Macau, Jakarta move to restore direct air link

Direct flights between Macau and Jakarta could be back on the cards, as both sides see strong demand – Macau logged 200,000 Indonesian visitors last year and hosts more than 8,000 Indonesian workers.

The government delegation, led by Chief Executive (CE) Sam Hou Fai, has concluded its eight-day visit to three Southeast Asian nations, with a press briefing held in Kuala Lumpur to summarize the mission’s outcomes.

On the resumption of direct flights between Macau and Jakarta, the CE said there was clear market demand, with Macau recording more than 200,000 Indonesian visitor arrivals in 2025 and more than 8,000 Indonesian citizens currently working in the city.

He reportedly said that during meetings with Indonesian officials, both sides had expressed a shared willingness to restart the route, recognizing its benefits for travel, business, tourism, and family visits, and expressed hope that both parties would work together to move the initiative forward.

The CE described the eight-day Southeast Asia tour as “rich” in content, with nearly 40 events arranged across the three countries. These included official meetings, receptions, trade and tourism investment promotion sessions, site visits to major projects, university lectures, exchanges with overseas Chinese community leaders and business chambers, as well as cultural exhibitions and education promotion events. The delegation also met with leaders and senior officials of the three nations and the ASEAN Secretariat.

Sam stressed that Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia are key international visitor markets that Macau is actively cultivating. Authorities have been promoting Macau’s Muslim-friendly tourism environment, “Hong Kong-Macau joint tours,” and “Greater Bay Area multi-destination” travel packages as part of efforts to expand international visitor sources.

According to him, Macau currently has 20 projects with a total of 60 products that have obtained halal certification, allowing them to be exported to Muslim countries and regions and opening trade channels to Southeast Asian markets.

The government will expand the scope of halal certification coverage for Macau products to help local goods “go global,” while also leveraging the city’s tourism and MICE platforms to create a halal culinary tourism ecosystem and further broaden the development space for the integrated tourism and leisure industry.

The plan is to use these efforts as a starting point, making full use of Macau’s platform functions and its Muslim-friendly tourism environment to inject greater momentum into cooperation with Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries in tourism and the halal industry.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s public housing model, which houses about 80% of its population and has operated successfully for more than 50 years, offers valuable lessons for Macau’s urban renewal and public housing policies, the CE said after touring Housing and Development Board (HDB) projects.

During his overseas visit, the CE toured Singapore’s public housing projects and said in response to reporters’ questions that since Macau’s handover, the government had continuously studied and drawn lessons from Singapore’s public housing policies.

He acknowledged that Singapore, with a population of over 6 million, houses about 80% of its residents in public housing, noting that the scale of the program and its successful operation over half a century were remarkable.

Sam said the site visit had deepened his understanding of Singapore’s latest experiences, including policy adjustments in response to changing family needs and demographic shifts, as well as the effectiveness of its urban renewal efforts.

He said the government would adapt these lessons to Macau’s local context, steadily improving public housing policies while advancing urban renewal through building maintenance, streetscape beautification, and improved community facilities, with the aim of addressing residents’ needs for better living environments and a higher quality of life.