The 5th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) is gathering travel and tourism service providers from 19 countries and localities along the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, said Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the Director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), during a press conference held on Friday to present details about the expo.
A total of 40 countries will be exhibiting at the fair, which will run from July 7 to 9. In addition to the 19 countries linked to OBOR, and 17 from other regions of the world, the remaining four are Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China.
Accordingly, the event is also designed to “foster the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area development, integrating such endeavours with national development,” said the MGTO Director.
Ms. Senna Fernandes explained that the aim of the fair is “not only to promote products of Macau,” but also to “serve as a platform to attract more international exhibitors in the future.”
In order to contribute to the development of a sustainable tourism programme for the city, the MGTO Director told Business Daily that they are inviting buyers to come to Macau and to “commit to do business” during the fair.
“There are some requirements they will have to fulfil. One is that buyers be present throughout the whole duration of the fair. The other is that they commit to signing deals during the event,” Ms. Senna Fernandes explained.
She added that a “co-ordinating entity” will be in charge of computing the actions carried out by participants in the coming MITE, in a sort of “survey” that will serve as the basis for considering future invitations on the part of local authorities.
Therefore, as the MGTO director highlighted, a focus will be placed on “business matching.”
In particular, Ms. Senna Fernandes explained that MGTO “will continue to promote Sino-Portuguese tourism partnerships.” In tandem, a seminar and networking session entitled ‘China-Portugal Tourism’ will be held during the fair.
Another strategy presented by the Director is to encourage Chinese businesses.
“We hope the fair provides opportunities for travel agencies in mainland China,” she added.
The fair
The space dedicated to the fair, to be held in the Cotai Expo at the Venetian Macau, has been expanded from about 6,000 square metres last year to 10,000 square metres, according to information provided by the President of the Macau Travel Agency Association, Alex Lao, who was also present at the press conference.
Mr. Lao added that exhibitors – ranging from tour operators to tourism-related entities and enterprises – will be distributed over a total of 450 standard booths.
Two new dedicated areas have also been planned for this year’s event: the ‘Macau Street Exhibition Zone,’ and the ‘Nostalgia Creative Zone.’
According to information presented during the conference, the first will gather an array of local exhibitors from tourism-related fields, who will present “typical and authentic products” from Macau, while the second will display information about historical local shops, aiming to educate visitors about local customs and untapped tourism resources of Macau.
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The six elements
Exhibitors at MITE will cover six major categories of the tourism industry
– Dining
– Lodging
– Transportation
– Entertainment
– Sightseeing
– Shopping
