Tourism leaders hopeful ahead of 2024 and new measures

Local tourism industry association leaders Andy Wu and Paul Wong are hopeful of 2024 being a good year for Macau’s tourism sector, they said in interviews with the local public broadcaster TDM Chinese channel.

Wong, who presides over the Macau Leisure Travel Services Innovation Association, said the government’s recent measure of providing transportation to Macau via a direct and free bus from Hong Kong International Airport would increase visitations by foreign visitors to the city. He also urged bus operators to increase the frequency of their services and proposed they extend their operating hours, so as to more conveniently cater to international tourists.

Wong also noted that local tourism authorities should concurrently increase their advertising efforts. In so doing, he said, authorities would encourage foreign travel agencies to create better experiences, namely tours which better feature both Hong Kong and Macau.

Wu, who chairs the Travel Industry Council of Macau, focused his proposals on tours including Macau and Hengqin. He also encouraged Macau residents to visit Hengqin more frequently.

Wu said that the first multi-destination tour including Macau and Hengqin should commence after Lunar New Year, remarking that more work should be done to facilitate both eased border crossing procedures and visits to Hengqin.

He noted a previously incentivized tour program to Hengqin had attracted no more than 30 tourists, disappointing organizers’ expectations.

Wu suggested the government reduce application conditions for the “Macao–Hengqin Travel Stimulation Program.”