Scholar believes more English language support needed

The government should step up the promotion of the English language in Macau in order to transform the city into a world tourism and leisure hub, according to Hao Yu Fan, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Macau.
“If we only want to have a regional center of tourism, maybe Cantonese, Chinese or Portuguese will be sufficient. But if we want to uplift the city into a world class one, I think the government should give more support to the English promotion of various kinds and also to build up certain infrastructure for people to read in English,” the UM scholar, who specializes in public administration, told a TDM reporter, adding that more support should be given to local English-language media.
Hao Yu Fan also argued that the government needs to expand the region’s transport infrastructure by increasing the airport capacity and upgrading the ferry terminals. “The convenient access for international travelers to Macau will be something that the government should put on the agenda,” Hao Yu Fan said.
“Macau is a city full of culture. But that culture, with hundreds of years of East and West interaction, has not been fully explored and understood by the international community. In a sense, if we pay attention to dig into the cultural aspect of tourism, there’s a lot to harvest,” he commented.