Tourism | More performers join CNY parade

Helena de Senna Fernandes

The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) announced at a press conference yesterday that it will present the “Parade for Celebration of the Year of the Dog” on the third and ninth day of the Lunar New Year to celebrate the occasion with residents and visitors.

The event will feature a range of spectacular activities such as the float parade and exhibition, large-scale performances, a firework display, and mobile phone games.

MGTO is making continuous efforts to augment the scale and impact of the local events and festivals, not only to attract visitors from diverse markets but also to encourage enthusiastic participation among residents.

Compared to the previous year’s arrangements, the starting and finishing point of the parade will be reversed.

The opening ceremony of the Parade will be held at Sai Van Lake Square in front of Macau Tower at 8 p.m.

Fifteen floats will proceed together, joined by over 1,000 local performers forming a total of 25 total performance groups and nine external performance groups participating from eight countries and regions.

Performers will divide into two groups, the first will stay and perform on stage at Sai Van Lake Square, while the other group will set off on the floats from Sai Van Lake Square, performing along Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-Sen on the Macau Peninsula until they reach their destination, the Macao Science Center.

According to MGTO Director Helena de Senna Fernandes, the 2018 route will differ from the 2017 route. The change will allow the government to allocate more than 2,300 seats for the audience.

The budget for this year’s parade is MOP27.9 million, representing a five percent increase (MOP26.6 million) year on year.

“The stage, this year, is more magnificent,” declared Fernandes.

Last year, 688 performers participated in the “Parade for Celebration of the Year of the Rooster”. This year, there will be a total of 1,088 performers, representing a 60 percent increase compared to last year’s edition.

“The software and hardware facilities, together with other works, resulted in an overall five percent increase in terms of budget. We think it is a reasonable budget, and we will try to control [the expenditure] to stay within the budget,” said Fernandes.

According to Fernandes, approximately 60,000 visitors were recorded during last year’s events.

“This year, we believe, if the weather is good, there will be approximately a 10 to 20 percent increase in the number of visitors,” said Fernandes.

In addition, the MGTO director said that her department expects a 1 to 3 percent increase in the number of tourists during the Chinese New Year. Julie Zhu

Cecilia Tse to return to MGTO

CECILIA TSE, who resigned as Cultural Affairs Bureau president this week, will be returning to the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) as a consultant technician. This move was reported in an announcement made by MGTO director Helena de Senna Fernandes on the sidelines of a press conference yesterday. “Now, we will follow the related procedures. According to the ordinary measures, she will return to her position at the MGTO as senior staff,” said Fernandes, adding “she is temporarily on sick leave, […] I just received her sick leave application today, and it will last until mid February.”