MACAU BUSINESS
Objectives and Strategies of
Tourism Master Plan
1. Diversify tourism products and experiences
Make water part of the visitor’s experience
Add new landmarks for Macau Create memorable experiences Increase retail choice
2. Improve service quality and skills
Make great service a Macau specialty
Adopt integrated quality system Elevate to international standards
3. Re-brand Macau as multi-day destination and expand high-value markets
Target high-value markets Robust online marketing
promotion and itinerary planning Strengthen MICE organisation and promotion
4. Optimise urban development model
Seamless access to Macau from nearby regions Multipurpose urban development
Plan new tourism areas Upgrade local transport
5. Manage Macau’s tourism carrying capacity
Redistribute peak tourism demand
Site management of tourism areas
Expand human resources
6. Utilise innovative technology Promote application of smart tourist destination Build multi-function data platform
Deploy intelligent security system
7. Enhance tourism industry co-operation
Enhance public-private co- operation
Optimise cross-departmental co-operation
Integrated data sharing Review tourism legislation
20 DECEMBER 2017 Z
cent of the city’s total visitation last year, official figures show.
“One of the major problems is that the main
tourism areas here are too crowded,” the academic noted. Developing new tourism products such as theme parks and marine tourism products per suggestion of the master plan could help divert tourist traffic from crowded sites, he agreed. These new offerings should complement rather than compete with existing tourism elements in neighbouring regions like Hong Kong and Hengqin, observed Prof. Zeng, saying, “Macau should make good use of its gaming industry in attracting travellers with mid-to-high consumption powers”. With regard to tourism carrying capacity – the optimal number of visitors Macau can handle without dampening the environment and residents’ quality of life – he said that any significant hike in visitation figure will not be appropriate in the future should the city’s facilities and infrastructure remain unimproved. “Any rise in tourist arrivals will impose pressure upon the city’s traffic, road conditions, human resources in the service industry, and so forth,” said Prof. Zeng. “Macau should focus on pursuing the quality rather than the quantity of travellers”.
Diverting visitors
review of carrying capacity, developing management plans for crowded tourism sites, and enhancing transportation services like taxis, casino shuttles and buses. Legislator Song Pek Kei is concerned about whether the tourism master plan corresponds to the city’s urban master plan, which is still undergoing drafting. “The government has attempted to introduce eight
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walking tour routes to divert visitors from the crowded tourism attractions to [less visited] neighbourhoods but the routes have so far remained unappealing,” she said. “Diverting travellers to neighbourhoods without sufficient support does not only dampen the experiences of travellers but also the quality of living of residents.” “With its limited size of 30 square kilometres, Macau now receives 31 million visitors a year, representing tremendous pressure on the city’s traffic, World Heritage sites, land resources and consumer prices,” added Ms. Song. “There have been calls over the years for the government to attract more quality and international travellers to Macau while cracking down on zero-fare tours in co- operation with Mainland China.”
No costs
ero-fare tours, or low-fare tours, refer to package tours in which travellers pay low or no fee: although they do not cover tour costs they are later asked – or forced – to spend at designated
meliorating the territory’s tourism carrying capacity, the master plan proposes various measures, including improving the annual
visitors are forced into scams’, while it underlines the predicament for the Macau authorities of tackling this malpractice. Mainland visitors only sign contracts with Mainland tourism operators, not with Macau agencies that only sign contracts with Mainland operators. ‘Since Mainland China tour operators are not
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governed by Macao regulations, complaints received [from package travellers] will be transferred to related Mainland departments,’ the document reads. Given this plight, the master plan proposes local
regulations for tour guides and travel agencies be updated. Macao Government Tourism Office has, indeed, said in a reply to legislators’ enquiries earlier this year that they had conducted consultations on amendments to the law on tour guides and travel agencies, which will mandate any local agencies not receive tours to Macau at tour fees lower than cost. It did not confirm when the amendments would be deliberated upon in the Legislative Assembly, only reiterating it would conduct more promotions for travellers warning of the downside of zero-fare tours, as well as collaborating with neighbouring authorities to clamp down on such malpractice. Mr. Wu is not worried the city cannot handle 40 million travellers a year by 2025. “It is not a drastic but reasonable [forecast] growth,” the travel council president said. “[The problem is] the government has
stores from which travel agencies profit. In general, this phenomenon occurs on tours from the Mainland, prompting Mainland authorities to implement its first tourism law in October 2013 banning travel agencies from organising package tours at ‘an unreasonably low price’ and disowning activities in the itineraries that impose additional charges upon visitors. The number of zero-fare tours to Macau from the Mainland has declined following the enforcement of the law and the more diversified mode of travel in the Mainland, but queues of tourists can still be seen outside jewellery and souvenir stores in areas like the northern district. According to official figures, the number of Mainlanders travelling to Macau on package tours hit a peak of 8.9 million in 2014 prior to slipping by nearly one-third to 5.98 million last year. In the first three quarters of this year, the number of Mainland tourists on package tours increased 11.7 per cent year-on-year to 4.77 million, data reveals. Andy Wu Keng Kuong, president of the Macau
Travel Industry Council, acknowledges the existence of zero-fare tours in the city, adding the number, however, has been relatively fewer compared to the past. “This kind of practice dampens the interest of consumers and the industry, and should be cracked down on,” he remarked. “The tourist market has become more mature…and consumers will opt for quality tourism services”.
Revising law
he recently announced tourism master plan recognises that the city’s tourism image would be ‘affected by low/zero-fare tours where
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