The world economy remained strong in the first three quarters of 2007, but the momentum tended to slowdown in the fourth quarter; however, the economy of Macau was not much affected due to the support from Mainland China. Driven by the rapid development of the gaming and tourism sector, investment surged substantially and local consumption remained robust; as a result, the economic growth for 2007 was far higher than 2006.

GDP of Macao for 2007 was estimated at US$19.20 billion, up by 27.3% in real terms and the per-capita GDP amounted to US$ 36,357. GDP for the fourth quarter of 2007 recorded an increase of 22.1% in real terms; meanwhile, the rates for the first and second quarters were revised downward from 25.7% and 31.6% to 25.2% and 30.8% respectively, but that for the third quarter was revised upward from 30.9% to 32.2%; for 2006, the rate of growth maintained at 17.0%.

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Posted in Cotai Strip, Economy, Macau Business, Macau Casino, Macau General, Macau Government, Macau Investment, Macau Tourism No Comments »

Air Macau will add an extra flight day on the route from Macau to Beijing starting March 31.

Fei Hongjun, general manager of Air Macau said that this additional service will be helpful for development of business, trade and tourism of Macau and Beijing and will provide more options for tourists during the 2008 Olympic Games.

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Posted in Air Macau, Beijing 2008, Macau Tourism, Travel No Comments »

At the end of January 2008, the total number of guest rooms available in the Macau hotel sector increased by 3,204 (+24.8%) from a year earlier to 16,126 rooms.

In January 2008, a total of 562,547 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments, representing a year-on-year growth of 30.9%. The majority of the guests came from Mainland China (47.4%) and Hong Kong (21.6%). The average hotel occupancy rate went up by 1.0 percentage point to 72.7%, with 4-star hotels leading at 78.1%; in addition, the average length of stay of hotel guests extended by 0.2 night to 1.4 nights.

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Posted in Cotai Strip Hotels, Hotel Macau, Macau News, Macau Tourism No Comments »

Macau saw 388,796 visitor arrivals in package tours in January 2008, up by 22.8% from a year earlier. Visitors from Mainland China (282,506), Hong Kong (22,604) and Taiwan, China (18,079) recorded year-on-year growth of 21.4%, 13.2% and 5.8% respectively.

In January 2008, the number of Macao residents traveling in package tours rose by 27.7% year-on-year to 13,536. Mainland China, Japan and Thailand were the three most popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 55.2%, 17.6% and 7.5% of the total respectively.

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Posted in Economy & Business, Macau Business, Macau General, Macau News, Macau Tourism, Travel No Comments »

The Macau Science Museum near the Cultural Centre at Nape, which was expected to be completed in 2007, began to show its rough outlook.

The Science Museum, which was designed by the world renowned designer Leoh Ming Pei, is expected to cost approximately US$425 million.

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Posted in Macau General, Macau Government, Macau Museums, Macau Science Museum, Macau Tourism, Social and Politics No Comments »

The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government presents the 19th Macao Arts Festival (MAF) to be held between 1 and 30 May, 2008.

Featuring more than 30 performances by artists from Israel, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada and South Korea, the Festival season would not be complete without the ever-present spirit of performers from Macao and Mainland China, as well. Please tell me more>>

Posted in Entertainment, Macau Arts Festival, Macau Events, Macau Tourism No Comments »

Despite blistery and snowy weather conditions, Macau still managed to increase visitor arrivals to 2,371,754 in January 2008, a year-on-year increase of 16.3%. Visitors from Mainland China (1,421,782) and Southeast Asia (109,738) grew by 23.0% and 58.2% respectively, while those from Hong Kong (581,860) decreased by 3.7%. Same-day visitors accounted for 52.3% of the total arrivals, at 1,240,119.

The majority of the visitors came from Mainland China and Hong Kong, which accounted for 59.9% and 24.5% of the total respectively. Among the Mainland visitors, 42.2% (600,324) travelled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme.

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Posted in China, Economy & Business, Macau Airport, Macau Ferry, Macau General, Macau Government, Macau Tourism, Travel No Comments »

The value of retail sales for the fourth quarter of 2007 was estimated at MOP4.2 billion (US$525 million). Retail sales of watches, clocks & jewellery took the largest share of 17% of the total, which was followed by sales of motor vehicles (13%), goods in department stores (12%), goods in supermarkets (9%) and adults’ clothing (9%).

The value of retail sales in the fourth quarter of 2007 registered an increase of 16% compared with the MOP3.6 billion in the preceding quarter. As against the MOP3.0 billion sales in the fourth quarter of 2006, the value of retail sales in this quarter grew remarkably by 40%.

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Posted in Macau News, Macau Retail, Macau Tourism, Shopping No Comments »