Sands Shopping Carnival attracts over 100,000 visitors benefiting local SMEs

Sands China Ltd.’s successful Sands Shopping Carnival has surpassed a visitation count of 100,000 during its three-day event at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Expo.
Held between August 7 and August 9, the event featured over 500 booths and offered the best deals to Macao residents and tourists.
The Sands Shopping Carnival was the largest shopping event of its kind in Macao. It provided a free business platform for local SMEs and Sands retailers amid the pandemic period, while creating a new weekend destination for local residents and tourists, in support of the Macao SAR government’s Consume for the Economy initiative.
Several sanitisation and safety protocols were in place throughout the weekend event to ensure a safe, healthy, and worry-free environment for all, including temperature checks, mandatory wearing of face masks, hand sanitizers, online visitor registration, and strict implementation of the Macao ‘health code’ system at the entrance, among other measures.
Exhibitors were able to take advantage of free registration and free booths – targeted at Macao retailers, including local micro-small-and-medium enterprises – and carnival-goers enjoyed free shuttle service, free parking and free admission.

“The Sands Shopping Carnival represents our company’s continued commitment to Macao, our confidence in the city’s perseverance during the pandemic, and our support for its recovery,” said Dr. Wilfred Wong, president of Sands China Ltd. “By bringing together international retail brands and local SMEs in the same venue, we aimed to create huge synergistic effects that would help foster domestic consumption. Our thanks go to the MSAR government, the general public and local enterprises for their earnest support. This successful event was a chance for us to give back to the community during these challenging times, to bolster local SMEs, and to support the Macao SAR government’s economic stimulus initiative.”
Meanwhile, Sands China team members and their families and friends enjoyed an exclusive chance to experience the carnival on Saturday morning with even better offers and discounts, and Sands Cares Ambassadors hosted members of the Good Shepherd Sisters’ Women’s Mutual Help Centre and the Macao Down Syndrome Association for a special guided visit to the carnival during the first day.
Around 20 family groups from Good Shepherd Sisters paired up with 20 Sands Cares Ambassadors to have fun at the carnival’s inflatable slides, animal rides, balance bikes and game booths, followed by a walk around the carnival to do some shopping.
And another 20 or so family groups from Macao Down Syndrome Association joined 20 Sands Cares Ambassadors to make mini pizzas at the Luso International (LIB) Presents: Little Master Chef Workshop, with the children dressing up as chefs to make their pizza creations before moving on for some shopping around the carnival.
More than 280 participants joined the fun culinary workshop over the weekend.
“Sands China is proud to take this opportunity to engage with some of the community groups we work with in order to promote diverse community participation,” said Dr. Wong.
“Events like the Sands Shopping Carnival present opportunities for our team member volunteers to give back to society in meaningful ways, and we are happy to see them hosting community groups to enjoy some summer fun during these extraordinary times.”

In further support to the community, Sands China also invited two local community enterprises – the Macau Association for the Mentally Handicapped’s Casa de Petisco “Sam Meng Chi” and Fuhong Society of Macau’s Corner of Portuguese Cuisine Cantinho Luso – to sell food during the three-day carnival. The goal was to provide an opportunity for the community groups’ restaurants to gain exposure in the local commercial market and to create job opportunities for their members. Both restaurants provide vocational training services for their organizations’ service users.
Meanwhile, one of the weekend’s highlights was the ICBC ePay Presents: Karaoke King Singing Competition. Registering to compete in the contest was free and open to Macao residents. After preliminary rounds on Friday and Saturday, Cheng Sam Yuet was crowned the winner in the teen category after the final round on Sunday, while Li Yan Tung won in the adult category. Contestants won a total of close to MOP 80,000 in prizes, including cash, iPhone 11 Pro Max smartphones, and annual passes to teamLab SuperNature Macao, the 3-D interactive art experience at Cotai Expo.
The carnival’s diverse activities and attractions also included an international-cuisine food area; performances; lucky draws; MOP1 products; deals up to 80 per cent off; and family-friendly activities and games.
The Sands Shopping Carnival was organised by Sands China Ltd., co-organised by the Macao Chamber of Commerce, supported by the Macao Economic Bureau, the Macao Government Tourism Office and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), and sponsored by Bank of China Macau Branch, ICBC (Macau), Luso International Banking Ltd., and BNU Macau.

What SMEs say…

“I have been longing for such an opportunity and am particularly thankful that we get to participate in this carnival. It is a great platform for us as this is the first time we’re putting our new disinfectant product on the market.”
Calvin Cheung, Managing Director of the Macao Sunrise Environmental Protection Engineering Ltd.

“Things began to go south following the outbreak early this year, so we’re using this platform to promote our business. This carnival is really a good opportunity not just for us but also for Macao businesses in general. There are over 500 booths here and it’s really helping us a lot. It’s also a call to help [each other].”
Luis Silva, Owner of Serene Macau

“We’re grateful to Sands for arranging this special carnival for small and micro businesses like us to promote our products. We see this as a way to boost the economy. We’re thankful for this event. We participated in a carnival once and it was not really good, but this time I’m quite positive. This carnival has a good mix of business and the foot traffic is huge.”
Becky Leong, owner of Pure New Zealand Product Shop

What NGOs say…

“We want to say thank you to Sands China for inviting us here as this is a very good opportunity for our [mentally challenged] members who underwent occupational trainings to go out and serve the public. This carnival is an excellent platform for our members to put what they learned into practice, and we believe that more people will know about us as a result.”
Grace Lao, manager of “Sam Meng Chi” of the Macau Association for the Mentally Handicapped

“A huge thanks to Sands China for providing this opportunity for us to participate in this carnival. It is the first time we are providing on-site F&B trainings to our [mentally challenged] members so it’s really a precious opportunity for them to work at a carnival of this scale and gain some experience. It also allows the public to understand that with proper trainings and opportunities, our members can do what ordinary people can do. More than 2,000 food items prepared by our members have been sold. The response is very encouraging.”

Ago Kou, manager at the Pou Choi Center of the Fu Hong Rehabilitation Association of Macau