Crowd control measures may be implemented in Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro during the Labour Day holiday, according to Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes.
Senna Fernandes made the statement Monday when speaking to reporters after a meeting with the Legislative Assembly’s Follow-Up Committee for Public Administration Affairs in the legislature.
She said that the tourism office had been in talks with the Public Security Police (PSP) about the measures to be taken, adding it will be up to the police to decide when and how the measures will be in force.
“The PSP may consider implementing crowd control measures in Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, downtown Macau, but they will evaluate the situation before deciding how the measures will be imposed,” she said.
The last time crowd control measures were implemented in the major avenue occurred during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Senna Fernandes said she expected the number of tourists visiting Macau during the holiday period would be more or less the same as last year, adding even the number of hotel room reservations may in-crease during the holiday period, it will not be enormous.
“We have been informed by the hotel industry that so far, the number of reservations is not that high, but of course, we need to consider other factors such as tourists making late reservations,” she said.
In 2013 a total of 342,000 tourists entered Macau over the Labour Day holiday (April 30 to May 2), according to official data.
This represents a 9.86 percent increase compared with the same period of 2012.
Overall, in 2013 local authorities recorded more than 1.1 million border crossings during the Labour Day holidays including Macau residents and blue card holders.(macaunews/macaupost)
