At the invitation of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Director of Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, attended the 14th China – U.S. Tourism Leadership Summit, which commenced in Xi’an on 22 May, and shared about aspects of Macao’s tourism industry in one of the panel discussions. During the stay, MGTO met with the Shaanxi provincial departments concerned for a further exchange on preparations for the Macao Week in Xi’an and other topics on the agenda, leveraging the opportunity unlocked by Xi’an’s participation in the facilitated individual travel scheme this year to expand Macao’s reach in the Mainland visitor market.
Attend China – U.S. Tourism Leadership Summit
Organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province, the United States (U.S.) Department of Commerce and Brand USA — the destination marketing organization of U.S., the 14th China – U.S. Tourism Leadership Summit opened in Xi’an on 22 May. State Councilor Shen Yiqin, Minister of Culture and Tourism, Sun Yeli, Assistant Secretary for Industry and Analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce, Grant Harris, and Secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Zhao Yide, attended the opening ceremony together with others.
The organizers hosted a Shaanxi Culture and Tourism Promotion Conference and welcome evening banquet. Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Zhang Zheng, and Governor of the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province, Zhao Gang, attended and addressed the evening banquet. Vice Governor of the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province, Xu Mingfei, officiated the banquet, which was attended by the Mainland and U.S. officials concerned.
MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes attended the Shaanxi Culture and Tourism Promotion Conference and welcome evening banquet, the opening ceremony of the China – U.S. Tourism Leadership Summit, and the closing cocktail and Chinese – U.S. travel trade networking seminar. She also shared about Macao’s situation and an introduction to the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin in a panel discussion about “Facilitating inbound travel and diversifying experiences”.
Vigorous preparations for Macao Week in Xi’an
The State Council approved the inclusion of the cities Xi’an and Qingdao in the facilitated individual travel (FIT) scheme for Mainland residents’ travel to Hong Kong and Macao starting from 6 March. Following the success of the “Macao Week in Shandong•Qingdao” last year, MGTO and Air Macau jointly rolled out the Experience Macao roadshow in Qingdao this April to attract Qingdao travelers to Macao for vacation and spending as part of the marketing endeavors.
In addition, planning is underway for MGTO to organize a Macao Week in Xi’an this August. The Office has recently paid an inspection visit to the venue in Xi’an and convened a coordination meeting in the city. Riding on this visit, Director Senna Fernandes and other staffers met with Director of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Gao Yang, Second-level Inspector of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of Shaanxi Provincial Committee of CPC, Ji Wenkui, and other officials for a further exchange on Xi’an’s participation in the FIT scheme for travel to Hong Kong and Macao. Both parties also continued their discussions on preparations for the Macao Week, with the hope that it can bring local residents into a great experience of Macao’s fascinating “tourism +”.
Rise in visitations from Qingdao and Xi’an
MGTO is actively forging ahead with different marketing initiatives and promotions of special offers. Besides leveraging the influence of KOLs to spotlight the destination, the Office also partners with online travel agencies in the Mainland to conduct promotions and product sales online and offline. Liaisons have been made with different Mainland travel platforms to discuss collaborative promotional projects for market development. With Qingdao and Xi’an joining the FIT scheme on 6 March, visitor arrivals from both cities to Macao have been gaining new momentum in an upward trend. Between January and April 2024, the volumes of Qingdao and Xi’an visitors to Macao reached around 30,000 and 56,000, a year-on-year growth of 102.9% and 153.8% respectively. Visitor arrivals from Qingdao exceeded the levels in the corresponding period of 2019 with an increase of 35.3%, while the volume of visitors from Xi’an reached the levels (98.2%) in the corresponding period of 2019.
MGTO continues to capitalize on various preferential measures implemented by the Central Government for Macao, marching forward with its marketing efforts to expand the Mainland visitor market while collaborating with industry operators to optimize Macao’s tourism resources and capabilities of hospitality, to create a great diversity of travel experiences for visitors.
