Macao continues to win big as tourism put on fast track

MACAO－Macao welcomed more than 33 million visits in the first 10 months of 2019, according to the latest report from the Macao Statistics and Census Service.

The tourism industry anticipates that Macao will receive 40 million visits by the end of 2019.

Before returning to the motherland, Macao recorded about 7 million visits in 1999. In 2018, some 35.8 million visitors came to the special administrative region, which covers a land area of about 33 square kilometers and has a population of 670,000.

Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, chief of the Macao Government Tourism Office, told Xinhua that Macao's booming tourism has been promoted by the rapid development of the mainland and preferential policies from the central government.

In 2003, mainland residents could visit Macao by personal application. In 2008, the outline of the reform and development plan for the Pearl River Delta region proposed for the first time the position of Macao as a world tourism and leisure center.

China's 12th and 13th Five-Year Plans also set forth major measures to support Macao's development and make it a world center of tourism and leisure.

In 2015, the central government granted the Macao administrative authority 85 sq km of its surrounding sea, giving it more opportunity for marine tourism.

The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area published in 2019 reiterated the support for Macao's tourism and leisure industry.

The inflow of tourists and supportive policies have worked together to expand the tourism market. In 1999, there were only about 9,000 hotel rooms in Macao. Now Macao's hotel room number has reached 40,000, with an average occupancy rate of over 90 percent, according to the tourism office.

Macao has a unique festival culture, including traditional Chinese festivals such as Lunar New Year and Dragon Boat Festival, as well as Western festivals such as Easter and Christmas.

In addition, Macao holds events such as the Macao Grand Prix, an art festival, international music festival, fireworks festival, food festival and international film festival every year. Those traditional and modern events mean that Macao's attraction to visitor has gained recognition from international organizations.

In 2005, Macao's historic districts were listed as the world cultural heritage sites. The Ruins of Saint Paul's has become an icon of Macao.

In 2017, Macao was accepted as a new member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of gastronomy.

The World Tourism Organization's latest statistics show that Macao had tourism revenue of $40.2 billion in 2018, ranking it fifth in the Asia-Pacific region, or 11th in the world.

The chief of the Macao Government Tourism Office said the industry had never focused on quantity. "We have made a lot of efforts in upgrading our service quality and visitor experience," she said.

In 2017, the Macao government issued the Macao Tourism Industry Development Master Plan and set out a blueprint for local tourism development for the next 15 years.

"The purpose of our effort is not only to make Macao a successful tourism destination, but also a place of quality life and work for its residents," the tourism chief added.

Besides the infrastructure and activities, Macao has also raised awareness of tourism among local residents to understand its importance and close relations to their lives.

The tourism office has operated the Macao Tourism Awareness Campaign since 2013 and attracted 130,000 residents to participate.

The booming tourism has promoted tourism education and training in Macao, which also support the industry's development in return. The major universities in Macao have classes and programs related to tourism education.

The Macao Institute for Tourism Studies, for example, has more than 1,600 undergraduates in 2019, and more than 20,000 students have taken its adult education programs. Back in 1995 when the institute had its first class, it only had 60 undergraduates and about 1,000 adult education students.

In the 2019 Academic Ranking of World Universities' Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies took fifth place in Asia and 30th globally in terms of the subject of hospitality and tourism management.

The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area mentions that Macao is set to build a tourism education and training base, improve the quality of tourism professionals in the Bay Area and promote the region's tourism development.