To celebrate the 19th birthday of Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management (FHTM) invited Ms. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director of Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), to give a speech on campus, sharing the Office’s participation in the tourism development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and various events to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR. The speech was held in 0702 on the morning of April 11th, 2019.
Vice President of MUST and Dean of FHTM, professor Pang Chuan delivered a welcome speech. Ms. Ma U Leng, head of the Organizational Planning and Development Department of MGTO, Ms. Chu Oi Mei, Vice Dean (administrative) of FHTM, and FHTM students and teachers as many as around 170 attended the event.
Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes shared the new 2019 cultural tourism policy of MGTO, which is to build “Creative Macao” and promote “Art Macao”, covering various artistic forms including design, film, gastronomy, literature, music, media art, crafts and folk art. This new policy has deepened and widened the vision of Macao as a “Creative City of Gastronomy” with food as the theme of promoting the tourism and cultural image of Macao. At present, the food element has been incorporated into various mega events and tourism activities, deepening the gastronomic promotion in various communities. Another direction that MGTO has been devoting its efforts to is participation in the Greater Bay Area construction and “Belt and Road” tourism development. To support the implementation of the national “Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”, MGTO will actively develop Macao into a tourism education and training base in the Greater Bay Area. Regarding the “Belt and Road” tourism development, Macao SAR government will continue to promote tourism in the countries connected to the “Belt and Road” and conduct tourism-related surveys to collect data as basis for future promotion strategies. Another direction for MGTO is to further “Smart Tourism” program by adopting the responsive web design, to improve user experience and enhance visual effects.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR, Director Senna Fernandes pointed out that MGTO would hold various celebration events in major source markets, so as to attract more visitors to Macao. New event elements will be introduced too, in the form of cooperating with other government organs to connect all major annual events, which will be held in different months in a successive fashion, so that citizens and tourists can enjoy the festive moments together.
In the Q and A session, students enthusiastically raised questions about the highlights of the celebration activities, the tourism environmental bearing capacity of Macao, the relationship between the tourists and local residents and the future prospects of Macao, etc. Director Senna Fernandes answered all the questions with equal passion and great patience. The information and insights shared by Director Senna Fernandes has benefited FHTM students and teachers greatly, granting them new and multiple perspectives on Macao and MGTO. Director Senna Fernandes also expressed that she was happy to see MUST students so passionate about Macao tourism and she would take their opinions seriously and use them as references for future planning of Macao tourism.
Group Photo of Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes with students and teachers
Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes exchanging grifts with Vice President Pang Chuan
