India Tops in Macau Tourism Charts
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” goes the adage. Typically, the Indian travellers, despite the storm clouds of the recession that loomed globally, continued to globe trot.
Macau has reaped the dividends of the trend. In a year when the tourist arrivals from most source countries declined, the number of Indian tourists travelling to Macau in these tough times grew by 31 per cent over 2008 (jumping from 82,369 to 107,513): the only country to show a double digit growth. Significantly, India had also posted a growth of 80 percent in 2008 as compared to 2007. Indeed in the last seven years (since the Indian office of the Macau Government Tourist Office became operational), the number of Indian tourists visiting Macau has grown by a whopping 1500 per cent.
Sanjeet, General Manager, Macau Government Tourist Office, India, attributed this success to the policies of the head office in Macau and the support of the travel industry in India which spared no effort in promoting the destination.
Globally too, the last month of 2009 saw an encouraging revival in the number of tourists arrivals into Macau. While the minuscule territory was not immune to the recession that hit the world economy in 2009, the impact was not as acute as initially projected. Not really all that surprising. Macau may be a blip on the rump of Mainland China but the former Portuguese colony has much to offer to the tourists. Suitably located in the South China Seas, it spoils one for choice: great cuisine and shopping; a fascinating blend of European and Oriental cultures and quiet retreats. It’s the popular playground of Asia and Mainland China, the latter accounting for just over 50 per cent of all visitors.
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