Int’l travel expo unveiled for tourism business opportunities

The 12th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) kicked off Friday at the Cotai Expo in Macau on the largest scale since it began.

Lei Wai Nong, Secretary for Economy and Finance, remarked in his speech that this expo has expanded its exhibition area to accommodate seven highlights, which will attract more exhibitors and buyers from both domestic and international markets to exchange and explore business opportunities.

China’s vice minister of Culture and Tourism Zhang Zheng noted in his speech that since its inauguration, MITE has steadily developed into a tourism platform that connects Macau, the mainland, and international markets.

Over 40 product and destination presentations, forums, and other activities will be held during the expo, and the daily opening hours have also been extended by one hour compared to last year.

The SAR government’s tourism office noted this year’s MITE has expanded from two exhibition halls in the previous session to three, totaling 30,000 square meters, with 1,353 booths.

It has attracted 668 exhibitors and units from 54 countries and regions.

“The exhibition area is now 30,000 square meters, about 30% more than last year,” said Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), on the sidelines of the expo.

“We have some special countries, such as Algeria. We naturally have some standard exhibitions such as Hong Kong, Japan, Mongolia, Malaysia, Thailand,” she said.

“We attracted about 37,000 people for last year’s event, and hope to surpass that number this year thanks to our improved and expanded venue. We hope to attract more people through the holiday on May 1.”

Meanwhile, speaking to the press, Fernandes said that as of yesterday, a staggering 35,000 visitors had already been accounted for before the conclusion of the exhibition.

She confidently projected total visitor numbers would align with last year’s figures, reaching approximately 37,000, a result she deemed as satisfactory.

MGTO unveils AI chatbot for tourists

The MGTO has recently announced the commencement of the project “AI Macau Intelligent Customer Service Application,” in partnership with CTM and Baidu.

The first phase of this application will introduce an AI customer service text response function that supports eight languages. Initially, it will be utilized on the Macau tourism promotion website and the “Experience Macau” mobile application.

The first phase of the service is anticipated to be launched by the end of this year, while the second phase will expand its language support to 12 languages.  Staff Reporter