With the official inauguration of the new Hengqin Port on 18 August 2020, Administrative Committee of Hengqin New Area organized an exchange and inspection visit entitled “Macao Ready Go! Explore Hengqin” under the theme of “Macao and Hengqin walk together” and invited around 100 industry participants from Macao. Echoing with the travel trade’s participation, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) also joined the inspection visit for an update on the latest situation and tourism projects of Hengqin.

MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes and industry participants paid an inspection visit to Hengqin today (18 August). The itinerary covered various attractions including the branch museum of China Red Sandalwood Museum in Hengqin, Novotown, Lionsgate Entertainment World, National Geographic Ultimate Explorer, Sumlodol Hengqin Camping Town and Urban Underground Utility Tunnel in Hengqin. The delegation then proceeded to Legend Ponto Square for a visit to the exhibition center as well as the first live- streaming e-commerce base between Zhuhai and Macao in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, among other attractions. The inspection visit is an outreach program of “Macao Ready Go! Local Tours” in preparation for deepening tourism collaboration between both destinations through inspection of the new facilities in Hengqin and first-hand experience of Hengqin-Macao tour routes.

On the other side, MGTO Deputy Director Cheng Wai Tong welcomed around 100 industry delegates from Hengqin at Macao’s checkpoint of Hengqin Port, who then inspected three local tour routes of “Macao Ready Go! Local Tours”, themed as “World Heritage Tour at the Historic Center of Macao”, “Love the Country, Love Macao” and “A Trip to Macao with Youth in the Greater Bay Area”.

Macao is actively participating in the national development of the Belt and Road and the Greater Bay Area, which, coupled with the inauguration of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, have unlocked new possibilities and challenges for Macao’s tourism industry. Both familiarization visits serve to explore wider possibilities for fostering the city’s leisure tourism and concerted tourism development with Hengqin. MGTO will continue its efforts in building the Greater Bay Area as a travel destination. Capitalizing on the opportunities brought by the “Hengqin International Leisure Tourism Island Construction Scheme”, the Office will leverage the unique tourism resources of both destinations to forge closer collaboration between Guangdong and Macao.