Cooperation and collaboration are needed to further promote the tourism industry and enhance ties, said speakers at a forum in Macao. Currently, Argentina and Brazil are working on mutual acceptance for a Chinese tourist visa that will allow Chinese travelers to visit both countries, said Argentinian Tourism Minister Gustavo Santos, adding that the talks on this measure can be extended to other countries in South America. Argentina signed an agreement on Oct 14 on mutual visa-exemption with Macao, which allows travelers from Macao to enter Argentina for up to 30 days without the need for a visa. The measure will be effective from mid-November. “We have built trust (with China) … and this trust will create friendship,” said Santos, noting his country can also help China fulfill its aspiration to develop soccer. Santos was speaking at the 8th Global Tourism Economy Forum held in Macao on Oct 13-15. This year marks the 47th and 45th anniversaries of China’s diplomatic ties with Argentina and Brazil, respectively. The two South American countries were featured as partner countries of this year’s GTEF. “Brazil is going through an important process now … and (the country) highlights its closeness to China,” said Brazilian Tourism Minister Marcelo Alvaro Antonio, adding Chinese investment in the tourism sector is welcome as he hoped to see closer bilateral cooperation through tourism. “China can become our biggest partner in tourism … we want to transform our partnership, not just in the economic area but also in the tourism area,” said Antonio, adding that Brazil is also working to allow the issuance of electronic visas for Chinese tourists, in order to facilitate exchange between the two countries. Hosted by Macao’s Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture in cooperation with the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the forum brought together government officials, industry leaders and academic experts from around the world to share their insights under the theme “Tourism and Leisure: Roadmap to a Beautiful Life”. Santos said tourism provides great opportunities for the world, particularly in job creation. About 10 percent of the world’s workforce is associated with tourism, according to the UNWTO. Noting that tourism is about healthy lifestyles and the well-being of society, Zurab Pololikashvili, the UNWTO’s secretary-general, said cooperation and experience-sharing are needed for stronger growth. He encouraged active participation from the private sector, including cooperating with the public sector to jointly keep pace with the fast-growing industry. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Former Macao chief executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah, who is now vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the GTEF, said the unveiling of the ‘Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’ early this year gives Macao new missions to achieve at this significant moment in history. The Greater Bay Area covers nine cities in Guangdong province and the Hong Kong and Macao SARs.

Riding high on the rapid development of the Bay Area, Macao is diversifying tourism and seeking areas with growth potential, said Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office. “Having the (Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater) Bay Area as a conjunction of different attractions will help to create more synergies and also bring in tourists from areas that Macao on its own cannot tap into,” she told China Daily on the sidelines of the eighth Global Tourism Economy Forum in Macao on Tuesday. About 40 million tourists arrivals to Macao are expected this year, according to Senna Fernandes. The Bay Area development plan, unveiled in February, will lure more people to visit Macao while encouraging the exchange of ideas in the region. However, there are still major challenges facing Macao, noted Senna Fernandes. With a total land area of about 32 square kilometers, the number of attractions Macao can create and the city’s ability to accommodate visitors are limited, she explained. It is also difficult for the city to encourage long-haul flights to Macao given its small market size. To tackle these drawbacks, Macao is working to improve its tourist products, noted Senna Fernandes. The city also plans to host a variety of activities that appeal to people with different tastes and lifestyles. “The product development side will always feature heavily on Macao itself and we are now working with different entities to develop tourism products in various areas of Macao,” Senna Fernandes said. In addition, Macao hopes to attract more visitors to connect their flights in the city with strong support from the Bay Area development plan, she said. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, elaborates on ways for the gambling mecca to develop itself into a well-rounded tourism hub. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY) Backed by Bay Area Since April, the Macao SAR government has presented its half-year-long international art and cultural event Art Macao. This coincides with celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR. The art festival features the Macao Orchestra and the Macao Chinese Orchestra concerts, Macao Cultural Centre signature programs, international youth festivals and visual arts exhibitions at higher education institutions. For the long-term, sustainable development of Macao as a travel destination, Senna Fernandes said, it would continue to serve as a tourism training base for the Bay Area. This is the eighth year Macao has held the Global Tourism Economy Forum. This provides a platform for different countries and regions to exchange ideas and insights on tourism development, while also boosting sustainable tourism, she said. A forum reinventing itself As vice-chairman of GTEF, Senna Fernandes said the annual forum was progressing by introducing new elements each year. For instance, the forum set up exhibition sites a few years ago designated for people in the industry to exchange ideas and ink agreements. This year, the forum set up the first World Tourism Investment and Financing Conference, which gathered leading international investment experts and tourism leaders. They shared their insights on investment and inspired delegates to explore new opportunities in tourism markets involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and across the Bay Area. “Every year, the forum aims to improve itself and try to continuously serve as a very good base for the exchange of ideas while at the same time doing solid business,” Senna Fernandes said. She added that these insights are the most valuable outcome of the forum. Industrial experts and leaders offer practical ideas on how to improve tourism. As Macao celebrates the 20th anniversary of its return to the motherland this year, the SAR government has planned a series of celebratory tourism events. Coincidentally, it is also the year of the 30th Macao International Fireworks Display Contest, which took place throughout the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holidays. “We branded it as a dual celebration of the anniversaries of Macao returning to the motherland and for the fireworks contest,” said Senna Fernandes. People in Macao and Zhuhai’s Hengqin New Area will be treated to firework shows on Dec 20. “It’s the first time for us to launch a fireworks display together with Hengqin; we hope that it will be a very glamorous evening for everybody,” added Senna Fernandes.

For Immediate Release PRESS RELEASE Greater Bay Area Tourism Development: An Integrated Approach for Well-being OCT 15, 2019, MACAO : Co-organized by China Daily and the Global Tourism Economy Forum, the Special Interview session, themed “Greater Bay Area Tourism Development: An Integrated Approach for Well being” will be held in Macao on Tuesday, Oct 15, 2019. The conference attracted nearly 300 government officials, business leaders and academics. Ms. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes , Director, Macao Government Tourism Office; Vice Chairman, Global Tourism Economy Forum , delivered the session keynote address. She pointed out the positioning of Macao in Greater Bay Area is to develop into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure and the Commercial and Trade Cooperation Service Platform between China and Portuguese speaking Countries, promote an appropriate level of diversified economic development, and develop into a base for exchange and cooperation where Chinese culture is the mainstream and diverse cultures coexist, and strengthen the role of Macao as One Centre, One Platform. She pointed out that a round 40 million tourists are expected to visit Macao this year, but rather than simply increasing the number of visitors, what Macao needs is how to change the types of tourists structurally. She said that in Aug 2017, the Macao SAR Government signed the “Framework Agreement of Strategic Cooperation on Smart City Development” with the Alibaba Group in order to better help tourists experience Macao . She highlighted the importance of smart tourism in developing Macao into Smart City. She said that since 2017, Macao Government Tourism Office has started to cooperate with Alibaba Cloud to develop smart tourism and has jointly developed three projects in 2019, including tourism information interchange platform , application for visitor insights, and Smart application for visitor flows. She hopes the experience of visitors before, during and after the journey can be enhanced through the various applications of smart travel. The Special Interview follows by the keynote address had three distinguished speakers to share their views on the tourism development of the Greater Bay Area. They are Mr. Daniel Fong, Director, Nam Kwong (Group) Company Ltd. and Chairman of Board, China Travel Service (Macao) Ltd.;Dr . Jia Jiaya , Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Distinguished Scientist and Director, Tencent Youtu Lab; and Mr. Peter Lv , Executive Director an d General Manager, Huafa Sports Operations Management Co., Ltd. Mr. Fong said tourists used to rely on the travel agencies when travelling since the internet was not well developed and many tourists knew little about the outside world. He pointed out that with drastic changes taken place in tourists’ demand, the number of people choosing free and independent travel increased greatly. In order to develop high quality tourism, the tourism industry needs to better serve the tourists by providing them with products that meet their demand. Dr . Jia said with the use of technology being improved in various industries, technology is poised to be a major driver for the tourism industry in the next five to ten years. For instance, powered by the artificial intelligence, smart recommendations for tourism sites and route planning will allow people of different background and ages to receive recommendations for travel based on their own interest. Mr. Lv said sports will play a more important role in promoting the development of the tourism industry. He takes marathon as an example. A round 1,500 marathon races were held in China in 2018, attracting more than 5 million people to attend. In Zhuhai, about 60-70 percent of participants of races held by Huafa Sports are not from the local area. He hopes his company will have the chance to hold a marathon race on the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge. About China Daily Founded in 1981, China Daily covers 200 million readers and users worldwide through diversified platforms, including newspapers, websites, and mobiles and social media. The number of China Daily’s followers had now reached 46.5 million on Weibo, 5.8 million on the WeChat Blog platform, and another 80 million on Facebook. About China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable The China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable is a by invitation network of movers and shakers in Asia providing platforms for focused dialogue, issue investigation, and possible collective action on strategic issues relating to economic, business and social development in Asia. Our aim is to enhance communication and increase mutual understanding between China, Asian and Western countries. Roundtable events are held in major cities across Asia.

Riding high on the goals and undertakings of the high-profile Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area mega plan, Macao, with the “one country, two system” principle as its major advantage, is sparing no effort to consolidate its position as a tourist magnet. The city underscored this vision when the eighth session of the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) kicked off in Macao on Monday. Hosted by Macao’s Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture, the two-day event is promoting international dialogue with the theme “Tourism and Leisure: Roadmap to a Beautiful Life” — a proactive response to “the China Dream” as outlined by President Xi Jinping, who stressed: “People’s yearning for a good and beautiful life is the goal for us to strive for.” This year, the event takes on a new significance as Macao celebrates its 20th anniversary of its return to the motherland. In his welcoming address, former Macao chief executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah, who is now vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the GTEF, said the event stands as a “once-in-a-lifetime chance” for Macao to be identified as one of the four core cities and core engines for driving development in the region, together with its counterparts Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, in the Greater Bay Area Outline Development Plan, which the State Council released in February. The principle of “one country, two systems” offers Macao, where East meets West, the best of both worlds. The principle enables the city to keep its way of life and freedom while tapping the opportunities and benefits arising from reuniting with the Chinese mainland, Macao Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on said. “For years, tourism has long been the pillar of Macao’s economy,” Chui said. Since the establishment of the Macao SAR government in 1999, the tourism industry has been on a tear in the territory. Visitor arrivals to Macao have quadrupled, and the number of hotel rooms has tripled, he said. Zurab Pololikashvili, who is in the second year of a four-year term as secretary-general of the World Tourism Organization, stressed the forum charts its course of making Macao “the next Davos” for visitors — a step closer to the promise made at last year’s event. This year, Argentina and Brazil are featured as the partnered countries of the event. Argentine Tourism Minister Gustavo Santos, who traveled thousands of kilometers from the other side of the world to Macao, said he believes tourism could go beyond the geographical distance and connect countries and regions together. “Argentina, Brazil and China are closer than ever before, as the three great nations share the same rhythm,” he said. Zhang Xu, vice-minister of culture and tourism, also lauded the continued potential of tourism in Macao. “As the growing rhetoric and mentality of protectionism today cast a shadow over the globe, the tourism industry, with its inherent spirit of openness and collaboration, has what it takes to be one of the most prominent growth engines for the global economy. It is high time for Macao to make a difference,” he said. The forum is billed as one of the leading annual events in the global tourism calendar and the single most representative non-governmental tourism platform in China. Since its inception in 2012, it has attracted more than 10,783 participants from 89 countries and regions, including delegations from 147 provinces and cities from the Chinese mainland, and invited 570 of the world’s most influential business leaders, decision-makers and academics to share their insights. In conjunction with this year’s GTEF, China Daily will host a panel discussion for the eighth consecutive year. The event will bring together distinguished academics, policymakers and industry heavyweights to share their insights on how a globally competitive cluster of metropolises in the making under the grand plan of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area could be turned into a world-class tourism destination and bring dramatic changes to the regional tourism market. The dialogue, titled “Greater Bay Area Tourism Development: An Integrated Approach for Well-Being”, will be held today in Macao.

新闻稿 即时发布 中国日报10月15日澳门电 今日中国日报第八度携手“世界旅游经济论坛”在澳门合办题为“粤港澳大湾区旅游发展：综合建设美好生活”的专题研讨会，吸引逾300名来自政商学界的高端人士参会。 澳门特别行政区政府旅游局局长文绮华出席活动并发表主旨演讲。文绮华强调，智慧旅游是将澳门发展成为智慧城市的一个切入点。澳门特区政府旅游局与阿里巴巴集团在2017年8月签署构建智慧城市战略合作框架协议，并于2019 合力开发三个资讯科技项目，包括旅游资讯交换平台、旅客洞察应用和智慧客流应用。她期望透过智慧旅游的软件，加强旅客的游览体验，并利用资讯技术对不同群体宣传不同主题的澳门旅游产品，进行精准营销。 南光（集团）有限公司董事、澳门中国旅行社股份有限公司董事长方立群指出，随着游客的需求发生巨大变化，自由行的人数显着上升，想要发展优质旅游，旅游业需要更好地服务旅客，提供符合旅客需求的产品。 香港中文大学计算机科学与工程学系终身教授、腾讯优图X-Lab 杰出科学家及实验室负责人贾佳亚说，随着各个行业的科技水平都在不断提高，科技在未来5至10年会对旅游有巨大推动作用。例如智能推荐和智能路线规划的功能，可以通过判断个人的兴趣爱好，来为不同群体、不同年龄层的游客推荐相应的景点，实现千人千面的旅游新方式。 华发体育运营管理有限公司执行董事兼总经理吕品德表示，他相信未来体育产品对旅游的拉动作用会越来越大，希望有机会在港珠澳大桥上举办马拉松比赛。他以马拉松赛事为例，2018年中国约举办1500场马拉松比赛，吸引超过500万人参与，而华发体育在珠海举办的马拉松比赛中，约有60%至70%的参与人士来自外地。 关于中国日报 中国日报是中国国家英文日报，创刊于1981年，拥有报纸、网站、移动客户端、脸谱、推特、微博、微信、电子报等十余种媒介平台，全媒体用户总数超过2亿。截至2019年9月，中国日报微博粉丝数超过4650万；微信订阅人数640万，客户端全球下载用户超过2200万，是我国唯一下载量过千万的英文新闻客户端；脸谱账号粉丝数超过8000万，位居全球媒体账号粉丝数第二位；推特账号粉丝数430万。 关于中国日报亚洲领袖圆桌论坛 亚洲领袖圆桌论坛（www.cdroundtable.com），旨在搭建一个由亚洲国家和地区的政、商、学界领袖和社会精英参与的高端对话和交流平台，围绕亚洲地区经济、商业、产业和社会发展等具有战略影响的重要议题展开讨论和分享见解，以增进中国与亚洲和西方国家的交流和理解。

MACAO – As tourism continues to be a major economic contributor around the world, the industry not only helps create jobs but also helps build a better humanity, a leading global tourism platform has heard. The tourism industry has become an important contributor to meet people’s demand for a better life in China, Zhang Xu, vice-minister of China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said at the second day of the Global Tourism Economy Forum, in Macao on Monday. In the face of global uncertainties, tourism helps promote connectivity in policy, infrastructure, trade, finance and people, said Zhang. Also speaking at the opening ceremony, Gustavo Santos, Argentina's Minister of Tourism, said, “Tourism gives tourists the chance to meet people who are different from them, learn from each other, and understand each other." Also speaking at the opening ceremony, Gustavo Santos, Argentina's Minister of Tourism, said, “Tourism gives tourists the chance to meet people who are different from them, learn from each other, and understand each other."