Trade to launch personalized itineraries to entice discerning travelers

The forthcoming novel tours, dubbed “Macao Highlight Tours” will shift its focus to personalized services to meet the growing demand for private tours among discerning travelers in the Covid-19 pandemic era. The tours are scheduled to be rolled out in mid-May.
In an exclusive interview with the Times, Wu Wai Fong, chairman of the Macau Tourist Guide Association, offered a sneak preview of the new scheme designed to attract more Chinese travelers to visit Macau.
Wu disclosed that the launch of the new tailor-made service is intended to meet the diversified travel needs among today’s travelers.
“That’s to say, this enables us to offer custom-built itineraries for free individual travelers who want to design the itineraries on their own from start to finish,” Wu added.
Another rationale for this personalization service is to meet the growing demand for private tours as “travelers are now more inclined to shun group tours and travel only with their closest ones, like family and friends, to minimize contagion risks”, Wu added.
Private touring is touted by travel experts as one of the key travel trends that will outlast the pandemic. The quick-adapting travel practitioners in Macau are now proactively heading towards this model to stay resilient during the pandemic.
According to the information provided by Wu, the personalized tour will be valued at MOP1,580, offering a tour guide and four-hour coach service. Tour guides will arrange itineraries based on the travel preferences and needs of clients.
Apart from custom-made tours, a total of five new “Macao Highlight Tours” will be launched to entice sophisticated travelers. They include themed itineraries to key heritage sites, Grand Prix Museum and Coloane. The two luxurious helicopter and sailing trips are expected to be some big hits.
The first “Macao Highlight Tour” will kick off on May 22, Wu said.
The roll-out plan for “Macao Highlight Tours” was first discussed by Macau’s travel trade on May 13 at a tourism seminar in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. It was part of Macao Government Tourism Office’s (MGTO) mega roadshow “Macao Week in Jiangsu.”
The “Macao Highlight Tours” scheme is a joint venture between the MGTO and local travel trade — in which the MGTO will be responsible for promotion, while the latter will be in charge of designing and offering tour services.
“Earlier, the MGTO had convened a meeting with us (the Macau Tourist Guide Association) and asked us to enlist some local tour guides for the upcoming tours,” Wu told the Times.
In an earlier interview with TDM, director of the MGTO Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes stated that the “Macao Highlight Tours” are a composite of the ongoing “Stay, Dine and See Macao” and previous “Macao Ready Go! Local Tours” domestic travel schemes.
Mainland travelers outside Guangdong province are more likely to stay longer in Macau. “We would like to offer more elements to [entice] this group of holidaymakers,” she added.
Fernandes calls on local travel practitioners to be more innovative and explore more tantalizing tourism products to meet the needs of today’s travelers.
Travelers can purchase the service before their arrival or make a purchase at the registration counter at local hotels, she said.