Ho acknowledges tourism overload problem

Sole Chief Executive candidate Ho Iat Seng has expressed his strong agreement with the sentiment that the city is overrun by tourists.

Ho voiced his stance earlier this week during his meeting with members of the election committee of the commercial and financial sectors.

“We are really overloaded,” Ho admitted to less than half of the total members for the election committee of the commercial and financial sectors. The remaining members did not appear at the meeting. 

The topic was brought up by election committee member Cheung Kin Chung, who said that the Macau public has a biased opinion regarding Macau’s tourist capacity. In Cheung’s opinion, Macau is only full of tourists during two major mainland holidays: the Chinese Lunar New Year Holiday and the “Golden Week” that accompanies National Day.

Cheung proposed to Ho that the government enhance high-end tourism in order for Macau to have “specialties in all districts and attractions everywhere.”

Ho did not endorse Cheung’s opinion, instead saying that the current overcrowding has a negative impact on Macau residents’ daily life. In addition, Ho thinks that coordination, such as promotional online campaigns, should be initiated with mainland China regarding mainland tourist restrictions during major Chinese holidays.

“[Otherwise] they will not have fun when they come here and we will not have enough capacity,” said Ho.

Ho indicated that Macau is organizing various activities that coincide with already popular days for tourists to visit Macau. The candidate suggested that these events, which only give the appearance of attracting many visitors, should be organized during the quieter parts of the year. JZ