Organized by Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the roadshow starts today (8 March) in Tokyo for three days in a row to manifest Macao’s diverse “tourism +” offerings and highlight the destination appeal for Japanese residents, to steer forward international marketing.
Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR Government, Lei Wai Nong; Director General of Tokyo Office, Kyoto Prefectural Government, Takako Shimazu; Chief of Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR Government, Ku Mei Leng; MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes; Planning Promotion Section Manager of Kyoto City Culture and Citizens Affairs Bureau, City of Culture and Art Promotion Office, Culture and Art Planning Section, Yotsumoto Hidekazu; Executive Director of Kyodo Public Relations Co., Ltd., Matsukawa Kazumasa, and CEO of Twin Planet Co., Ltd., Kenji Yajima, officiated the opening ceremony of the roadshow this afternoon (8 March).
Representatives of related governmental departments from Macao and the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, together with representatives of Air Macau, Macao’s travel trade and the six integrated tourism resort enterprises, attended the opening ceremony. There were also members of the travel trade, media and residents of Tokyo.
Steady return of Japanese visitors to Macao
In his remarks, Lei Wai Nong highlighted that the number of Japanese visitor arrivals in January and February raised almost 400% to over 22,000, compared to the same period last year, and reached a 42% recovery relatively to 2019 levels, as indicated by preliminary figures. Tying in with the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR, the SAR Government is giving away 250,000 travel offers to attract international travelers. This roadshow represents another golden opportunity to spotlight Macao’s latest development as a world centre of tourism and leisure and bring more Japanese visitors to Macao for the first-hand experience of new “tourism +” elements.
Tap the potential of visitor market through overseas roadshow
The roadshow is going on at COREDO Muromachi Terrace in Tokyo for three days from today until 10 March. The venue is located in the high-density commercial district in the vicinity of Tokyo Station. There are about 500,000 people working within a one kilometer radius. It is the first roadshow held by MGTO in Japan since travel restrictions were lifted last year, to tap into the potential of the visitor market.
Air Macau and Macao’s six integrated resort enterprises are running booths on site to showcase their tourism facilities and new elements. Industry operators present special offers on various tourism products, which are popular among roadshow visitors. Members of a Japanese girl group were invited to grace the opening ceremony for wider promotional effect and draw a greater flow of spectators.
Extensive online-offline promotional campaign for “tourism +”
Macao welcomed close to 300,000 Japanese visitors in 2019, making Japan the third largest international visitor market. In January 2024, air services between Macao and the two Japanese cities, Tokyo and Osaka, both resumed in terms of frequency to one round-trip flight daily. MGTO is seizing the opportunity to step up a variety of marketing efforts, such as partnering with an airline to launch special offers on air tickets between Macao and Japan. For this overseas physical roadshow, the Office has rolled out extensive online marketing by showcasing Macao’s latest tourism elements through short videos posted on social media that are popular in Japan. Endeavors are made to energize Japanese’ intention to visit Macao for the colorful experience of “tourism +”, in turn expanding the diversity of international visitor markets.
Since travel restrictions were lifted in Macao last year, MGTO has activated the international marketing campaign in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia successively, through a variety of initiatives such as online and offline advertisements, roadshows, trade familiarization visits, travel fairs and so on, to keep drawing more international visitations to Macao for a more robust recovery of the tourism economy.
