“Vamos! Macau!” is a local tourism plan launched by the Macau government to help boost the economy and restart the tourism industry. Obviously, The way that Macau Foundation grants funds to every resident’s participation in the tour can avoid the transfer of government and business interests in the accusation of the local people, but the essence is that the government still unable to withstand the pressure of various tourism stakeholders, and re-launch the past ineffective Local tour.
What’s interesting is that there is a local association that helps to sign up for the tour and even subsidize expenses. Some tours only need to pay 15 patacas (the government subsidizes up to 280 patacas per route, and the association subsidizes 3 patacas), which cause a price war to attract people.
When Macau residents take part in the local tour as tourists, they can’t do without hoping to go out of the city, have a better understanding about Macau’s World Heritage cultural, or take the opportunity to have a good understanding of Macau’s history which they haven’t learned from school or family, rather than just like tourist groups walking around the casino, take a boat sightseeing. People do not need to join a tour to visit the urban area of Coloane which they can visit by themselves.
This is the industry’s lack of understanding of the core of local tourism, and also underestimates the requirements of Macau residents for tourism.
*Journalist at Plataforma
