Macau Daily News (English)

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The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)'s Strategic Intelligence Centre (SIC) today released 'Asia Pacific Tourism Forecasts 2005-2007' at the 54th PATA Annual Conference in Macau.

This new series of forecasts for 40 countries across the Asia Pacific region predicts overall growth in international visitor arrivals of 10.6% per year to 2007. Every destination covered in the PATA region is predicted to post positive annual growth to 2007, ranging from 4.0% (Pakistan) to 20.9% (Malaysia).

There are numerous factors influencing the forecasts: the recovery following the tsunami, the emergence of low-cost airlines, the rapidly rising middle-classes across Asia, and significant advances in avionics leading to new generation aircraft that will change how we move around the world.

"Combined, these factors look set to dramatically increase intra-regional travel flows," said PATA Director-SIC Mr John Koldowski. "Whatever the changes we expect, and those we don't, the travel industry needs an anchor, a meticulously researched set of predictions on which to plan future strategies."

The 'Asia Pacific Tourism Forecasts 2005-2007' are produced by the eminent scholars Professor Lindsay Turner and Professor Stephen Witt.

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The Macau Judiciary Police arrested eight suspected barrack sharps, who were alleged to cheat at a local casino.
Friday's Macau Daily News said that the eight suspects all from China's mainland belong to a gang of fraudulent gambling. They had cheated 1.39 million patacas (US$173,750) away from a local casino in a coordinated move.
Police said that the suspects foisted discarded barrack cards in playing while heavily smoking to camouflage the trick.
Police seized gaming chips, discarded casino cards and 200,000 patacas (US$25,000) in cash in a raid at the suspects' hotel rooms on Thursday.

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A Macau cargo ship capsized Tuesday evening at the estuary of south China's Pearl River, leaving six people missing as of Wednesday night.
The source with the Nanhai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Communications said the 500-ton ship, with seven on board, came across with fresh gales and capsized five nautical miles northwest of Guishan Island at 7:49 p.m.
The rescue bureau immediately organized a rescue operation and saved one crew member at 9:40 p.m. Tuesday.
The provincial maritime rescue center has mobilized many ships in search of the six missing. The rescue operation is still going on.

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MACAO: The total number of tourists visiting the enclave in groups in February rose year-on-year by 59.6 per cent, thanks to the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.

Of the 194,322 group tourists 147,384, or 46.5 per cent more than last year, were from the mainland. The number of Taiwanese tourists was 20,743, a 150 per cent jump. Tourist groups from Hong Kong rose the least, by 8,867 or 16.4 per cent.

The Chinese New Year holidays fell in February this year rather than January as in last year. Taking the first two months as a whole to eliminate the distortion caused by the festival timing, the arrivals grew 35.7 per cent from a year earlier.

The number of Macao residents travelling overseas in groups shot up to 22,393, 2.6 times more than the same month in 2004. Their most popular destinations were the Chinese mainland, South Korea and Thailand.

As for local residents who booked with travel agencies for individual trips, the month of February saw a total of 22,431 departures, 14.8 per cent more than last year. Their favoured destinations were the mainland (40.1 per cent), Hong Kong (23.2 per cent) and Taiwan (17.6 per cent).

A total of 10,181 hotel rooms were available in February, a 10.4 per cent increase over last year, thanks to the five new hotels in the SAR.

The number of tourists using hotels grew by 8.9 per cent, to 288,249, lifting average hotel occupancy by 0.9 per cent from a year ago, to 65.4 per cent. Three-star hotels enjoyed the highest occupancy at 70.5 per cent, with the average length of stay being 1.16 nights, slightly less than the year before.

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The Macao Judiciary Police arrested eight suspected barrack sharps, who were alleged to cheat at a local casino.

Friday's Macao Daily News said that the eight suspects all from China's mainland belong to a gang of fraudulent gambling. They had cheated 1.39 million patacas (173,750 US dollars) away from a local casino in a coordinated move.

Police said that the suspects foisted discarded barrack cards in playing while heavily smoking to camouflage the trick.

Police seized gaming chips, discarded casino cards and 200,000 patacas (25,000 US dollars) in cash in a raid at the suspects' hotel rooms on Thursday.

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A Macao cargo ship capsized Tuesday evening at the estuary of south China's Pearl River, leaving six people missing as of Wednesday night.

The source with the Nanhai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Communications said the 500-ton ship, with seven on board, came across with fresh gales and capsized five nautical miles northwest of Guishan Island at 7:49 p.m.

The rescue bureau immediately organized a rescue operation and saved one crew member at 9:40 p.m. Tuesday.

The provincial maritime rescue center has mobilized many ships in search of the six missing. The rescue operation is still going on.

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Eva Lo Tak Wah is certainly not the first Macao entrepreneur to tap Beijing market, but as a chairperson of the Prime International Conference Exhibition (Beijing) Co. Ltd., she has become the first one from Macao to set up a solely-funded firm in the national capital.

The fanfare that greeted the company's opening on March 4, 2005,was out of proportion of its modest size. The company's inauguration ceremony was witnessed by Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), and Bai Zhijian, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR and Lu Hao, vice mayor of Beijing.

"I can see that people have clung a high hope on me, and I would not let them down," said a smiling Lo.

Compared with hundreds of exhibition and convention firms in Beijing, the Prime with an initial investment of 100,000 US dollars is far from being even noticeable. However, its existence signifies the first Macao-funded company registered in Beijing, and it targets one of the most promising industries in the national capital.

Lo's experience in Beijing started more than one year ago, when she undertook convention organization projects through a joint venture firm that she founded with a local company. Her most successful case was organizing the WTO and China: Beijing International Forum 2004. The conference drawing over 300 participants to discuss the Market Environment and Opportunities for China in the Later Stage of the Transitional Period after its Entry into WTO has helped Lo establish her reputation as a professional convention organizer in Beijing.

"It was the implementation of the Mainland/Macao Closer Economic Arrangement (CEPA) that has given me the confidence of making a bolder step forward to establish my own business in Beijing," said Lo.

She went to the Macao Economic Services Bureau to obtain a service provider certificate in January this year, which made her eligible to invest in the mainland.

With CEPA's preferential policies given to Macao investors to go into the mainland market, Lo has found the Beijing market more approachable. As the incumbent vice chairman of the Beijing Youth Federation, Lo has her personal reasons to favor Beijing over other cities in the mainland to set up her first firm.

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The principal of Angola's Agostinho Neto University, João Teta, is in Macau since today early morning, in the capacity of chairman of the Association of Portuguese Speaking Universities (AULP).

Angop learnt today from a note from the principal's office that, the visit aims at officially inviting Macau to occupy one of the vice presidencies of AULP, as well as seeking this country's technological support for the implementation of virtual Universities of the Portuguese Speaking countries.

João Teta is being accompanied by AULP's deputy chairman, Lopes da Silva, and by its Secretary General, Alarcão Troni.

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Five members of a committee overseeing electoral affairs of the Legislative Assembly (LA) of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) swore in Tuesday.

President of the committee Fong Man Chong and four members, namely Lao Si Io, Jose Chu, Lau Ioc Ip and Ho Wai Heng, swore in front of Macao's Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah and other government officials.

The committee members are from the court, the Municipal AffairsBureau, Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau, the Finance Services Bureau and the Information Bureau, respectively.

Fong said that compared with the LA election four years ago, the election of the third LA set for Sept. 25 will see more registered voters. The total number of voters are expected to reach 180,000 when the voter registration stops on May 28.

According to the Basic Law, in the third LA election, 12 legislators will be directly elected through the general ballot, 10 legislators are to be indirectly elected by corporate societies and another seven members will be nominated by the chief executive

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The Chinese Cultural Exchange Association was set up in Macao on Saturday to promote cultural exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee Xu Jialu, Deputy Director of Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Wang Zaixi and Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Edmund Ho Hau Wah were among those attending the inauguration ceremony of the association.

Daniel Tse Chi Wai, president of the association said that the main objective of this association is to function as a cultural bridge between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan by promoting educational, scientific, technological and artistic exchanges.

Xu Jialu said that the association was set up at the right time, in the right place and by the right people. He hoped it could be a platform creating new chances for cross-strait exchanges.

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Mariana Kou puts receiving an education high on her list of things to accomplish and she says getting her education in the United States is the most important thing she could do for herself. “ I’m originally from Macau which is a small city right next to Hong Kong and I decided to come to the United States because I believe that the U.S. has more resources for [getting] an education and that would give me more learning opportunities to get the best out of my undergraduate education,” she says. “I think education is actually very very important because you utilize your background for your career development and skills, but I think that it actually helps you and teaches you how to live your life like what you should do and it helps you to think about what you want to achieve in your life and how do you want to interact with people,” she says. [and] “Overall, what is just correct to do and like what is the right thing to do and it helps you to formulate your goals and your personal life.”

Mariana is a senior attending Notre Dame University. She tells us a little bit about her major. “I’m now a finance major and I am in the Mendoza College of Business. I am very interested in the major and I took a lot of different classes in finance and I have learned the different aspects of the financial markets,” she says. “With my degree, I want to get an analyst position and just start my career in the financial industry,” she adds. “ In the long term I think I will spend maybe ten years in the financial industry and afterwards I may start my own business, but I am not quite sure yet.”

Mariana says being involved in campus activities has been a good thing for her, but she really appreciates the university resourcefulness in helping international students adapt to living in the U-S. “I’m actually in some of the cultural clubs and I am the co-person of the Asia International Society and I think the university has done a very good job to apply the resources to help international students adapt to U.S. life, like providing all the information about how to get a social security number and how to get a job on campus to get use to the U.S. life and meet more people,” she says. “Also I think the university has done a really good job to help people to get a sense of community on campus and to build religious groups. They have a department on campus called ‘campus ministry’ and they organize a lot of retreats to help people get together.”

When it comes to cultural differences, Mariana says the lifestyles aren't that different from her hometown, but she believes that Americans are more of a diverse group and very accepting of people from other countries. “I think one of the big differences that I feel that Americans are more use to different cultures I would say and that they have more experiences to all kinds of different people,” she says. “Even the American companies they have different people from different cultures, different kinds of people from different races and it seems to me that Americans are more of a diverse group,” she adds. [and] “Actually I feel more comfortable coming to the U.S. because it is a diverse group of people and all the people aren’t from one race so I feel that it is very easy to adapt to a U.S. life and it is okay to be an international student and Americans welcome us and we can learn a lot of things from you. As for similarities I think the lifestyle is not that different from my hometown. We have all kinds of facilities and it seems that the life is pretty much the same. I don’t feel that it is very different as far as everyday life.”

After graduation, Mariana will stay in the United States where a job awaits here in New York. Mariana Kou is one of more than 500-thousand international students currently enrolled in U-S colleges and universities.

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The leading Margaux property, Château Palmer, is for the first time conducting a recorking of one of its old vintages away from the Château.

The recorking of 500 bottles of the renowned 1961 vintage, will take place some 8,000 miles away from Bordeaux, in Macau, on the south coast of China. The Lisboa Casino in Macau has one of the world's largest private stocks of the vintage, which they bought in 1997. Château Palmer decided the corks needed replacing, but as such a large number of bottles would be difficult to send back to the Château, it was decided to do the recorking in Macau.

The recorking will take the same form as that used by Australian producer Penfolds in their well-known Recorking Clinics, when bottles of Grange and other of their top wines are checked over, tested for condition, and topped up with similar wine. The recorked Penfolds wines are then given a certificate of authenticity which is signed by the winemaker and stuck on the back of the bottle.

While the Penfolds Clinic will only top up low level bottles with wine from the current vintage, Palmer will be topping up the 1961 bottles with wine from the same vintage.

1961 is widely regarded as a top Bordeaux vintage. Wine writer and auction expert Michael Broadbent describes it as "one of the greatest post-war vintages to date, and one of the best of the twentieth century." He adds: "The top 1961s became the gold dust of the wine world". Despite being a great year, it was a low yielding vintage, and the production of 1961 Château Palmer only amounted to 35,000 bottles. This is barely 30% of a normal vintage.

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Six immigration auto-gates, also known as e-channels, are now in operation at Macau Ferry Terminal to provide smooth and efficient traveller clearance.

Hong Kong permanent residents, aged 11 or above, holding smart identity cards can use the e-channels in the departure hall. They run from 10am to 6pm daily.

The Immigration Department said it will review the operating situation with a view to extending the opening hours.

If a person's thumb or finger is too dry or too moist, the scanner's ability to read the print will be affected, so a wet or dry tissue should be used to wipe it.

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After the rollout of the automated passenger clearance auto-gates (e-channels) at Lo Wu control point, Hong Kong permanent residents (aged 11 or above) holding smart identity cards may also use the six e-channels in the departure hall of Macao Ferry Terminal control point to perform self-service departure clearance from Thursday.

An Immigration Department spokesman said the six e-channels were now open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The department will review the operating situation with a view to extend the opening hours of the e-channels.

People were reminded that if their thumbs were too dry or too moist, the scanner's ability to read the thumbprint would be affected. To avoid delay, the user can use a traditional counter for clearance.

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The number of new companies setting up to catch the economic boom in Macao is increasing sharply with a total of 713 companies newly incorporated in the first quarter of 2005.

Information released by the Macao Statistics and Census Service on Tuesday showed that the number of newly incorporated companies and their registered capital increased 51.7 percent and 29.5 percent, respectively, over the first quarter of 2004. New companies reported 108.28 million patacas (13.5 million US dollars) in registered capital.

These newly incorporated companies are mostly in wholesale and retail sector, followed by real estate, construction and business services.

Among the stockholders of the new companies, 60.8 percent are Macao residents. The capital of the companies mostly came from Macao, followed by Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands. Guangdong Province topped the list of capital coming from the provinces within the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region in South China.

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The Macao agent of a Taiwan-made energy drink branded "Bullwild" has announced a total recall of the goods due to poison scare, local media reported Thursday.

The Macau Post quoted sources from Bullwild's Macao company as saying that there are 2,640 bottles of the beverage on sale or in stock and the recall will be completed within one day.

Bullwild's Taiwan company launched an emergency recall of the beverage earlier this week after four people were reportedly poisoned by the product on the island.

Police suspect that someone laced the drink with cyanide before placing it on store shelves, Taiwan media reported.

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China's Macau Special Administrative Region is studying the feasibility of setting up a "Chinese Medicine Park," local media reported Friday.
The Macau Post quoted Yeung Tsun Man, member of Macau's Science and Technology Council, as saying that Macau is able to build a " small-scale but high-quality" Chinese medicine industrial park.
Yeung told the newspaper that 13 Chinese Medicine manufacturers are based in the region with a population of only 450,000.
Macau could serve as an international "testing center" for Chinese medicine standards, said Yeung.
A Pan-Pearl River Delta Forum and Exhibition for Chinese Medicine will be held in Macau from June 21 to 23, which will hopefully raise Macau's ambition to act as an access for traditional Chinese medicine leading to the international market, local analysts said.
With over 90 percent of its population as Chinese ancestry, Macau has a long history of using Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese treatment has enjoyed a great popularity here.

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Hong Kong and Macau prisoners can now serve out their sentences in their home city, under a new agreement between the two jurisdictions.

The Arrangement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons was signed today by Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee and his Macanese counterpart Cheong Kuoc Va.

It lets prisoners to do their time in their place of origin, allowing friends and relatives to visit them on a regular basis and helping their rehabilitation.

It adds to similar agreements Hong Kong has with the US, the UK, Sri Lanka, Italy, Thailand, the Philippines and Portugal.

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Macao will hold a forum on traditional Chinese medicine in late June this year.
The forum will discuss research and commercialization of traditional Chinese medicine as well as technology innovation and market supervision related to medicine.

Meanwhile, an exhibition will be held on production and packaging of traditional medicine.

More than three hundred experts and researchers from China, the United States, Britain and Sweden will attend the three-day forum that starts on June 21.

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Macao Special Administrative Region is to promote tourism through the help of Visa International , the world credit-card giant.

It was announced here Tuesday at a press conference that Visa has launched a promotional campaign entitled "Visa Treasure Hunt" to offer "treasures" for Visa card-holders visiting Macao till June 30.

Prudence Chan, Visa`s Country Manager for Hong Kong and Macao, told the briefing that the program "gained great support" from Macao`s Tourist Office.

Manuel Antunes, director of the Tourist Office, said Macao continues to grow in statue as a top visitor destination and Visa has made it easy for tourists to enjoy everything the city has to offer.

Visa card-holders who visit Macao and spend with their cards could get "Scratch Win Card" to gain prizes including mobile phones, hotel and dining vouchers, said Chan, the Visa manager.

The Visa customers could also get exclusive merchant offers as discounts and free gifts, she added.

Visa`s overseas card-holders spent 2.4 billion paracas (300 million US dollars) in Macao in 2004, a 33-percent year-on-year growth, Chan said.