The Macao SAR Government Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, led a delegation of members of the Tourism Development Committee (CDT) to Hengqin, in Zhuhai, on 26th September to deepen the understanding of Macao's tourism industries of Hengqin's latest cultural tourism projects and related tourism products. The visit also served to enhance the co-operation and integration of tourism between both places, further promoting the development of Macao and Hengqin into world class destinations of leisure tourism.

    In the morning, the delegation visited Novotown and Xiangzhou Port Culture Centre, two of the most recent cultural tourism projects. Novotown fully capitalises on culture and multimedia resources, combined with international renowned brands introduced to the Chinese market for the first time. It features a multicultural entertainment complex combined with high-tech, tourism, music, movies and art, and is expected to be highly complementary to Macao in its choice of tourism products with the goal of further enhancing leisure tourism.

    Meanwhile, Xiangzhou Port Cultural Centre is a large-scale thematic cultural tourism project which - combined with MICE, leisure activities, tourism, shopping, gastronomy, and so forth - offers rich cultural content (including artists' studio, museum, and intangible cultural heritage workshop) conducive to promoting the co-development of cultural tourism between Macao and Hengqin.

    In the afternoon, the delegation inspected Hengqin Planning Exhibition Hall to gain a better grasp of planning, design, notion of development, management, infrastructure, and so forth of Hengqin New Area; it also visited Sumlodol Hengqin Camping Park to gain firsthand experience of the latest tourism projects, which synthesised self-drive tours, camping and theme park into one park.

    Later that day, the delegation participated in the 'Tourism Exchange and Co-operation Meeting between Hengqin and Macao', exchanging ideas with Committee member of CPC Zhuhai Municipal Committee, and Party Secretary of the Hengqin New Area, Niu Jing, Director of the administrative committee of the Hengqin New Area, Yang Chuan and Deputy Director, Zou Hua. Content included expanding people flow between both locations, facilitating traffic flow and travel visas, strengthening talent cultivation, increasing co-operation within the industries, and so forth.

    The Vice Chairman of the Administration Committee of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Lo Chi Kin; Advisor of the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Stella Leong; Macao Government Tourism Office Deputy Director, Cheng Wai Tong; President of the Institute for Tourism Studies, Fanny Vong, and more than 10 members of CDT joined the delegation.

* Source from http://mtt.macaotourism.gov.mo/201811/en/contents/3/987.html?1540897814