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SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES CAN DRIVE TOURISM BUSINESS

The “Green Business Co-operation Day”, organised by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), is one of the most important events at every annual Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (MIECF). It includes the Green Business Forum sessions and a signing ceremony for co-operation agreements. This year’s “Green Business Co-operation Day” consisted of two forum sessions, attracting nearly 380 participants.

The development of a sustainable tourism industry can help generate fresh opportunities for the hospitality sector and other businesses in coastal areas. Green Business of Sustainable Coastal Tourism was one of the topics discussed by tourism experts at the Green Business Co-operation Day. The discussion gave a comprehensive review of the opportunities and challenges arising from the development of coastal tourism through the use of innovative models and best practices to plan for tourism that is friendlier to the environment and more sustainable.

One of the speakers at the session, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Chairman Andrew Jones says the tourism industry in Macao has plenty of opportunities to grow, especially since the Macao SAR Government gained authority over 85 square kilometres of its coastal waters in December 2015. Mr Jones says the question now is how the Macao tourism industry will move forward and be developed responsibly and sustainably.

“It is now about how the public and private sectors work together to develop the tourism industry,” Mr Jones told Macao Image. “It is very important to balance the development of the sector with the need to protect the environment.”

“Macao is a member of PATA and, over the years we, as an association, have been expanding on the premise that people are looking for this off-the-beaten-track type of experience,” Mr Jones says. “Macao has picked up on that and is developing its tourism offerings taking into consideration those trends.”

PATA was founded in 1951 to promote the sustainable development of the travel and tourism industry in the region. The 2017 PATA Travel Mart will be held in Macao from 13 to 15 September hosted by the Macao Government Tourism Office. The annual fair shows off products and services for travel around the Asia-Pacific region, exciting interest among a broad range of wholesale buyers. “We are getting a lot of interest from our members, because Macao is seen as a hub for this area,” Mr Jones says.

In search of balance

A company that has long followed a strategy of balancing the development of tourism and the preservation of the environment is Club Méditerranée SA, or Club Med, according to Club Med General Manager for Hong Kong and Macao, Sébastien Portes, also a speaker at the session. Club Med started on the Mediterranean island of Majorca in 1950. It pioneered the all-inclusive holiday resort, aiming to connect people to nature.

“The way we decided to adapt to today’s concerns and environmental stakes was to seek global certification for our resorts,” Mr Portes told Macao Image. “Every time we build a resort it needs to be certified with an internationally recognised certification, part of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council,” he says. “This certification process has stringent conditions and compliance criteria, and you have to work hard to get the certification, which has to be renewed annually.”

Club Med operates 68 holiday villages in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, the Indian Ocean and North and South America. Club Med has five resorts in China: in Yabuli in Heilongjiang province; Guilin; Zhuhai’s Dong’ao Island; Sanya; and Beidahu in Jilin province. The Beidahu resort opened at the end of 2016. Mainland China is now the second-largest market for Club Med, after France.

Two years after the Fosun group of China bought Club Med, the resort operator is promising to undertake a lot of important projects. It intends to open several new resorts around the world in the next three years, including resorts in Mainland China.

“We plan to develop extremely fast in Mainalnd China,” Mr Portes says. “We aim to have 20 resorts in Mainland China by 2020.”

Mr Portes says the backing of Fosun “opens a lot of doors” in Mainland China. “While five years ago we were chasing properties, now we have investors coming to us and wanting their hotel to be managed by Club Med,” he says. “It’s a very comfortable position, where we can select the best properties that meet our stringent criteria.”