[2024/08/31] 【Synergy of tourism and Macao-Hengqin joint investment promotion reaps harvest】 Successive Macao Weeks in ten cities boost visitor arrivals and facilitate over 1,000 business matching sessions

Since 2020 till now, the Macao SAR Government has held Macao Weeks in ten cities namely Beijing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Qingdao, Tianjin, Xiamen and Xi’an. In accord with the strategic plan for “tourism +” development, the Macao weeks have successfully incorporated destination marketing with collaborative promotion of investment opportunities in Macao and Hengqin, while embracing the opportunities unlocked by the Central Government’s favorable measures for Macao. The events have yielded great harvest in terms of attracting more Mainland tourists and businesses to Macao for vacation and investment opportunities respectively.

Macao Weeks gain popularity and Mainland visitor arrivals keep rising

For destination promotion and expansion of the Mainland visitor market, MGTO staged an array of Macao Weeks in ten cities, which continuously introduced Mainland residents to the latest information about Macao’s culture, tourism, commerce and sports as well as special travel offers. The ten Macao Weeks attracted about six million spectators in total. Preliminary figures show that the total volume of exposure reached 7.4 billion on various promotional channels, suggesting the wide publicity enjoyed by the events.

Macao registered 13.72 million Mainland visitor arrivals between January and July 2024. The volumes of visitors from Beijing, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Fujian all saw a year-on-year increase at different levels between 22.7% and 66.9%, which spoke to the great promotional impact.

Macao-Hengqin Joint Investment Promotion boosts efficacy

In terms of Macao-Hengqin joint investment promotion, the Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) has organised 60 Macao small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in 10 “Macao Week” roadshows, in order to help “Macao Brands”, “MinM” products and products from Portuguese-speaking countries “go global”. During the “Macao Week” events, IPIM arranged 16 promotion seminars and more than 1,000 business matching sessions to deepen economic and trade exchanges and co-operation between Macao SMEs and enterprises from other regions. The Economic Development Bureau of the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Co-operation Zone in Hengqin participated in the joint investment promotion at Qingdao and Xi’an in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and has facilitated about 100 business matching sessions.

The latest Macao Week enjoys great popularity in Xi’an

The “Macao Week in Shaanxi•Xi’an” was held in Xi’an for five consecutive days (22 – 26 August). Through the spectacular mega roadshow, signature delicacies and presentation seminar, in tandem with diverse online promotions, the “Macao Week in Shaanxi•Xi’an” showcased Macao’s diverse “tourism +” offerings to Xi’an residents, while promoting the series of favorable measures the Central Government has for Macao, including the inclusion of Xi’an in the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) for travel to Macao.

With the resumption of direct air services between Xi’an and Macao as well, the Macao Week was held in Xi’an to boost locals’ interest in visiting Macao and keep expanding the Mainland visitor market.

Staged for five days, the mega roadshow attracted about 330,000 spectators on site and engaged over 5.50 million viewers cumulatively online. The roadshow featured 107 sessions of fascinating stage performances including lion dance, martial art, luminescent dragon dance at night, Portuguese Folk Dance and singing band performance, in addition to music and dance performances in different styles arranged by the six integrated resort enterprises. The performances manifested Macao’s unique aroma of Chinese and Portuguese culture and enlivened the roadshow. Moreover, the gastronomic promotion “Way to Macau” was held for 13 days to showcase Macao’s wonderful food scene as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

For this Macao Week, tourism businesses presented over 38 million RMB’s worth of special travel offers on air tickets, hotels, dining and more for sale at the roadshow and different platforms.

Foster cooperation and joint development of “multi-destination” tourism and visitor markets

Riding on the visit, MGTO met with Xi’an Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism for an exchange of ideas to enhance cooperation. An invitation was extended to outstanding performance groups in Xi’an for participation in the “Parade for Celebration of the Chinese New Year 2025” in Macao. Members of Xi’an’s travel trade were once again invited to join the next edition of the Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo, among other initiatives.

Both parties discussed the possibilities of closer cooperation and development of multi-destination tourism products and educational tourism products about cultural museums, with the shared goal to boost mutual visitations and expand travel markets.

MGTO also led a delegation of Macao’s travel trade and organized a destination presentation seminar and networking session, attended by close to 100 participants. Members of the trade from both destinations connected and navigated business opportunities, seizing the opportunities brought by the Central Government’s favorable measures for Macao. Tourism operators of Macao and Xi’an signed cooperation agreements to jointly develop tourism products and expand visitor markets for both destinations.

Macao-Hengqin Joint Investment Promotion during “Macao Week in Shaanxi•Xi’an” facilitated signing of 21 projects

During the “Macao Week in Shaanxi•Xi’an”, the “2024 Macao-Hengqin Promotion Conference (Xi’an Station)” and the “Macao Week in Shaanxi•Xi’an – Xi’an-Macao Business Matching Conference” were held. Representatives from government departments in Macao, Hengqin, and Xi’an, as well as convention and exhibition industry associations, organisers, and main contractors participated in the events.

Approximately 260 business matching sessions were arranged, resulting in 21 signed projects facilitated by the Macao-Hengqin joint investment promotion, covering areas such as registration and contract manufacturing of health food products, product agency, collaboration with exhibition industry associations, and green exhibition cooperation.

IPIM organised 28 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Macao to participate in the “Macao Week in Shaanxi•Xi’an”, marking the first time that halal-certified products were included. In terms of co-operation with exhibition industry associations and green exhibitions, the aim was to enhance communication and collaboration between Shaanxi Province and Macao-Hengqin to attract more convention and exhibition activities to settle in the region.

Enterprises recognise the effectiveness of the Macao-Hengqin Joint Investment Promotion

Several SMEs from Macao that continuously participated in the Macao Weeks acknowledged the effectiveness of the events. Some companies successfully expanded into the Mainland market through the Macao Weeks, launching “Macao brands”, “Macao-made” products, and products representing Portuguese-speaking countries, such as pastries and beverages, in Mainland chain supermarkets, department stores, and restaurants.

At the Promotion Seminar, there were intensive business exchanges and lively interactions among enterprises. After understanding the superimposed Macao-Hengqin MICE advantages, some industry representatives were interested in the “Multi-venue Event” new MICE pattern.

Along with the restoration of the direct flights between Xi’an and Macao, they were interested in going to Macao and Hengqin to inspect the MICE software and hardware facilities, and to gain first-hand information of the MICE activities held in these two regions. They were also considering the feasibility of holding conventions and exhibitions in Macao and Hengqin in the future. At the event, some Macao MICE enterprise also reached co-operation with the green MICE operators in Xi’an, with the hope of seizing the business opportunities in green MICE.

IPIM continues to deepen economic and trade exchanges and co-operation between Macao SMEs and enterprises from other regions in 10 “Macao Week” roadshows