Briefs | The 13 casino may open next year

The casino and retail shops at the long-delayed The 13 Hotel may open in March 2019, according to a filing by the operating company to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.  In the filing, The 13 Holdings Ltd. said it expected to operate 66 live dealer tables, with around a quarter designated VIP and three-quarters for premium mass. The filing noted that “there may be substantial changes to these plans to accommodate the requirements of the Macau government.” Last month, the opening date of The 13 Hotel was delayed to at least April 30 this year, with company representatives saying that the property was prepared to open with or without a casino.

GGCT lowers the Travel Alert for Bali to Level 1

Given that the situation caused by the eruption of the Agung volcano in Bali has alleviated, the Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) lowered the Travel Alert to Level 1. However, in a statement issued yesterday the GGCT alerts Macau residents who intend to travel to or those already in Bali to be aware and follow closely the development of the situation that might affect their personal safety there.

UM scholar publishes paper in top linguistics journal

Ronald Fong, an assistant professor from the Department of English at the University of Macau (UM), recently published a paper titled ‘Chinese Motion-Directional Construction: A Conceptual and Cognitive Analysis’ in Studies in Chinese Linguistics. The journal, which is published by De Gruyter, is an international academic publication dedicated to the comparative study of Chinese language and linguistics. It provides a platform for research studies of comparative linguistics and dialectal grammar. Fong has been working at UM for more than 20 years. His areas of expertise concern a wide range of topics in linguistics, including syntax, sociolinguistics, and the interface between syntax and semantics, particularly in the constructionist models.

Korea is third major visitor market, statistics show

Visitor arrivals decreased by 4.7 percent year-on-year to 2,741,465 in January 2018. Compared with December 2017, visitor arrivals decreased 10.2 percent month-to-month. Same-day visitors (1,258,358) dropped by 16.8 percent year-on-year while overnight visitors (1,483,107) increased by 8.8 percent, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) stated. Visitors from mainland China decreased by 3.5 percent year-on-year to 1,927,642, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (896,088) dropping 20.6 percent.

Visitors from Hong Kong (438,573) decreased by 16.8 percent, while visitors from South Korea rose 20.2 percent year-on-year to 97,861, exceeding those from Taiwan (83,591) for the first time and making South Korea the third major visitor market.

IC to conduct  book exchange

As part of the 2018 Macao Library Week, public libraries will launch a book exchange from Thursday. The book collection period will last until April 8. Any residents interested in participating in the book exchange can bring their collection of books to the Cultural Bureau’s (IC) libraries and receive a scorecard recording the value of their book contribution. During the exchange’s promotional period between April 21 and 22, residents can exchange books of equivalent value to the value accrued on their scorecard at the Old Court Building. The IC has issued a reminder that certain books, including books about religion, comic books, IT books published more than one year ago, and travel books published before 2016 cannot be exchanged. 

Gov’t accused of manipulating taxi purchases

The government has been accused of forcing the taxi industry to buy one specific model of electric vehicles for taxi operations, according to a report by Cheng Pou. Earlier, the government announced new regulations requiring the next 100 taxis purchased to be electric cars. Two models of vehicle have been proposed for use in taxi services. However, the president of the Associação dos Comerciantes e Operários de Automóveis de Macau, Leng Sai Vai, noted that the government is in effect promoting only one type of vehicle, as the two permitted models cost  MOP300,000 and MOP800,000, and most owners would not be able to afford the more expensive vehicle.