Gastronomy | Tourism board to submit report to UN by mid-2021

After being listed as a Creative City of Gastronomy for four years, the Macau SAR is required to submit a quadrennial conclusive report to UNESCO by mid-2021, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), revealed recently.
In preparation for the conclusive report, the MGTO director told TDM in an interview that the government conducted meetings with the gastronomy industry. Caterers, organizations and higher-education institutions were included to help ascertain the effectiveness of last year’s events held specifically to celebrate the Creative City title.
Following the review of last year’s work, studies and data, which the MGTO gathered from both public and private entities, the regulator believes its goals have been met. According to the regulator, the most complicated project was the construction of a vocational training center at Seac Pai Van, which was completed and will be opened in the foreseeable future.
Although the city was hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic last year, which resulted in the cancellation of most regular events, some events continued online.
That said, Fernandes believes the report shall be presentable to UNESCO.
On top of the quadrennial report, the MGTO head also revealed that the SAR will make a proposal to the international body for the next four years.
The tourism regulator also confirmed that a database of Macanese cuisine has been compiled and published. The information was gathered from around the globe and the database currently houses a total of 297 recipes.
In the future, the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies will cook the recipes and invite the Macanese community to a tasting.