Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) was invited to spotlight Macao’s destination glamour through a fun-filled program as a destination partner featured in the final week (13 – 17 July) of the Dream to Travel Festival, a virtual event launched by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes joined one of the Festival’s major highlights — “Dream to Travel Forum” today (14 July) for a thought-provoking discussion themed around “Infinite Possibilities” with other guest speakers.
To provide a digital platform for members of the travel trade community to expand horizons and connect with each other during the global pandemic, PATA launched the Dream to Travel Festival (the “Festival”) spanning four weeks online from 22 June to 17 July. Each week’s program of the Festival is dedicated to a specific theme – Trust, Courage, Wellbeing and Infinite Possibilities – and to one of the four featured destinations including Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal and Macao. The event program comprises three major highlights including “Dream to Travel Forums”, “Live Experiences” and “Digital Showroom”, enabling participants to gain new insights into tourism prospects and the latest updates on the featured destinations’ tourism resources and products, while offering them opportunities to connect with their industry counterparts.
MGTO Director shares at Dream to Travel Forum
MGTO is featured as the destination partner of the Festival for the final week. MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes joined and delivered welcome remarks at the Dream to Travel Forum themed as “Infinite Possibilities” via a virtual meeting platform today (14 July). A one-on-one dialogue ensued between MGTO Director and the Presenter of BBC, Carmen Roberts about Macao’s tourism recovery plan in the wake of the pandemic. MGTO Director then joined CEO of PATA, Mario Hardy, and General Manager for Hong Kong and Macau of Visa, Maaike Steinebach, to discuss the tourism industry’s pursuit of innovation, progress and possibilities, and shed light on the challenges and opportunities awaiting the travel trade.
Spotlight Macao’s glamour through different lens
MGTO presents three live-experience sessions themed as “Cultural Macao”, “Eat around Macao” and “Adventure Macao” to showcase, through different lens, the unique charm of the UNESCO World Heritage Site — “The Historic Centre of Macao”, the diverse culinary culture of Macao as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, as well as the interactive art space “teamLab SuperNature” and the sky-high adventures at Macau Tower. Furthermore, the Office rolls out a range of virtual games and giveaways as well as showtimes of promotional videos about the diverse travel experiences and facilities Macao has to offer, to familiarize participants with the city’s tourism resources. In particular, MGTO’s “Macao Ready Go” promotional video showcases Macao as an ideal destination gearing up to welcome visitors around the world in the future. The Office also spotlights the “Macao Ready Go” e-platform which collates special tourism-and-related offers in town, and shares about Macao’s battle against the pandemic together with the rest of the world through a documentary video.
Through the Digital Showroom, PATA seeks to provide the travel trade with networking opportunities. MGTO invited a multitude of local hotels and travel agencies to build their profiles in the Digital Showroom to showcase their products and services via multimedia tools. The Digital Showroom is also equipped with a messaging system that enables discussion among industry participants from near and afar for collaboration and partnership.
Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association is a nonprofit association dedicated to fostering the sustainable tourism development across the Asia Pacific region. Owing to the coronavirus pneumonia pandemic, PATA specially launched the virtual event “Dream to Travel Festival”, providing an online platform for the travel trade community worldwide to meet experts, gain fresh insights and showcase products from across the Asia Pacific region and beyond. Access to the Festival is free for all. For registration and further information, please visit: http://dreamtotravel.pata.org.
