Macau set for tourism rebound with expanded airport: CE

Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng (right) and Zhao Xiaohang, chairman of Air Macau

The Macau SAR government capitalized on the downtime during the Covid-19 pandemic to enhance the city’s airport infrastructure and gear itself up for the forthcoming influx of tourists in the future, Chief Executive (CE) Ho Iat Seng remarked in a meeting with Zhao Xiaohang, chairman of a local airline Air Macau, this week.
The discussion between the two big names revolved around approaches to entice more holidaymakers to visit Macau.
Ho underscored the status of Macau as a “healthy, safe destination,” as the city has kept the tally of local-transmitted cases at zero for more than a year.
The CE is eyeing a continuous collaboration between the government and AirMacau, as well as other local travel traders, in a bid to strengthen the promotion of Macau’s tourism towards Mainland holidaymakers.
Zhao echoed Ho’s remarks, saying that Macau has kept Covid-19 in check, which has catapulted it as the most-preferred city destination for Mainland visitors. He reaffirmed the airline’s commitment to bolstering the tie-up with authorities to launch impactful tourism promotions in the future.
Earlier, in March 2020 at the pandemic’s height, the government turned the downtime to an advantage and initiated the construction of the Passenger Terminal Building (PTB) South Extension at the Macau International Airport (MIA).
Ho said he understood the financial hardship that the global aviation industry has been facing since the outbreak of Covid-19. The upcoming expanded MIA will lay a solid bedrock to reap the benefits of the future tourism rebound, he added.
According to MIA, the PTB South Extension project is set to be completed by mid-2021. Upon completion, the overall passenger-handling capacity of the airport will be increased by around 28.2% from the current 7.8 million passengers per year to 10 million passengers annually.
The total floor area of the PTB will also grow by 17,000 square meters, with the addition of three new passenger boarding bridges to the existing five. This will offer “more space at the departure hall” for travelers, Ho added.
From March 26 to 29, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) mounted a large-scale promotional campaign in Hangzhou, titled “Macao Week in Hangzhou.”
As part of the exchange, both Ho and Zhao attested their support for the roadshow, regarding it as a constructive campaign promoting Macau’s distinctive tourism appeal to visitors in the East China region.