On March 11, 2022, the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management (FHTM) held the first lecture on “Seminars by Masters from Tourism Industry” in D Hall. Ms. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director of Macao Government Tourist Office, was invited as the opening guest speaker of this series of lectures, and provided an insightful lecture entitled “Road to Recovery: Macao’s Tourism after COVID-19”. Prof. Ben K. Goh, Dean of FHTM, Program Director Dr. Brenda Yang, Program Director Dr. Feng Yan, Program Director Dr. Zhang Yang, Program Director Dr. Wong Weng Chou, and more than 200 teachers and students attended the seminar.
Group Photo
Professor Ben K. Goh delivered a speech and thanked Director Fernandes for her constant support of M.U.S.T. FHTM continuously enriches the students’ learning by offering a diverse range of master lectures and workshops. The University believes that through these events, students have the opportunity to learn from renowned experts, while at the same time gaining first-hand insights from the industry peers to broaden their horizons. He also hopes that this seminar can arouse the reflection on the development of the tourism industry after the epidemic, and hope to strengthen the cooperation between government departments, industry, and academia.
Prof. Ben K. Goh, Dean of FHTM Delivered a Speech
From right: Prof. Ben K. Goh, Dean of FHTM Presented a Gift to Director Fernandes
During the lecture, Director Fernandes first introduced the MGTO’s attributes and the duties of various departments. She used plenty of data such as the numbers of Macao visitors, hotel occupancy rates, and others, to analyze and compare the general situation of Macao's tourism industry before and after the epidemic, and the impact of the epidemic to the sector. Director Fernandes also described MGTO's implementation of different measures in response to the epidemic and the emerging smart tourism trends to cater to the future development direction of Macao's tourism industry.
Furthermore, Director Fernandes added that the MGTO is committed to developing various E-platforms to promote Macao and organize many activities such as the "Light up Macao Drone Gala", light festivals, a parade with floats, and fireworks performances to attract residents and tourists to drive Macao's tourism industry and to economically revive the community.
At last, Director Fernandes also introduced the “Tourism-plus” cross-sector integration project as one of the key tasks of MGTO this year, including “Tourism + MICE”, “Tourism + Cultural and Creative”, “Tourism + E-Commerce” and “Tourism + Sports”, among others. The project cooperates with different industries and regions to further enhance the competitiveness of Macao’s tourism industry.
Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes Gave a Lecture
At the end of the presentation, students actively participated in the Q&A session. Through this lecture, the students perceived the great efforts made by the Macao Government and the Macao tourism industry for economic recovery after the epidemic, and also gained new insights into its future development. The lecture came to a successful conclusion.
FHTM Teachers and Students Interacted with Guest Speaker
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes came on board the Marketing Department of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) in 1988, and throughout the years organized many local and overseas tourism exhibitions, conferences, seminars, marketing, and promotional activities of different scale. She became one of the two Deputy Directors in September of 1998, where she continues to be highly involved in the marketing and promotion of Macao as a tourism destination. Director Fernandes was appointed as Director of MGTO in December of 2012. In 2016, Director Fernandes was awarded the Medal of Merit – Tourism by the Macao Special Administrative Region Government. She is a current member of the Tourism Development Committee, Economic Development Committee, Cultural Advisory Committee, Committee of Cultural Industries, Urban Planning Committee, among others, and in addition, she has been appointed to the Executive Board of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) as a non-voting member.
