“Tourism optimisation does not mean reducing tourist numbers”

Although the city’s tourist numbers have dropped for the first eight months of the year amid the economic downturn, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam Chon Weng, says he remains confident and optimistic about the tourism industry. Claiming Macau has many visitor sources yet untapped, he indicates optimising the tourism environment and structure as the current tasks, such as creating more tourism resources for visitors. In an exclusive interview with De Ficção Multimedia Projects (which owns Business Daily, Macau Business and Business Intelligence) the Secretary revealed that he would present his new plan on offering more tourism products during his political address to the Legislative Assembly this month. “For example, we would build more museums, or themed-buildings to attract more tourists to stay in Macau for longer days,” Mr. Tam said. According to the government official, optimisation of the local tourism industry does not mean fewer tourists coming to Macau, but rather having them arrive in the territory at different periods of the year, in addition to prolonging their stay. “I’m confident in our tourism and gaming industry. Of course, we know that it’s impossible for the [gaming] industry to post the same income as in previous years. However, what is happening is not our problem but due to the external environment and macroeconomic [factors]…But of course, we have got some impact so that’s why we need to face it to create more conditions [for visitors],” he said. “We’ve asked the central government to help us… while it agrees with our direction. For example, they’re discussing offering annual leave like the Europeans have. I do think this is a good idea. However, China is huge. In order to implement this kind of policy, they need to study [the situation],” the Secretary added. Stay longer Although the Secretary said his tourism capacity report submitted to the central government recently is under progress from Beijing, the Special Administrative Region has already witnessed its tourists staying longer than before. Between June and July this year, the length of stay of overnight visitors in the territory reached a record-high of 2.2 days despite September slightly dropping to 2.1 days, according to the official data of the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). The Secretary indicated that it has never been a piece of cake for the government to attract tourists to stay in the city longer. “Macau will never be like other places, like Las Vegas, or other tourism destinations… Macau is so close to China that it is convenient to [reach] every other place… Meanwhile, the [accommodation] cost here is high so that tourists, especially those from China, may choose our neighbouring cities [to spend the night] like Zhuhai or Hengqin,” he perceives. “Of course, one of our objectives is to attract more long-haul tourists as we want people to stay here longer. However, we will need to balance – we need to create more conditions for people to like Macau, as well as for our residents not to [be unwelcoming to] our tourists. As you know, the more tourists we have, the more problems we may face, which our citizens won’t like,” Mr. Tam added. Build before they come Refuting that he has proposed a cap on the city’s tourist numbers, the Secretary said the territory should still have the capacity to accept more tourists in the current economic downturn. “A recent survey by IFT [the Institute for Tourism Studies] indicates that we still have the capacity to receive a similar number of tourists like last year, which was 31.5 million. As such, we can receive around 89,000 to 120,000 tourists on average per day so we still have the margin to receive more tourists,” he said. From his point of view, developing more visitor sources would be another way to boost the development of the tourism industry in the coming years. Currently, the central government has implemented the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in 49 Mainland cities for its citizens visiting the Special Administrative Region. But Secretary Tam said there are some 600 other Chinese cities eligible for the scheme, which Macau is actually considering. “Macau would still have a very good future… Imagine the total population of China; we had 21.5 million tourists from China last year, but there are still many more tourists wanting to come to Macau,” he said. Nevertheless, prior to developing the new visitor sources and receiving more tourists, Secretary Tam admitted that the city would first need to improve its infrastructure. “We will need to create conditions instead of bringing more difficulties to Macau society…Perhaps in the next five or six years, we can receive more tourists when we have the [Light Rail Transit] ready and have a better transportation system,” he said. Smoking lounges up to workers Meanwhile, Secretary Tam stressed during the interview that a universal smoking ban in casinos is a must, although conceding there could still be other options and alternatives if the city’s gaming workers agree. “The industry and the operators said it is possible to create a very good smoking lounge. We don’t know. It will be depend upon the conditions. If they really have good proposals, if the workers agree with it, it will be fine,” he said. But the Secretary said he has not yet received any proposal on smoking lounges from the city’s gaming operators. Asked what the standard is for the government to allow the establishment of smoking lounges under the full smoking ban, the Secretary said the operators would need to present their proposals first. “The six operators have to propose,” he indicated. In July, the government-backed bill proposing a universal smoking ban and the elimination of smoking lounges in casinos passed its first reading in the Legislative Assembly (AL) with only two votes against. In the discussion of the Assembly’s second standing committee, the committee chairman, legislator Chan Chak Mo, said recently his group might take one year to examine the changes proposed by the government to the smoking law. “We are well aware of all the arguments from both sides but what you can expect from a government member who oversees health is to put people’s health first. It can’t be the other way…We need to put people first and I do not want people to suffer from second hand smoke. This objective will prevail,” says the Secretary. Taipa Hospital On the other hand, the Secretary revealed that the design plan for the city’s new public hospital in Taipa has been finished. However, he declined to comment on the completion date of the project or the total budget for the new infrastructure. “Many people are concerned about the budget of the new hospital. I’m very concerned about it, as well. I want to know how much we are going to spend to build the hospital, too,” said Mr. Tam, indicating the budget and the completion date would be the responsibility of his colleague Raimundo Rosário, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works. Nonetheless, Mr. Tam stressed that he is confident that his responsibilities, such as personnel and other software for the new public hospital, will be done well. According to the Secretary, the government would conclude the recruitment of some 500 medical personnel this year, which includes both doctors and nurses. He added that the recruitment of the personnel for the new hospital would be imitated next year, claiming “everything is under control”. Meanwhile, the government official said he is also awaiting the completion of the project as a user. The new hospital, which is located on the east side of Estrada do Istimo in Cotai, is currently scheduled to be completed in 2017. Creating change Having occupied the position of Secretary for more than nine months, Mr. Tam indicated that his goals for the rest of his term are to make a change to the lives of local residents. One of the goals is to execute his promise of creating “the glorious five years” for the medical field in the city, according to the Secretary. “We’ll get there. Not in a year, though. Some progress has been achieved, for instance, in reducing the waiting time in the hospital services, some of them by 30 per cent. Let us not forget that the city population was 237,000 in 2000 and is now 643,000,” he said. In addition, leading Macau towards fulfilling the position of a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure is another of the Secretary’s targets. “We know that we haven’t reached it yet. We’ve invested in promoting Macau and cultural activities to make our city even more attractive during this economic adjustment phase. The fact that we’ve embarked upon the ‘One Belt, One Road’ plan is an excellent opportunity that we must take advantage of,” Mr. Tam believes. “We need to make improvements and make progress for Macau society. I think what I want to do is enable Macau people to live better and live happily,” the Secretary said.