Travel practitioners yearn for GBA tourism to stay afloat

Some of Macau’s tourism practitioners — especially those who offer outbound trips — have called on the government to introduce Greater Bay Area (GBA) multi-destination travel packages to help them stay afloat.
Some tourism practitioners pointed out that the MOP120 million domestic travel program, part of the third round of stimulus, does not cover the outbound market.
According to a report by TDM, Manuel Iok Pui Ferreira, vice-president of the Associação dos Profissionais da Indústria de Viagens e Turismo de Macau, suggested the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) enter a closer partnership with other cities in the GBA to launch cross-border tourism packages to further boost the city’s tourism industry.
“For instance, is it possible [for the government] to launch tours to Hengqin [soon]?”, Ferreira questioned.
The MGTO should draw on the promotional synergy of the city and other GBA cities to create more job opportunities for local outbound tourism operators, he said, but stressed that they should abide by safety protocols to avoid contagion risk.
The domestic travel program, announced by the government in recent days, is intended to encourage locals to undertake domestic trips and support the city’s tourism industry. Through the program, a Macau resident will be granted a subsidy of MOP280 and MOP200 to spend on domestic tours and local accommodation, respectively, from April to December.
Some travel industry professionals applauded the scheme for offering much-needed succor to help drive higher occupancy rates in the local accommodation industry. On the other hand, some criticized it for not being sufficiently inclusive.
According to the latest official data, tourist arrivals to the city stood at 427,122 in February, down 23.3% month-to-month, yet up 173.1% year-on-year.
MGTO’s deputy director Cheng Wai Tong told the media yesterday that he is optimistic about a possible upward trend in tourist numbers over the coming months, predicated on the smooth rollout of the vaccination scheme and the largely controlled Covid-19 pandemic situation in China.