Macao ranks high for destination glamour and characteristics, winning multiple tourism promotion awards last year

The Macao Special Administrative Region Government is dedicated to making the city shine with its extraordinary elements including history, culture, leisure and entertainment, fostering the sustainable and diversified development of local tourism as it goes toward the direction of building the city into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. In the field of tourism, the globally-acclaimed travel guide book “Lonely Planet” has named Macao one of “Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2015 – Top 10 Regions”. Following that, the city was conferred a range of accolades in different surveys and assessments, including the “2015 Chinese Cities Competitiveness Ranking List”, which ranked Macao the second most distinguished tourism city in China. In addition, Macao was presented a number of awards in recognition of its outstanding projects for destination promotion last year.
 

Based on the “2015 Chinese Cities Competitiveness Ranking List” released last December, Macao was ranked the “second most distinguished tourism city in China in 2015” and the “third best city for cultural heritage preservation in China in 2015”. The assessment criteria for “China’s most distinguished tourism cities” cover the cities’ characteristics of natural and ecological resources, tourism product characteristics, tourism history and cultural color as well as visitor experience, etc. On the other hand, selection of China’s top ten cities for cultural heritage preservation results from consideration of major aspects including classification of cultural heritage, protection and management, monitoring, application and inheritance. 
 

The “Chinese Cities Competitiveness Ranking List” is released by the China Institute of City Competitiveness. Founded in Hong Kong in 1998, the Institute is the first international academic institute joined by experts, scholars and over 100 researchers from across the Straits, Hong Kong, Macao and overseas who are devoted to urban development researches and raising cities’ competitiveness in China. The Institute carries out studies on new fields of urban development and publishes new research findings every year, dedicated to enhancing competitiveness of cities in China through achieving coordinated development of economy, environment and culture. 
 

On the other hand, the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) just released its Annual Report on Development of World Tourism Cities (2015) in Beijing this January. Macao is among the top 20 of over 100 tourism cities in the world in terms of both Tourism Prosperity Index and Tourism Development Potential Index. 
 

Macao radiates destination glamour 

According to the Social Media Trend Research by the Japanese travel agency H.I.S., Macao was chosen as the most desirable travel destination in Asia in 2016. The research was conducted using Facebook, twitter and Google+, and the result was derived from the choice among fans of the Social Networking Services. The travel agency H.I.S. is regarded as a top class operator in the tourism industry in Japan and currently has 200 branches in 130 cities abroad. Whereas on Cool Hunting, a lifestyle blog in the United States, Macao was voted one of the top 10 favorite travel destinations in 2015. Cool Hunting is a lifestyle blog which also offers information about culture, travel, design and technology. Moreover, the destination received the “Best Leisure Destination” Award in Top Travel Ceremony 2015, held by Top Travel Magazine in China. The above recognitions reflect the fascinating glamour manifested by Macao in terms of tourism resources, products, culture and so forth. 
 

Winning a range of tourism marketing awards last year 

Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) is dedicated to promoting the destination through a variety of multimedia and innovative strategies. Its destination promotion projects won a range of awards last year, including “the Best Tourism Marketing Award” in the 18th Busan International Travel Fair, “the Most Popular Emerging Destination” in the India Outbound Travel Market 2015 as well as “the Best National Tourism Organization” in the 26th TTG Travel Awards 2015. 
 

MGTO will continue to work hard in all aspects and will adopt new promotional theme this year to promote Macao to the world. The Office will also continue to design promotional projects in accord with trends and performance of different visitor markets, striving to attract international visitors and at the same time, enhance the city’s attractiveness as a tourist destination, forging diversified tourism development in line with the goal of building the city into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure.