Beijing pushes for flights from Macau to Portuguese-speaking countries

The Deputy Director of Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau, Yao Jian, aired the idea that Macau should explore the opportunity to organize air routes to the Portuguese-speaking countries.

The suggestion came during the annual meeting of the Joint Working Committee on Tourism to Support Macau’s Aspirations to Build a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure, held last week in the region.

“Macau is an important platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries and so should develop activities involving exchange between the mainland and these countries,” Yao said, as quoted by the newspaper Hoje Macau.

“[Macau] should study the possibility of developing direct flights with the Portuguese-speaking countries in a way to attract more visitors from these countries and, at the same time, give a chance for these tourists to transfer to other destinations in China.”

The suggestion seems to have come as a surprise for the local authorities. The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, commented, “it is a good idea but it’s necessary for [further] analysis. We didn’t address [the topic] during the meeting but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to do that in the future.” RM