Tourism experts urge MSAR to target families

Macau tourism should invest more in family-oriented facilities in order to become a global tourism and leisure centre. Experts told the Macau Daily Times it is time for authorities to stop thinking about growth and switch their attention to creating product value.

The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) commissioned a study from a team of experts from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) to provide opinions to help determine future tourism policies and plans required to achieve the positioning of Macau as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure, as was established in the Chinese 12th five-year plan.

Some preliminary findings were released on Friday suggesting Macau could play a big role in the Indian market. However, local scholars are cautious about such ideas.

Director of the International Tourism Research Centre of the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), Leonardo Dioko, agrees that the Indian market has “huge potential” for Macau, but he feels “a little bit cautious about its impact” on the city. Dioko recalled the length of visitor’s stay is still a barrier the territory has to break as it’s been stuck on the one day visit for a long time.

“Of course the Indian market is huge and it will certainly be very good for diversifying Macau tourism. But it contradicts the other side of the problem, because nobody from India will come here for just a day,” he said.

“The problem about the length of stay has to be fundamentally addressed before we can completely attract the huge Indian market. Tour operators and agencies know this very well because otherwise they would have had already lobbied for more direct linkage between Macau and India,” Dioko added.

He also remarked that MSAR needs to firstly improve its product offering and only then concentrate on the Indian market.

“We cannot attract longer staying markets without creating attractions,” he added.

Source - macaudailytimes.com.mo