The Macau Special Administration Region is being featured as a destination partner in the final week of the Dream to Travel Festival, a virtual event launched by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
Representing the SAR, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes joined an online forum yesterday for a discussion on the tourism sector themed “Infinite Possibilities”.
During the forum, Senna Fernandes joined BBC presenter Carmen Roberts for a discussion about Macau’s tourism recovery plan in the wake of the pandemic. The tourism board chief then connected with the CEO of PATA, Mario Hardy, and General Manager for Hong Kong and Macau of Visa, Maaike Steinebach, to discuss other challenges and opportunities awaiting the travel trade.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Covid-19 pandemic “has triggered an unprecedented crisis in the tourism economy, given the immediate and immense shock to the sector.” That effect is particularly pronounced for Macau, as it was the country or territory with the highest economic dependence on tourism in 2018.
To provide a digital platform for members of the travel trade community to continue discussing tourism-related issues, PATA launched the Dream to Travel Festival spanning four weeks from June 22 to July 17. Each week’s program of the Festival is dedicated to a specific theme – Trust, Courage, Wellbeing and Infinite Possibilities – and to one of the four featured destinations including Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal and Macau.
The event program comprises three major highlights including Dream to Travel Forums, Live Experiences and the Digital Showroom, enabling participants to gain new insights into tourism prospects and the latest updates on the destinations’ tourism resources and products.
Through the Digital Showroom, PATA seeks to provide the travel trade with networking opportunities. The MGTO invited several local hotels and travel agencies to build their profiles in the Digital Showroom to showcase their and services via multimedia tools. The Digital Showroom is also equipped with a messaging system that enables discussion among industry participants from near and afar for collaboration and partnership.
As for the Live Experiences, the MGTO said it is presenting three sessions themed as “Cultural Macao”, “Eat around Macao” and “Adventure Macao” to showcase the unique charm of the Historic Centre of Macao as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, he diverse culinary culture of Macao as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, as well as the interactive art space “teamLab SuperNature” and the adventures at Macau Tower.
Founded in 1951, PATA is a nonprofit association dedicated to fostering sustainable tourism across the Asia Pacific region. DB
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