Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) launched a opinion poll and survey for new additional walking tour routes "Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" to collect residents, businesses and visitors opinions, which will serve as reference for the launch and improvement of more itineraries.

"Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" is a MGTO long-term "Community Tourism Plan". Following the launch of the first four "Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" walking routes in 2013, MGTO plans to introduce new additional walking itineraries under the same theme in 2014.

Before unveiling four new additional routes, MGTO promotes an opinion poll which includes explanation sessions and encourages residents and businesses of community and visitors to answer surveys and to provide their suggestions.

MGTO is organizing six explanation sessions to collect the opinions of local residents, businesses and tourism trade. The six sessions as follows: Session for Tourism Development Committee, Public Session for residents and media, Sessions for parishes of Nossa Senhora de Fátima, Santo António, São Francisco Xavier and Nossa Senhora do Carmo.

The opinion poll is carried out simultaneously through online questionnaires (in Chinese and Portuguese) and street surveys. Macau residents, businesses and visitors can fill in the online questionnaire anonymously from 19th May to 19th June. Street surveys to provide suggestions from neighborhoods' residents and merchants are personal interviews about the four new additional itineraries. For MGTO's reference on the launch and improvement of more walking tour routes, a final report will be published after collecting all explanation sessions, online questionnaires and street surveys opinions.

MGTO organized today (8) an explanation session open to public and invited local residents, media, and related associations to participate. MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, MGTO deputy directors Cecilia Tse and Cheng Wai Tong, representatives of Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Land, Public Work and Transport Bureau, and Transport Bureau attended the event. In a speech at the occasion, Senna Fernandes highlighted: "Diversify cultural tourism products and continue to boost the Community Tourism Plan are MGTO main work goals this year. We hope to collect valuable opinions from residents, merchants and visitors, and take them in consideration, so that in future the launch of four new additional walking tour routes is well accepted by visitors. Thus, we invite everyone to participate actively and to help us to optimize tourism environment".

During the public session, MGTO deputy director Cheng Wai Tong presented the main ideas for the four new additional walking routes and the community opinion poll working plan. The proposed four new additional tourist itineraries are located at Parishes of Nossa Senhora de Fátima, Santo António and Nossa Senhora do Carmo, in Taipa, and Parish of São Francisco Xavier in Coloane area (see ideas for proposed routes attached). MGTO is already promoting the public consultation through website http://en.macautourism.gov.mo/index.php, newspapers, and radio, among other communication channels, and appealing residents and merchants to participate in this community opinion poll sharing their opinion.

The first four itineraries "Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" were launched by MGTO on 27th September last year to encourage visitors to explore different areas of the city on foot. The four routes launched are as follow: "A Tour of Historical Trails", "A Tour of Nature and Creativity", "A Tour of East Meets West" and "A Tour of Arts and Culture". Printed map leaflets of the four routes are available, and visitors can download the maps as well as enjoy the videos on these routes from MGTO website. Residents and visitors can also search through AppStore or Google Play and download for free the mobile application "Step Out, Macau". Currently, along the four walking tour routes there is entertainment such as lion dance, Chinese opera, street dance, martial arts, and folk dance performances, as well as street painting, music and puppet shows.