to holders of the Macao SAR Passport and Travel Permit for a stay of maximum 30 days. The above-mentioned arrangement has been effective from 23 February 2007. Presently, a total of 75 countries and territories have already agreed to grant visa-free access or visa-on-arrival to the Macao SAR Passport holders, including 58 countries and 15 territories with mutual visa exemption, and 2 countries with visa upon arrival. There are 8 countries granting visa-free access to the Macao SAR Travel Permit holders.
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Macau welcomed almost 300,000 visitors in the first three days of the Lunar New Year, a remarkable growth of close to 20% over the same period of 2006. Average hotel occupancy rate reached 92.88% and average hotel room rate surged 15%. According to information from the Public Security Police, from February 18 (1st day of Lunar Year) to February 20 (3rd day of Lunar Year), visitor arrivals grew 19.6% over the same period of last year to 293,838. Over 140,000 were from Mainland China, among which 72% came to Macau on “individual visit” basis. Arrivals from Hong Kong have also increased from 109,000 last year to almost 120,000. From February 18, Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) and the Provincial Tourism Administrations of Guangdong and Fujian have jointly operated the “Chinese New Year Tourism Notifying System”, through which MGTO delivered information of arrival figures and hotel room rates to its counterparts of the two provinces. Information on two-star hotels and guesthouses was also included this year. Average occupancy rate of 3 to 5-star hotels was 92.88%, an increase of 0.23 percentage points, with 3-star hotels scoring the highest average occupancy rate of over 94%. The average hotel room rate was MOP$1100.23, a rise of 15.33% over the same period of last year. Both 3-star and 4-star hotels registered double-digit growths. For the first time this year, the room rates of guesthouses and 2-star hotels were included in the “Chinese New Year Tourism Notifying System”. The average room rate of guesthouses for the first 3 days of the Lunar New Year was MOP271.93, while that of 2-star hotels was MOP 532.30. During Lunar New Year, MGTO has reinforced supervision at various tourist attractions and entry checkpoints. MGTO’s information counters and tourist hotline operated as usual to provide visitors with tourist information. This press releases is available on the website of MGTO: http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/
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The Statistics and Census Service released the results of Employment Survey for the fourth quarter of 2006. Principal indicators such as the labour force participation rate (66.4%), unemployment rate (3.5%) and underemployment rate (0.8%) have been published in the brief report in January. The annual unemployment rate for 2006 was 3.7%, down by 0.4 percentage point compared with 4.1% in 2005. In the fourth quarter of 2006, total labour force was estimated at 286,000, of which 276,000 were employed and 10,000 unemployed, representing an increase of 5,100 workers in the employed population and a decrease of 600 in the unemployed population over the previous quarter. Regarding the employed population, 53.6% were male. In terms of industry, the openings of several large casinos inducing a larger share of the labour force to work in Recreational, cultural, gaming & other services that accounted for 21.4% of the total employed population in the fourth quarter of 2006. Meanwhile, Wholesale & retail trade; Construction; and Hotels, restaurants & similar activities took up 12.5%, 12.3% and 11.6% respectively. By occupation, 24.4% of the employed population were Clerks (including casino dealers, floorpersons, betting service operators, etc.); 20.5% were Service & sales workers and 16.8% were Unskilled workers. The overall median monthly employment earnings was MOP7,318. For Recreational, cultural, gaming & other services that engaged the majority of the employed population, the median earnings amounted to MOP9,844. The median actual hours worked per week was 47.1 hours. Within the unemployed, 89.3% were searching for a new job, while 10.7% had never worked and were searching for their first job. With regard to the educational attainment, 11.0% had lower than primary education; 27.5% had primary education; 27.9% had junior secondary education; 20.8% had senior secondary education and 12.9% had tertiary education. For the unemployed that were searching for a new job: Analyzed by the previous industry engaged, the majority had worked in Construction (19.6%), Manufacturing (19.0%), Hotels, restaurants & similar activities (17.2%), as well as Wholesale & retail trade (13.3%). In terms of the previous occupation, 26.8% were Service & sales workers, whereas Unskilled workers and Clerks accounted for 18.4% and 17.3% respectively.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI for January 2007 went down by 0.15% over December 2006 to 110.44. The decline was mainly caused by the decreases in the price indices of Housing & fuels; Communication; Recreation & culture; and Transport. However, the impacts were largely offset by the increase in the price index of Food & non-alcoholic beverages. Compared with December 2006, the indices of Communication; Recreation & culture; Clothing & footwear; and Transport recorded notable decreases of 3.72%, 1.09%, 0.73% and 0.72% respectively, which were attributable to the waiving of mobile phone license fees for 2007, lower charges for outbound package tours after the Christmas holiday period, reduction sale of men’s and women’s clothing, as well as lower gasoline prices. In spite of higher rentals for housing, the price index of Housing & fuels went down by 0.66%, as a result of lower electricity charges due to the discount in fuel adjustment surcharge. On the other hand, the indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages and Household goods & furnishings increased by 0.97% and 0.52% respectively, on account of higher charges for meals bought away from home, dearer prices of eggs, fish and seafood, fruit, and household textiles. As a consequence of the Chinese New Year that took place in January last year, the Composite CPI for January 2007 registered a lower year-on-year increase of 3.83%. For the 12 months ended January 2007, the average Composite CPI rose by 4.98% over the previous period. In addition, the CPI-A and CPI-B for January 2007 were 111.60 and 110.14, down by 0.14% and 0.15% respectively compared with December 2006. The Composite CPI reflects the impacts of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 3,000 to MOP 9,999, whereas the CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 10,000 to MOP 19,999.
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The State Council of the People's Republic of China has accepted the Chief Executive Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah's nomination of Mr Lau Si Io as the new Secretary for Transport and Public Works of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR). Mr Ho expressed his gratitude to the Central Government's trust and support, and extended his warmest regards and congratulations to Mr Lau. According to the MSAR Basic Law, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works is a principal official. The Chief Executive has to appoint a nominee who has Chinese nationality and is a permanent resident of Macao. The Chief Executive also has to send his nomination to the Central Government for approval. Mr Ho said that Mr Lau, who has rich experience in administration, was the most suitable candidate for the post of Secretary for Transport and Public Works. He was also confident Mr Lau to be honest and clean in performing his official duties. As a result of the appointment, Mr Lau has stepped down from his position of President of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau. Mr Lau Si Io, 51, is an engineering graduate of the University of Calgary in Canada. After working in the private sector for three years, he joined the civil service, starting with the Leal Senado in October 1984. He held various positions including assistant technician, chief of sector, chief of division in the Public Works Department, chief of the Hygiene and Cleansing Department, vice-president and president of the Leal Senado. After the establishment of the MSAR, he became vice-president of the executive board of the Provisional Municipal Council of Macao. The Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau was established in January 2002 and Mr Lau was sworn in as the President of the administration committee. Mr Lau had attended a number of training courses for civil servants, in Macao, the Mainland and Portugal.
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