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“I do believe that after this new buzz has quieted down, probably a few months from now, we will see the actual economic benefits that the bridge will bring to Macao.”
In an exclusive interview with Macao Image, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), says the new Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will open the doors to many new opportunities for tourism. She says the bridge will boost accessibility for visitors as well as open up new tourism markets.
The year 2019 is a significant one, as it marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR, the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, as well as the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Portugal and the Cultural Year of China-Portugal. She said all of these momentous events would definitely boost overseas tourism promotions for Macao.
Can you tell us about Macao’s tourism development in 2018? According to official figures, visitor arrivals grew by approximately 8 percent in the first 10 months of 2018.
We originally expected the growth of the visitor arrival for 2018 to be at just 3 percent to 5 percent, so the actual growth beat our expectations. This is due to an increase in Mainland Chinese visitors, while other tourism markets have risen and fallen. Also, given the recent opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, it has attracted travellers, mostly day-trippers, to visit and test it out. While the bridge may not be bringing significant economic benefits to the city at this point in time, I do believe that after this new buzz has quieted down, probably a few months from now, we will see the actual economic benefits that the bridge will bring to Macao.
Speaking of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, what benefits do you think it will bring in terms of Macao’s tourism development?
As a mega-scale cross-sea transportation infrastructure, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is an attraction all of its own, and it will also serve as a means to make travelling to Macao much faster and easier. Beyond the Greater China region, the major overseas tourism markets for Macao are South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as countries and regions covered by the “Belt and Road” initiative. Since our tourism markets are closely linked to air connections, the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge brings Macao much closer to the Hong Kong International Airport. Therefore, we will continue to explore more tourism markets via the Hong Kong airport. For instance, MGTO is now partnering with airlines like Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airlines to promote Macao. We will try to co-operate with other airlines flying into the Hong Kong airport as well.
“Our major focus is to facilitate the co-operation between Macao, Hong Kong and the nine cities across Guangdong to promote the tourism brand of the Greater Bay Area.”
What other overseas markets will you explore in future?
We are planning to explore Europe. In the past, we mainly focused on the western European market, such as Portugal where we already have a close historical connection. We’ve also been working with the United Kingdom, France and Germany. In the future, we intend to explore northern, eastern and central Europe, as we have recently completed our market research on the tourism markets of northern Europe.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a hot topic right now. Can you tell us about how Macao can work more closely with other cities in the Greater Bay Area to boost tourism? Will there be more multi-destination tourism offerings in future?
All tourism authorities in the Greater Bay Area, Macao included, have set up a brand new organisation called “Tourism Federation of Cities in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area” designed for comprehensive tourism co-operation in 2017. Our major focus is to facilitate the co-operation between Macao, Hong Kong and nine cities across Guangdong to promote the tourism brand of the Greater Bay Area. We can do so by making good use of the tourism offerings in each city and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
Multi-destination tourism products are definitely a priority. In August 2018, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao led members of the Tourism Development Committee on a visit to five Guangdong cities – Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Huizhou and Shenzhen – in the Greater Bay Area. These cities are located on the east side of the Pearl River, where we had fewer exchanges in the past. Therefore, this trip helped us enhance our mutual understanding and deepen our relations with these cities. Looking forward, we also plan to visit the remaining four Guangdong cities in the Greater Bay Area, including Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing. We have also had discussions with the local tourism industry. The Macao SAR Government may allocate resources to encourage members of the tourism industry to visit Mainland China cities in the Greater Bay area to co-launch relevant tourism products. In terms of overseas promotions, overseas media outlets and travel agencies will be invited to visit the Greater Bay Area and join in business matching sessions with the industry there.
“Since our tourism markets are closely linked to air connections, the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge brings Macao much closer to the Hong Kong International Airport.”
In addition to the Greater Bay Area, the “Belt and Road” initiative is also a major national policy. How can Macao’s tourism industry benefit?
As the Macao SAR Government has previously announced, Macao should co-operate with Mainland Chinese cities, especially in the Guangdong and Fujian provinces with respect to the “Belt and Road” initiative. In 2018, we went to Australia with representatives from Fujian to introduce a new model of tourism promotion. In the past, we would focus on drawing travellers to Macao first, before visiting Mainland Chinese cities. However, as Xiamen Airlines of Fujian now has direct flights connecting Sydney and Melbourne to Fuzhou and Xiamen, the co-operation model this time was to attract visitors to Fujian first and then to Macao.
How will MGTO make the most of the 20th anniversary of the Macao SAR in 2019 for tourism promotion?
2019 is the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Macao SAR, the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, as well as the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Portugal and the Cultural Year of China-Portugal. We will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Macao International Fireworks Display Contest in 2019. There are many festive events to be held in 2019, and they all serve as an opportune time to promote Macao. Given the Cultural Year of China-Portugal in 2019, we will visit Portugal in March to attend a tourism expo for large-scale promotions. We will visit Lisbon and Porto to introduce the tourism offerings of Macao, and showcase cultural projects, wushu (martial arts) and other unique elements of Macao.
