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IFTM Co-organises Macao Educational Tour Development Forum, Garners Intellectual Momentum for Development from Public and Private Sectors

IFTM Co-organises Macao Educational Tour Development Forum, Garners Intellectual Momentum for Development from Public and Private Sectors.
中文摘要 / Summary in Chinese

The 1st Macao Educational Tour Development Forum was held at the 11th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (referred to as “MITE”) on 30 June 2023. The Forum was organised by the China Tourism Academy (CTA), Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) and supported by “The Alliance for Developing Macao into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Tourism Education and Training Base”. About 130 participants and delegates from the tourism, culture, education, broadcast, and communications industries met to discuss and support the progressive development of educational tourism in Macao as well as the “tourism + education” synergy.

There were two parts to the event, namely keynote speeches and seminar discussions. The former featured academics from CTA and IFTM, as well as an official from Shaoxing, China, who presented their reviews and analyses on the country’s status quo of educational tourism. It also presented the research results on Macao’s development on educational tourism, commissioned by MGTO to CTA.

The seminar discussions, meanwhile, had guests from the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao, Air Macau, Wynn Resorts S.A., China Travel Service, Lingnan Holdings, and Dongfang Nianhua Three Gorges Youth Camp in Hubei Province. The speakers contemplated the development of educational tourism in Macao and the interactions of the city with Mainland China in the area.

Ms. Chen Baiyu, President of Lingnan Holdings, saw great benefits in education tourism for Macao. First, the type of tourism will help tell the good story of Macao. She believes that the Macao story can be more multifaceted, more multidimensional, and more enriched, whether from the perspective of a tourism destination or a world-class leisure destination in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In addition, further exploration and understanding of the city is required, including the past, present and future.

By developing this type of tourism, Macao will also connect and consolidate educational tourism resources and present them in an overall plan. It will also help highlight Macao in the Greater Bay Area, especially in the area of educational tourism. In the meantime, because educational tourism focuses on the long term, workers who bear both tour guide and education tour instructor licences, should be cultivated in Macao so that educational tourism can see better development.

The commercial benefits that Macao will see from developing educational tourism include more visitors, better tourism branding, not only domestically but also internationally, and a more vigorous city with more tourists and businesses.

Following the session, Mr. Wang Qing, Deputy Assistant General Manager and General Manager of E-Commerce at Air Macau, told IFTM that the airliner is ready to help develop this type of tourism domestically and internationally. From a transportation perspective, Air Macau will help provide more connections. For example, education tourism will open windows for discussions on bridging cities that are currently not connected, while additional flights on existing routes may also be added.

He pointed out that when children in Macao recognise the mainland, mainland children should also recognise Macao. “So here comes the opportunity: […] through fun, children gain experience and memories [in educational tourism],” Mr. Wang highlighted.
He added that Air Macau will further improve its IT system to achieve a better consumer Internet experience so that customers can very easily conduct consumption or reach desired information.

IFTM was invited by MGTO to co-organise this forum. In recent years, educational tourism has been a heated topic in the local tourism industry. During the past few years, IFTM has worked closely with domestic and international counterparts on various types of tourism, educational tourism included.