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Headed by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macau SAR Chui Sai On, about 200 representatives from the Macau Government Tourist Office, the Macau tourism sector, media and performers went to Shanghai for the “Macau Week In Shanghai” to promote the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of Macau SAR and tourism products and resources under the theme “Experience Macau Celebrations!” The week-long event is kicked off with a colorful inaugural ceremony and cultural show tonight (April 17) at the Century Square on Nanjing Road. Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Chui Sai On, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Macau SAR, Gao Yan, Chief of Office for the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam and Director of MGTO João Manuel Costa Antunes from Macau, Member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Committee and Head of the United Front Work Department of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Yang Xiaodu, Vice Mayor of Shanghai Municipal People's Government Zhao Wen, Director-General of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of Shanghai Municipal People's Government Li Ming Jun, Chairman of Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration Dao Shuming and District Major of Shanghai Huangpu District People's Government Zhou Wei from Shanghai are officiated guests at the inaugural ceremony. This is a significant year for Macau SAR as it celebrates its 10th Anniversary. Organized by the MGTO, Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration and Shanghai Huangpu District People’s Government, with Huangpu district Tourism Administration of Shanghai Municipality as the executive organizer and Macau Grand Prix Committee and Association of Macau Restaurant Merchants as the co-organizers, the large-scale campaign “Macau Week in Shanghai” will promote the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of Macau SAR and tourism products and resources under the theme “Experience Macau Celebrations!” The inaugural ceremony and cultural show features famous Chinese tenor Warren Mok and soprano Liu Lian, Macau band Soler and singer Casimiro Pinto “Miro”, Venetian’s Streetmosphere™, Portuguese folk dance team and Tuna Macaense. Held from April 16 to 22 in Shanghai, highlights of the “Macau Week in Shanghai” include press conference, gala dinner, inaugural ceremony and cultural show, tourism and cultural exhibition, food promotion, panels of Macau Heritage Sites, parade and shows featuring 103 performers. “Macau Week in Shanghai” set up a spacious exhibition area at the Nanjing Road pedestrian zone showcasing Tourism & Cultural Exhibition, Products/Projects Exhibits, Events Promotion Stand, Information Counters and Panels of Macau Heritage Sites. The exhibition area, which opens to public till April 22, has drawn crowds of Shanghai citizens when it opened earlier today. Banners on lampposts, outdoor billboards and advertising balloons are also set up at Nanjing Road to boost promotional effect and atmosphere. Large-scale miniatures of some of Macau’s iconic world heritage sites are displayed at the Tourism and Cultural Exhibition area at the Century Square of Nanjing Road, including a 7 meter tall models of the Ruins of St Paul’s and Guia Lighthouse which allow the Shanghai citizens to “touch” Macau’s unique cultural landmarks. 14 travel trade from Macau also set up booths at the Products/Projects Exhibits area, among which, 8 companies built their own 50-square meter individual booths to showcase their images and characteristics. The Events Promotion Stand features a model of the Macau Grand Prix Control Tower, with one Formula 3 machine and two motorbikes. Tourism information on Macau and souvenirs are being distributed at the Information Counters. The “Historic Center of Macau”, which has been listed as UNESCO’s World Heritage in 2005, is a valuable tourism treasure of Macau. The Panels of Macau Heritage Sites set up on the Nanjing Road will surely give a savor of these East meets West legacy to the public in Shanghai. Delicious Macau snacks and deserts are also on offer at the Food Promotion, like pork chop buns, bacalhau balls, croquetes and marble cake. Visitors to “Macau Week in Shanghai” from April 18 to 22 can also enjoy parade and shows including dragon and lions dance, Venetian’s Streetmosphere™, Portuguese folk dance as well as performance by Macau singers and Tuna Macaense. The organizer hosted a press conference on April 16 to introduce the program of “Macau Week in Shanghai” attended by close to 100 media from Shanghai and Macau. This press release is available at the website: http://www.macautourism.gov.mo
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, has arrived in Hainan today for tomorrow’s opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2009. Speaking to reporters at the airport before his departure, Mr Ho said he would update Premier Wen Jiabao on Macao’s latest development if they had the opportunity to meet there. Asked about the drop in tax revenue in the first quarter of the year, Mr Ho said it was within expectation, due to the economic boom in the past few years and the impact of the current global financial crisis. He said Macao could expect a decrease in the tax revenue this year, though the figure would be within the expectation of the Government. Asked about the election of his successor, Mr Ho said that the Chief Executive Election Committee will be formed on April 26 and he expected the electoral procedure and election date would be announced early next month.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that there were 130 schools and institutions providing regular education in the 2007/2008 academic year, comprising 12 institutions of higher education and 118 schools engaging in non-tertiary education, i.e. pre-primary, primary and/or secondary (including vocational-technical secondary) education. Among the 102 private schools providing non-tertiary education, 76 are within the universal education network. At the end of the 2007/2008 academic year, there were 18,743 students attending higher education, up by 7.3% over the previous academic year, with local students accounting for 68.5%; meanwhile number of students in non-tertiary education decreased by 4.9% to 82,400, with primary students (30,033) registered a notable decrease of 7.4%, and those in secondary (43,218) and pre-primary education (9,149) also went down by 3.4% and 3.2% respectively. Total number of teachers engaging in regular education was 6,539; the teacher/student ratio for regular education was 1 to 15.5; the ratio for non-tertiary and higher education was 1 to 17.2 and 1 to 10.7 respectively. The Education Survey also covered 10 schools providing special education, 4 schools providing recurrent education, 132 establishments providing adult education, as well as 144 private tutorial centres. Compared with the previous academic year, number of students attending special education dropped by 2.4% to 480, those of recurrent education went up by 14.2% to 578; besides, course enrolment in adult education totalled 130,410, up by 9.3%. A total of 4,784 students were receiving auxiliary tutorial services at 144 private tutorial centres, with 70.0% being primary students and 18.2% being secondary students. As regard the 2008/2009 academic year, there were 22,289 students enrolled in higher education and 76,918 students in non-tertiary education at the end of November 2008.
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Macao would promote economic diversification development as an international centre to attract tourism and leisure visitors, the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today at the plenary meeting of the Legislative Assembly. Mr Ho was expressing his macroscopic thought on the role of Macao Special Administrative Region on “The Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta”. He said the Outline had scientifically expounded the position of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao, and laid a solid foundation in enhancing the mutual co-operation and in promoting Macao’s economic diversification. Following the integration of regional co-operation, such as the establishment of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Inter-city light rail network of the Pearl River Delta cities, and the Central Government had announced the opening up of Hengqin Island to tie in Macao with a diversified economy, all these beneficial conditions had deepened the co-operation between Zhuhai and Macao. Mr Ho said the diversification of Macao’s economy would break through the monopoly economic industry. However, further regional co-operation would bring a great opportunity to the whole city, and this would bring a deep working pressure of the next Government, and that the future Government should input greater efforts in dealing with different issues.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today that building a new University of Macau campus on Hengqin Island in Zhuhai would boost the long-term development of the institution. Answering legislators’ questions at a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly, Mr Ho said the plan would carry historic significance as it would provide more space for the university to expand and would benefit its future development. Since the new campus would be the first construction project jointly steered by Zhuhai and Macao, certainly the two sides would gain much experience from it, he said. He said that the university had conducted a wide range of internal consultation over the proposal of the new campus and gathered opinions among the community. He said worries and doubts over the proposal were comprehensible. The proposal had been submitted to the Central Government, and the academic freedom enjoyed by the university will continue to be endeared. Speaking on the bills regarding the rank and grade systems of civil servants and regulation of department heads and supervisors, which had been submitted to the Legislative Assembly for examination, Mr Ho said that the bills were aimed at solving some long-standing issues and should not be deemed as a plan to raise remuneration of civil servants. He said that the Government would not amend the rank and grade bill significantly and its promises made to the civil servants would remain unchanged. As for the bill of regulating department heads and supervisors, Mr Ho said the Government would pay heed to the legislators and make necessary amendments.
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The Government would continue to cut the number of imported workers and crack down on illegal workers, the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today. Speaking at a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly, Mr Ho said the number of imported workers shrunk from about 104,000 last September to some 87,000 in March, with most of the cuts in the construction sector. He said that the Government would continue to ensure the job priority of local workers, yet the contribution of imported labour should not be unacknowledged. He said that the Government had enforced a host of measures in cutting the number of imported labour. For example, companies in catering, hotel and gaming industries were asked to gradually cut the number of imported labour by half when renewing their work permits. Moreover, the Government and gaming companies had reached consensus in completely cutting the imported labour working as table games supervisors and provide more than 1,000 managerial positions to local workers. The Government would continue to cut imported labour in the next few months. However, it was unrealistic to stop all imported labour at once, as Macao, an all-round tourism and entertainment hub, should maintain its service standard at a competitive level, not to mention smaller companies’ difficulties in finding suitable replacements in a short space of time. The Government and trade associations would launch more training courses for local workers to enable them to fill the vacancy left by imported workers. The Government would also step up its efforts in combating illegal workers. He said he hoped that the Legislative Assembly could put the article regulating illegal workers on its top agenda when the Assembly discuss the imported labour bill. To prevent overstayers from working illegally, the Government would also liaise with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and some countries to revise the visa-on-arrival policies for visitors from some countries.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, is scheduled to leave for Hainan tomorrow to attend the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2009. Under the theme "Asia: Managing beyond Crisis", the three-day event will be highlighted by the presence of Premier Wen Jiabao, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mr Asif Ali Zardari, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Togo, Mr Faure Gnassingbe, as well as prominent officials from about 20 countries and renowned business leaders and scholars. Participants of the event will discuss the challenges stemming from the global financial crisis, the balance between opening and monitoring, the economic outlook in 2009, financial innovation, and the development of emerging economies. The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Florinda Chan, will be Acting Chief Executive while Mr Ho is away.
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The Tourism Crisis Management Office has been maintaining close contact with tourism associations and the travel industry to follow up on Macao travelers in Thailand.
According to the information provided by the travel industry, 56 Macao travelers in three tour groups are scheduled to return tomorrow (April 17). No tour group from Macao will depart for Thailand today and tomorrow.
Despite the improving situation, the Office would continue to monitor the situation and its effects on tourists. When necessary, the Office will inform Macao mobile phone users in Thailand on the latest news and notice by text messaging services provided by the four local telecommunication service providers. For assistance or enquiry, please call the tourism hotline at (853) 28333000. The Office has received 32 related enquiries and handled one request for assistance since 10 April.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the first quarter of 2009 rose by 1.45% year-on-year to 147.91. The price indices of Clothing & Footwear; Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco; and Restaurant Service surged significantly by 12.11%, 9.71% and 7.55% respectively, which was attributable to increasing prices of men’s and ladies’ clothing, and alcoholic beverages, as well as rising charges for restaurant service. On the contrary, the price index of Accommodation registered a year-on-year decrease of 5.95%. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, TPI went up by 1.88% in this quarter. The price index of Miscellaneous Goods increased by 7.20% due to dear prices of jewellery led by rising gold prices; besides, the price indices of Clothing & Footwear and Accommodation rose by 3.37% and 2.65% respectively. However, the price index of Transport & Communications fell by 3.72%. The average TPI for the last 4 quarters ended the first quarter of 2009 increased by 7.58% over the previous period, with marked increase in the indices of Miscellaneous Goods (+12.92%), Clothing & Footwear (+11.84%), Restaurant Service (+11.76%) and Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco (+10.48%). TPI reflects the price changes of goods and services purchased by visitors, which is compiled based on the consumption pattern of visitors derived from the Visitor Expenditure Survey. TPI covers 8 sections of goods and services, namely Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco; Clothing & Footwear; Accommodation; Restaurant Service; Transport & Communications; Medicine & Personal Goods; Entertainment & Cultural Activity; and Miscellaneous Goods. The base year of TPI is from July 1999 to June 2000.
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The Tourism Crisis Management Office is closely watching the situation of Macao tourists in Thailand. 74 Macao tourists will return from Thailand this evening (April 14) and early tomorrow morning (April 15). The Office has been maintaining close contact with the tourism associations and travel industry to keep track of Macao tour groups traveling in Thailand. According to the figures of the travel industry, following the return of 74 people from 3 tour groups to Macao this evening and tomorrow, about 60 people traveling in tour groups will continue their itinerary in Thailand and return to Macao in the next few days. All tour groups scheduled to depart for Thailand this week have been cancelled. The Office has also sent out notices to over 600 Macao mobile phone users currently traveling in Thailand through the four local telecommunications service providers. Due to the political upheaval in Thailand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urges Chinese citizens not to go to Bangkok. The Office advises Macao residents also to avoid making unnecessary trips to Thailand and Macao residents in Thailand who need assistance can call the tourism hotline 2833 3000. The Office has received 27 enquiries so far and has handled one request for assistance.
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