Family Hostels plan dropped by Alexis Tam

The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, announced on Monday that the so-called “family hostels” project – that aims to establish a legal framework for the use of family houses in a “bed-and- breakfast” system – will not move forward.

According to a statement from the Government Information Bureau (GCS), the Secretary said studies carried out by the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) revealed that the public’s interest in such a project to create home accommodation “has decreased in comparison with past [figures].”

Citing the same study, the statement mentions that “the population and society in general consider that home accommodations [family hostels] can eventually cause many problems,” and adds that it is necessary to consider “further complementary measures and policies to these requirements.”

Tam, who was speaking on the sidelines of a CNY related function, recalled that “in the past there were many houses in the city that had this type of accommodation, however, [this form of lodging] was canceled due to the need of a [proper] regulatory framework.” He went on to state that “for the time being one-, two- and three-star hotels can fulfill the basic needs of this market [of budget hotels].”

The Secretary noted that in order to put such a project into force it is first necessary to sufficiently consider its implementation, in order to guarantee that the new model “would not cause more problems than benefits.”

The idea of re-creating this type of lodging was initiated by MGTO, who announced back in July 2016 the kick-off of a tracking study calling for public opinions on “residents’ current views” regarding the opening of family hostels on the peninsula.

Such a study followed on from another feasibility study, also carried out by the tourism authority on the same topic dated from 2014.

According to the results at that time, the Bureau collected a total of 2,243 samples through street surveys and online questionnaires in which over 60 percent of the surveyed residents supported the idea of family hostels, provided that a range of conditions were met, such as the criteria for the development of family hostels, as well as overall planning and effective regulation by the government.

However, MGTO did not advance with the project at that time since there was a high proportion of interviewees that were not in favor of family hostel operations in their own community districts, and in general they expressed concerns about public security, hygiene conditions, traffic, housing prices and other issues. As a result, it was concluded that society had not reached a general consensus on the widely discussed topic. RM