Our Desk | Fake tourism is the solution

Renato Marques

Just last Sunday I came across a situation that finally sparked my dormant neurons into finding a solution for the increase in tourists, crowding the streets of Macau.

The issue has been mentioned several times and even lawmaker Sulu Sou recently brought it to the Legislative Assembly (again) in a frustrated attempt to have the matter discussed openly at the local “House of Lords.”

Vetoed, as expected, the proposal aimed to discuss the topic: “Tourist Numbers vs. Livelihood Conditions,” and the solution to the division was precisely what two tourists from Taiwan taught me last Sunday. Simply and without any snobbery, they opened my eyes to the solution that had been in front of my eyes the whole time. I just could not see it.

What happened was that I spotted two girls in their 20’s were taking selfies in front of a banner located on the side of a shop in Central Macau. Portrayed on the banner was one of the landmarks of Macau and a place I particularly like – Happiness Street (Rua da Felicidade).

In my ignorance and after laughing (on the inside), I approached them with a mix of “Chinglish” and sign language, trying to explain to them that what was portrayed on the canvas was a real street of Macau less than 500 meters away (less than 10 minutes walk) from the location of the banner.

After they laughed (this time, at me), one of them, more confident in her English, explained the situation to me, as if I was really stupid. They knew very well the street existed and where it was located, but there were “too many people and also cars. Cannot take photo,” she explained, still laughing.

Embarrassed with my wise-guy attitude, I took off and stopped annoying the tourists, who could finally proceed with their photo session.

On the way to the newsroom with my wounded pride, I recalled a situation that happened several years ago, maybe eight to 10, when in Coloane Village, right in between the Customs Service office and the Pier, there was a nice looking stilt-building that was decaying – more and more with time, and finally, after Typhoon Vicente (if my memory serves me) eventually fell to the ground.

The fun fact is that after the building completely vanished, leaving only a few sticks to tell the story, erected in its original place was a 1:1 size banner with an illustration of how the building, now gone, used to look in its golden years.

As on last Sunday, this banner also attracted the attention of tourists, and even locals, who stood before it to take photographs and… Eureka!

This is it! This is the solution that we need to divert tourists from overcrowded tourist sites, and UNESCO classified landmarks and monuments. We can just recreate all these monuments and places on canvas banners, place them somewhere in Cotai, and finally solve all the problems that have been bothering residents so much and  tourists too apparently, without disrupting the only local profitable industry.