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The Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) was informed by the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Cape Verde in Macao that, the holders of the Macao SAR Passport or Travel Permit are able to enter the Republic of Cape Verde without a visa for a stay not exceeding 90 days. The above-mentioned arrangement has been effective since 15 June 2005. On the basis of reciprocity, nationals of the Republic of Cape Verde are also able to enter the Macao SAR without a visa for a stay not exceeding 90 days, effective from today. There are now 65 countries and territories granting the visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to the holders of the Macao SAR Passport; 6 countries granting visa-free access to the holders of Macao SAR Travel Permit.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, today extended his congratulations to Mr Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, on his election to the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In a letter to Mr Tsang, Mr Ho conveyed his congratulation and wished him well on behalf of the MSAR Government. Mr Ho said in the letter that the co-operation between Hong Kong and Macao had been increasing at a steady pace with the establishment of the Special Administrative Regions and said he anticipated co-operation between the two SARs to develop further with joint efforts.
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Using live ammunition in exercises for the tactical police unit could better prepare them for various situations and protect the public, the Commissioner-General of the Unitary Police Service, Mr Jose Proenca Branco, said today. The Commissioner was speaking after an officer of the unit was injured during a routine target practice session the day before yesterday. Mr Branco said they were investigating the incident and would introduce necessary measures to enhance safety in target training. He said exercises with live ammunition was the accepted practice in many countries in training their officers for real life situations, and that he supported any training that could enhance the quality of the police force. The tactical police unit, comprising about 500 officers, is the special unit trained for operations including the protection of VIPs and important facilities.
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The survey coverage for the first quarter of 2005 includes Manufacturing, Electricity, gas & water supply, Hotels & restaurants; and Financial intermediation, but excludes all own-account workers and intermediary not directly employed by insurance companies. Information on the number of employees, vacancies and earnings was extrapolated based on the results from 636 statistical units successfully interviewed. The results are as follows. At the end of the first quarter of 2005, the Manufacturing sector had 33,838 paid employees, with 24,673 working in the manufacture of wearing apparel. Compared with the same period of 2004, number of paid employees in the Manufacturing sector decreased 2.7%. In March 2005, average monthly earnings (excluding year-end bonuses, holiday allowances, profit-sharing bonuses and other similar bonuses) for full time employees in the Manufacturing sector was MOP 4,281, up 2.8% over the same period of 2004. Electricity, gas & water supply sector had 1,026 paid employees, down 2.9% over the first quarter of 2004. Average monthly earnings for employees in this sector rose slightly by 0.3% over March 2004 to MOP 18,425. Hotels & restaurants sector had 21,368 paid employees, with 12,380 working in the restaurant industry. Compared with the first quarter of 2004, number of paid employees in Hotels & restaurants sector surged 18.6%; average monthly earnings increased 4.7% to MOP 5,593. Financial intermediation sector had 4,224 paid employees, with 3,625 working in banking. Compared with the first quarter of 2004, number of paid employees in the Financial intermediation sector increased 3.9%; average monthly earnings went up 3.0% to MOP 13,189. At the end of March 2005, the Manufacturing sector had 6,694 vacancies, of which 5,281 were in the manufacture of wearing apparel. Hotels & restaurants sector had 2,796 vacancies, Financial intermediation sector and Electricity, gas & water supply sector had 151 and 24 vacant posts respectively. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, over 90% of the vacant posts in the Manufacturing sector required working experience. Over 90% of the vacant posts in Electricity, gas & water supply sector and Financial intermediation sector required senior secondary or higher in educational attainment. Besides Cantonese, Mandarin was the more preferable language skill in both Hotels & restaurants (40.4%) and Financial intermediation (82.3%) sectors, while all vacancies in Electricity, gas & water supply sector required English.
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The survey coverage of the 2004 Health Care Survey includes two hospitals that provide hospital care services, 409 private clinics and health care centres that provide primary health care services, as well as 209 establishments that provide Chinese medicine and therapy services. Results of the survey are as follows. In 2004, there were 1,397 persons engaged in primary health care services, 524 were doctors and 297 were nurses. Number of consultations administered totalled 1,935,000, up 9.2% over 2003. In addition, 96.8% of the 409 establishments providing primary health care were run by the private sector and the majority (322) were private clinics. In hospital care services, there were 2,432 persons engaged, 834 were nurses and 464 were doctors. The two hospitals in Macao provided 984 in-patient hospital beds and the occupancy rate of hospital beds increased by 9.1 percentage points to 72.8% over 2003. Number of deliveries and surgical operations carried out were 3,317 and 10,999 cases respectively. With respect to the entire health care system, the resident / doctor ratio (excluding dentist) was 454:1 and the resident / nurse ratio was 438:1. In 2004, there were 7,873 blood donors, an increase of 23.5% compared with 2003; the median age of the blood donors was 27.9. Meanwhile, the Blood Donation Centre provided 17,618 units of blood and blood components to the two hospitals. Within the 374 persons engaged in Chinese medicine and therapy services in 2004, 44 were doctors of Chinese medicine, 185 were Chinese herbalists, 20 were acupuncturists and masseurs. Number of consultations in Chinese medicine and therapy services totalled 621,000.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, today praised the Portuguese community for their contribution to the development of Macao. Speaking at a cocktail to celebrate the Day of Portugal, Camões and Portuguese Communities, Mr Ho said the government would endeavour to understand more of the needs of the Portuguese community and to foster their unique culture. With the support of the Central Government, he said, Macao had developed into a business platform for the Mainland and Portuguese-speaking countries, forging a bright outlook for Macao. In the afternoon, the Chief Executive met the Minister of Justice of Portugal, Mr Alberto Costa. On behalf of the Portuguese Government, Mr Costa invited Mr Ho to visit Portugal, and Mr Ho said he would try to arrange for a visit next year.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicates that in April 2005, visitor arrivals in package tours totalled 231,739, down 2.5% over April 2004. Visitors from Mainland China (180,995) dropped 14.1% year-on-year; visitors from Taiwan, China (28,722) surged 136.3% and those from Hong Kong (6,378) decreased 4.4%. In the first four months of 2005, visitor arrivals in package tours grew 6.0% over the same period of 2004 to 828,599. Number of Macao residents travelling in package tours totalled 19,372 in April 2005, a year-on-year increase of 49.7%. Mainland China, Taiwan, China and Thailand were the three more popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 86.3%, 3.1% and 3.0% of the total respectively. In the first four months of 2005, Macao residents travelling in package tours went up 56.4% compared with the same period of 2004. Meanwhile, 23,552 Macao residents travelled under own arrangements with the assistance of travel agencies, an increase of 16.5% over April 2004; Mainland China (39.2%), Taiwan, China (20.5%) and Hong Kong (16.0%) were the major destinations. In the first four months of 2005, Macao residents travelling under such arrangements fell 4.5% compared with the same period of 2004. At the end of April 2005, there were 10,636 rooms available in hotels and similar establishments, an increase of 1,318 rooms (14.1%) over April 2004. In April 2005, a total of 330,819 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments in Macao, a slight decrease of 0.5% over April 2004. The average hotel occupancy rate fell 10.0 percentage points to 67.0% compared with the same month of 2004. The highest occupancy rate was in 3-star hotels, at 76.9%. The average length of stay of hotel guests dropped 0.02 night over April 2004 to 1.16 nights. The majority of the guests came from Mainland China (58.8%), Hong Kong (25.6%) and Taiwan, China (3.1%). In the first four months of 2005, number of hotel guests showed a marginal decrease of 0.1% to 1,240,528 over the same period of 2004. In the first four months of 2005, hotel guests (excluding Macao residents) accounted for 41.2% of the total number of tourists, which was lower than the 46.4% recorded in the same period of 2004.
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The 19th International Travel Expo (ITE) opened today at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Director of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), Mr. João Costa Antunes led a delegation of MGTO staff and more than 20 Macau tourism industry representatives to attend the opening ceremony. ITE HK is a prime tourism trade show in Asia and MGTO is one of the many supporters of this annual event, which attracts tourism boards and travel trade worldwide. With around 500 exhibitors from 50 countries and regions as well as thousands of local and overseas travel trade visitors and buyers participating, the ITE HK this year promises to be bigger and more comprehensive. The 100-square meter Macau booth this year is themed to emphasize the unique eastern and western architectural characteristics of Macau. Set against the backdrop of the magnificent Guia Lighthouse, counters resembling the pavilions of Lou Lim Ieoc Garden provide an area for over 20 representatives from Macau’s tourism industry, including hoteliers, travel agents, airlines and ferry companies to promote their tourism products and develop business opportunities. Photos of the “Macau 2005, the 4th East Asian Games” to be held between October 29 to November 6 in Macau and relevant information are also showcased at the entrance to the exhibition zone. MGTO hosted a trade reception at the booth in the afternoon after the opening ceremony to strengthen connections with officials and trade members of the Hong Kong tourism industry as well as trade visitors from around the world. MGTO also launched the brand new 2-day travel itinerary ‘Macau Talk, Macau Walk’ at ITE HK. In addition to the newly designed promotional brochure and tourist map, 3 on site presentation sessions are held to introduce the new itinerary to the travel trade and the public. ‘Macau Talk, Macau Walk’ presents to visitors the ‘wonders’ of Macau, including the place where the Portuguese first landed: A-Ma Temple, the oldest western charity in China: Holy House of Mercy and the site that possesses the highest number of fortress in China: Mount Fortress. This year, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau continue to join force to promote regional tourism of the Greater Pearl River Delta in ITE HK. The 19th International Travel Expo at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre covers an area of 14,000 square meters, an expansion of 40% over last year. The first two days are open only to the travel trade while the last two days are open to the public. To facilitate business contacts and exchange of information, the organizer arranged a series of seminars and product presentations for the trade days while the public can enjoy a variety of cultural performances and lucky draws in the two public days.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) held a promotional event, “Macau Carnival” in Kuala Lumpur. Deputy Director of MGTO, Ms Helena de Senna Fernandes, together with representatives of the Macau tourism industry, attended the activity. She also met with representatives of the tourism industry of Malaysia, strengthening mutual relationship for the promotion of Macau tourism. MGTO held “Macau Carnival” at One Utama shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur on 4-5 June. Deputy Director of MGTO, Ms Helena de Senna Fernandes and Chairman of the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents, Tunku Dato Seri Iskandar Tunku Abdullah hosted the opening ribbon cutting ceremony, which was accompanied by a lion dance performance. The promotional event, “Macau Carnival” included activities like Portuguese folk dance, street dance, games like stilt walkers, clowns with balloons, magicians, tattoo artists Chinese handicrafts demonstration, lucky draw and prize giving ceremony, and offers of free culinary delicacies from Macau. Besides, there is a trade discussion corner, sales promotion of Macau tours by travel agencies of Malaysia and an AirAsia booth selling air tickets of the Macau-Kuala Lumpur route. Approximately 5,000 persons visited the two days Macau Carnival. On 6 June, MGTO held a Travel Trade Luncheon for travel industry representatives of Malaysia and Macau. The two parities exchanged opinions, and agreed to enhance communications and relationships for future co-operation. In her welcome speech at the luncheon, MGTO Deputy Director, Ms Helena de Senna Fernandes expressed the significance of Southeast Asia as Macau’s source, market. Currently, several low-cost carriers have started services in Southeast Asian cities and she believed there will be more visitors from Southeast Asia, including Malaysia traveling to Macau. The year 2004 saw a record increase of Southeast Asian visitors to Macau. Visitor arrivals from Malaysia grew by 97%, ranking 8th among Macau’s major source markets, and was the source market with the highest rate of increase. AirAsia’s Macau-Kuala Lumpur route was officially launched at the end of 2004. It helps to actively promote tourism of the two places; while at the same time benefits the development and diversification of Macau’s tourist sources.
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The government would legislate for the new measures suggested in the educational reform proposals should members of the Education Council reach a consensus in a meeting next Friday. The Director of Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, Mr Sou Chio Fai, disclosed this last week after a meeting with representatives of the New Macau Association. The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Dr Fernando Chui Sai On, hosted the meeting, during which they discussed the development of non-tertiary education in Macao. Mr Sou revealed that members of the Education Council were scheduled to meet next Friday to further discuss the proposals for educational reform, which include extending the period for free education to children in kindergarten, as well as other measures to enhance the overall quality of education in Macao. The proposals were made public in July 2003 for public consultation. Three mouths ago, members of the Education Council concluded that the period for free education should be extended from 10 to 12 years to benefit children in kindergarten.
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