The international one-stop tourism service platform — Trip. com Group unveiled its 2022 Global Partner Summit in Macao today (2 December), joined by over 1,000 participants from different countries and regions. As a special supporting organization of the Summit for two consecutive years, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) hopes to leverage this influential large-scale conference to promote the city’s diverse tourism resources and strengths as a MICE destination among Mainland and overseas industry professionals.

“Journey into the Future Together” – Explore return of international travel markets

The 2022 Trip. com Group Global Partner Summit (the “Summit”) features a main forum and several sub forums about business travel, accommodation, air ticket and marketing, as well as a roundtable forum and an award ceremony among other activities.

Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR Government, Lei Wai Nong, attended the main forum and remarked in his speech that the Summit has gathered over 1,000 participants including tourism industry leaders from different countries and regions this year. It deeply bespeaks Macao’s comprehensive capabilities to organize large-scale MICE events, as well as the city’s image as a safe and quality destination. Under the theme “Journey into the Future Together”, the Summit leads a profound dialogue on resumption of overseas travel markets. Participants together explore how the global tourism industry can evolve and adapt. Collective wisdom is distilled from discussions to provide valuable reference for tourism recovery and development.

Unveiling a new chapter of cooperation together

Following his speech, Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, and Chief Executive Officer of Trip. com Group, Jane Sun, officiated the “Trip. com Group x Macao Government Tourism Office Global Partnership Launch Ceremony”, officially unveiling a new chapter of cooperation between Trip. com Group and MGTO in 2023.

Other guests at the Summit include Chief of Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Ku Mei Leng, Director of Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Acting President of Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute, Vincent U, delegates from international hotel groups and airlines, tourism offices and entities, media and travel influencers from the Mainland and overseas.

Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of Trip. com Group, James Liang, remarked in his video speech, “Travel consists of shopping, dining, accommodation and sightseeing as its key elements. Whether it is about growth and inheritance of humanity, or in the innovative process of moving the world forward, travel has been essential.”

MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes was invited to join the panel and share Macao’s experience in tourism under the topic of “Innovating Destination Marketing with a Global Perspective”. The Trip. com Group Global Partner Summit Gala Dinner & Award Ceremony is held tonight (2 December). The “Global Strategic Partner Destination of the Year” award is bestowed upon Macao and presented to MGTO Deputy Director Cheng Wai Tong at the ceremony. 

Macao was widely promoted through the Summit

Choosing to hold its Global Partner Summit in Macao for the first time last year, Trip. com Group capitalized on the occasion to facilitate destination marketing for Macao through the diverse impact of media coverage, influencers, themed live streams, promotions for festivals and events, creation of pageviews, coupons, sale on platforms and so forth. Over 8,000 media links covered the Summit last year, leading to a total of 1.746 billion impressions, an effective driver of destination branding.

Professional familiarization group experiences “tourism +”

MGTO arranged for some of the summit delegates to pay a professional familiarization visit tomorrow (3 December) for a firsthand experience of Macao’s diverse and glamorous tourism elements.

Through this summit for Mainland and overseas industry professionals, MGTO hopes to showcase Macao’s diverse tourism resources and strengths as a MICE destination, attract business travelers as high-end consumers and foster Macao’s adequate economic diversification.