Tourism | More visitors expected during Chinese New Year

During an annual press conference yesterday, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), Helena de Senna Fernandes, stated that the office estimates a five percent growth in the number of visitors travelling to Macau during the Chinese New Year (CNY) period this year, with around 1 million people expected to visit Macau in the first week of CNY. She also confirmed that the office will be launching four new walking tour routes shortly before CNY.
“[MGTO] estimates that the number of visitors in the CNY period will have a mild growth compared to last year, with about 800,000 mainland visitors travelling to Macau [during that period]. I think the increase will be around 5 percent. However, we still do not have a more concrete figure because we are yet to communicate with the Guangdong Tourism Bureau. As you know, we need to first receive the figures from the Guangdong authority before we can determine whether there is growth or a drop in the number of visitors,” she said.
In terms of crowd management in the central area during CNY, Ms de Senna Fernandes explained that the responsibility will fall to the police, although MGTO will still assist in helping them better direct tourists with signs. The office will also deploy around 30 personnel at some intersections leading downtown. MGTO staff will provide tourists with directions so that they can travel to their destinations without the need to enter areas like San Ma Lo (Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro) and Senado Square. An additional 50 MGTO inspectors will also be stationed at different tourist spots to monitor the situation.
Moreover, MGTO revealed that their 2015 budget will amount to a total of MOP303 million, mainly for the office’s administrative expenses. An additional MOP114 million will be spent on investment and development, including a revamp of the Tourism Activities Centre and the development of other tourism facilities. The director said that the center has been in use for more than 20 years and a new arrangement is required. There will also be improvements to the Grand Prix Museum and to the Wine Museum, such as the addition of more interactive facilities in order to keep the museums up-to-date. This year’s tourism-related expenses also include a Tourism Fund of MOP1.07 billion that will be spent on the promotion of Macau overseas and collaborative programs with different organizations.
Furthermore, Senna Fernandes said that MGTO will roll out four new walking tour routes before CNY, culminating in eight routes in total. They will cover the Our Lady of Fatima parish, the St Anthony parish, the Our Lady of Carmel parish in Taipa and St Francis parish in Coloane. The office will also make adjustments to the current four walking tour routes. There will be more information provided by businesses nearby the routes, such as restaurants, in order to boost the economy of their communities.
Another new tourism goal for 2015 is an increase in 3D mapping shows. Senna Fernandes said that, according to a survey conducted by MGTO last year, many residents support the creation of 3D mapping shows. As a result, MGTO will be pushing to have 3D mapping shows organized in different communities throughout the year and some larger scale 3D mapping shows at special festivals.
The director has also shed some light on the decision to create a master development plan for the local tourism industry on the sidelines of the event. MGTO will commission a private institution to draft the plan, with the bidding process opened at the beginning of January to local and overseas firms. More than 10 local and overseas companies have purchased the bidding document from MGTO so far.
Ms de Senna Fernandes said that Macau has never had any master plan for tourism development.  Such a plan is regarded as important for the mid-to-long-term development of the industry. “This project will cover many aspects. It is going to review the current conditions and to see what [tourism] products and facilities need development. It will also look into the tourist-carrying capacity,” she said; “it is continuing or consolidating what we have right now, and looking into different ways to improve what we can do [in the future].”

Region received 31m tourists in 2014, 5 pct growth expected this year

Figures from the MGTO revealed that the total number of visitor arrivals in 2014 was 31,525,000, an increase of 7.5 percent compared to 2013. Helena de Senna Fernandes predicts that annual visitor arrivals will grow by 5 percent in 2015.
Mainland China is still the largest tourism market, providing Macau with 67.4 percent of the city’s tourists last year. It is followed by Hong Kong (20.4 percent), Taiwan (3.0 percent) and South Korea (1.7 percent).
Among all the mainland tourists, 42.4 percent were from Guangdong province. The next largest mainland market was Fujian province, supplying 4.3 percent of the mainland tourists to Macau last year.
Moreover, the average length of stay for visitors was 1.9 days, with 46.2 percent of them in 2014 choosing to stay overnight. The average occupancy rate of hotels in Macau is 86.5 percent, up by 3.4 percent, with total overnight guests in 2014 reaching 10,710,000. The average room rate of 3 to 5 star hotels in Macau was USD199.9; an increase of 8.6 percent.
Between January and September 2014, visitors in Macau spent a total of USD39.7 billion, increasing 0.7 percent compared to the same figure a year ago, with more than USD34 billion spent on gaming.