Remus Xu Lufan | IFT student: ‘The Portuguese community will become smaller’

Remus Xu Lufan

The Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) organized a Tourism Education Student Summit on the IFT campus this week. Sixteen presentations on different topics related to Macau’s gaming and tourism industries were presented to the audience.
Remus Xu Lufan, one of five student presenters honored with a best paper award, illustrated the concept of destination image branding based on Chinese and Portuguese Communities in Macau. Xu collected 117 completed questionnaires, 67 of which were filled by Chinese respondents aged between 25 and 34, while the other 50 were from Portuguese people aged between 18 and 24.
His work indicates a great difference between the two communities’ perceptions of Macau’s brand image, as well as their opinions on government initiatives. On average, the Portuguese respondents awarded lower scores in all categories listed under the physical environment section, such as cultural heritage and natural scenery. In terms of social environment, however, they said Macau is safer and more politically stable. On other matters, such as cleanliness and business opportunities, they were less satisfied than Chinese respondents. The IFT student, who majored in Tourism Business Management, spoke to the Macau Daily Times about his work.

MDT – What are the main differences between the perceptions of the two communities?
Remus Xu (RX) – From my perspective, it is the cultural and lifestyle differences that influence the perceptions of these two groups of people. The results indicated that Portuguese respondents focused more on citizens’ rights and daily life, while Chinese respondents were more concerned with the government’s work efficiency and effectiveness.
The Portuguese stated that Macau was a very nice place to live. Of course, Portuguese residents play an essential role in Macau, but we do not know if this will continue in the future.
Another thing mentioned by some Portuguese respondents is that the government should seek to improve residents’ language skills. Most of the people in Macau speak Chinese and unfortunately, the population’s English knowledge is not as proficient as it should be, given Macau’s status as an international city.
MDT – What do you think has caused the difference?
RX – I think it is because Western countries have very advanced welfare policies, education systems and health care facilities that Macau needs to emulate. As most of my Portuguese respondents were not originally born in Macau, that might cause them to compare their pre-cognition of their own country’s system with what they now know of Macau’s system.
The language skills are definitely a handicap in the communication between the different groups of people who are living in Macau. Chinese people are dominant in Macau’s society but they are not the only ethnic group here.

MDT – What do you foresee in terms of Macau’s development related to both communities?
RX – I think Macau has been putting a lot of effort into promoting itself as having a mixture of Chinese and Portuguese cultures, for the purposes of tourism marketing. However, it does not involve its Portuguese residents a lot in urban development. Although [they are] a really small group, they play a very influential role in all kinds of industries in Macau. So the government should put more effort into improving Portuguese people’s daily lives and enhancing communication between them and other groups of residents.
I believe that the Portuguese community will become smaller and less important in Macau society in future, since over 90 percent of residents are Chinese or from a Chinese cultural background.
Popularizing English or Portuguese in Macau should be one of the most important tasks to advance the  development of society. Gradually, Portuguese people in Macau may feel more welcome and have an increased emotional attachment to Macau. Staff reporter