The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) expanded the promotion at this year’s FITUR, one of the world’s biggest international tourism trade fairs, running from January 22 until 26 in Madrid, Spain. During and beyond the event, MGTO is also launching a string of initiatives targeting the European travel trade and consumers as part of the stronger efforts in 2025 to boost visitor arrivals from long-haul markets to Macao.
MGTO Director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, travelled to Spain to attend Macao’s promotional activities at FITUR 2025. This year MGTO has a booth at the travel fair for the first time since the pandemic, with the highlights including a Macao Tourism Exchange and a Macao Tourism Product Updates to showcase the destination’s appeal to the European travel industry and the public. Around the period of FITUR, MGTO is also kicking off several marketing initiatives with key tourism industry partners and major online platforms to promote Macao in targeted countries in Europe.
Partner with industry leaders to help promotional efforts in Europe
The launch of the promotional activities at FITUR included a Macao Tourism Exchange with European tourism industry leaders at the MGTO booth on the opening day (22 January) of the fair. Among the participants were the heads of the Tourism of Portugal bureau, the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT), the European Travel Agents' and Tour Operators' Associations (ECTAA), the Spanish Confederation of Travel Agents, travel agencies, among others, in a total of more than 40 people.
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes remarked in a speech during the exchange that MGTO’s stronger presence at FITUR this year marks the beginning of a string of enhanced Macao promotional efforts in 2025 directed to the European market. Highlighting the relevance of joining hands with key industry partners like APAVT and its peers from ECTAA along with major tourism platforms online for the success of such endeavors, Senna Fernandes noted that she is looking forward to the promotional activities and major events planned for this year to showcase Macao’s new dynamic development as a world centre of tourism and leisure and increase travel flows from Europe to the city.
Tourism of Portugal Board of Directors Member, Lídia Monteiro, also spoke at the session where she thanked APAVT for its work in bringing Portugal and Macao closer together and reinforced Portugal tourism bureau’s intention to organize a roadshow that will end at the APAVT Congress in Macao.
While the APAVT President, Pedro Costa Ferreira, and the Secretary General of ECTAA, Eric Drésin, noted in speeches at the occasion that the initiatives in partnership with MGTO scheduled for 2025, especially the APAVT Congress and the ECTAA Summit scheduled to be held in Macao, together with promotional activities such as “Macao - ECTAA’s Preferred Destination 2025”, will help to bring much attention to the destination among its travel agent members throughout the year.
Larger presence at FITUR to showcase Macao’s “tourism +” offerings
Following the return last year to FITUR with a destination marketing event for travel trade organized at the fair in partnership with APAVT, this year MGTO cooperated once again with the association, this time expanding its presence with an “Experience Macao” themed booth. During the five-day fair, the booth provides travel trade and consumers an overview about the destination’s “tourism +” offerings, including a glimpse of the city through a VR tour, while serving as a platform to connect with tourism operators, conduct media interviews, and other activities.
On the first day of FITUR (22 January) MGTO also hosted at its booth a Macao Tourism Product Update gathering 50 Spanish travel agents. The presentation focused on introducing Macao’s “golden calling cards” and the latest developments as a tourism destination, along with MGTO’s Travel Stimulation Program, to encourage more sales of travel products to the city. The presentation is part of the activities of a 2025 Europe joint marketing campaign, conducted with HBX Group directed to travel trade in several European countries.
Joint marketing campaign targeting six European countries
In the evening of the same day (22 January), MGTO supported a FITUR 2025 Afterparty organized by the HBX Group for the strategic partners of the company, that gathered 850 guests. The event included speeches from both sides introducing the destination and the joint initiatives ahead, exchange, a themed photobooth, souvenirs and promotional video display to promote Macao.
The 2025 Europe joint campaign will start disseminating soon Macao tourism promotion via two channels: Hotelbeds and Bedsonline, both top online platforms for travel services and product booking for the tourism industry of HBX Group. The contents will be disseminated in six targeted markets: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The aim of the campaign is to educate European travel agents, airlines, and other trade users of the platforms about Macao’s offers, its integrated resorts, and other products, engaging them to book and sell the destination to travelers.
Sell Macao tourism products in targeted European markets
Other online and offline initiatives are meanwhile being launched by MGTO targeting the European market. Destination marketing and special hotel offers in chosen markets are also slated to be disseminated starting from the beginning of the year via the booking platform for operators Travelport as well as the online travel agency for consumers eDreams ODIGEO, among other channels, to boost trip sales and encourage longer stays in Macao.
As previously announced, two major European travel trade events are scheduled to be held in Macao this year. In June, the ECTAA 2025 Macao Summit will gather in the city the heads of national travel agents’ associations of around 30 European countries, while in December the 50th APAVT Congress will bring to Macao the Portuguese travel trade.
Throughout the year, Macao will also be promoted by ECTAA as its “Preferred Destination 2025” among its members, while APAVT has multiple activities lined up to promote the destination to the Portuguese tourism industry.
After FITUR 2025, in March MGTO will return for the first time since the pandemic to ITB Berlin, the world’s leading travel trade show. In April MGTO is also planning to host once again a European travel trade and media delegation for the 13th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo, among other activities, to continue to help tap into the European market, as part of the efforts to increase international visitor source markets and diversify the economy.
