Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said Sunday that next month’s opening of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link will also benefit the development of Macau.
Senna Fernandes made the remarks while speaking to reporters at Anim’Arte Nam Van on the sidelines of an event promoting the city’s tourism.
The Hong Kong government announced last week that the Hong Kong section of the express rail link will come into operation on September 23.
Senna Fernandes said she believes that the operation of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link Hong Kong section will benefit the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) and also Macau’s development, adding that she also believes that it will also help attract more tourists to Macau.
Senna Fernandes also said she believes that the upcoming opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau (HKZM) Bridge and next year’s opening of the new Macau-Zhuhai border checkpoint in Ilha Verde will further boost the development of Macau as a GBA member city.
The mega-bridge is widely expected to open to traffic later this year. Its opening date is yet to be announced by the central government.
Senna Fernandes noted that the 11 cities in the GBA conurbation have their own tourism resources, adding that the future opening of the cross-border projects will help Macau launch more multi-destination travel products.
The Greater Bay Area refers to the central government’s scheme to link the nation’s two special administrative regions – Hong Kong and Macau – and nine Pearl River Delta cities – Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan and Zhuhai – into an integrated economic and business hub.
Meanwhile, Senna Fernandes also said that she expects the number of visitors to Macau to increase by five percent year on year during this year’s summer holiday period, which will end later this week.
Senna Fernandes also said she expects a steady increase in the number of visitors this year.
