MGTO to cooperate with Angolan counterparts

Helena de Senna Fernandes

The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) inked a collaborative memorandum with Angola’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism Office of International Exchanges yesterday, seeking to strengthen inter-cooperation in tourism affairs between both sides.
According to MGTO’s head, Helena de Senna Fernandes, this partnership was tailor-made according to the actual situation in the country, and based on similar memorandums signed with four Portuguese- speaking countries previously, which were Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and East Timor. The first of this kind of partnership started in 2010.
Pursuing the eight major objectives laid down in the so-called “multifaceted memorandum,” the authorities hoped to optimize the travel information and experience exchanges from both sides, develop bilateral partnerships among the middle and small-sized enterprises from the hotel and hospitality sector, organize more promotional activities to boost both sides’ profiles on the international stage and nurture technical talents to respond to the development of tourism.
However, after the signing ceremony the head of office told media that it would take some time to fully accomplish the cooperation goals. “Currently, the personnel exchanges with Angola chiefly concentrate on government and business levels,” said Senna Fernandes. “In the future, we hope there will be exchange opportunities between the tourism industries from both sides. We need to first understand each other, and then to seek out if there is any commercial opportunity regardless of investment or expanding clientele bases in the future.”
With the partnership gradually progressing, the government would also mull arranging various field trips for local tourism practitioners to the country for the sake of seeking possible commercial and investment opportunities there.
In echoing the “One Belt and One Road” strategy, this year the MGTO authorities, as she said, would also continue to lead tourism practitioners not only from the city but also from the Pearl River Delta region to engage in promotional works in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, aiming to lure in more tourists from the four Southeast Asian countries to the entire Guangdong area.
Ms Senna Fernandes also revealed that the China National Tourism Administration would like see more local tour groups to be organized to the Mainland, especially the economic zone of Silk Road, to which some government officials, together with those from the Chinese tourism ministry and travel agency representatives from Macau and Hong Kong, paid a visit to last year to study the environment there. She expects to see more visitations between the city and the mainland in the future. Staff reporter

high tourism official to visit region

A high representative from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) will be in town next week to promote the “Silk Road” initiative, and to discuss regional promotion and cooperation with local authorities. The Times tried to confirm whether the official is CNTA chairman Li Jinzao, but MGTO said that the information couldn’t be disclosed at this time.