Macau: Portugal invited to be “partner country” of the Macau International Fair 2016

UNWTO: International tourism – strongest half-year results since 2010

2017/09/09 Destinations worldwide welcomed 598 million international tourists in the initial six months of 2017, some 36 million additional than in the same period of 2016. At 6%, increase was well above the trend of recent years, making the current January-June period the strongest half-year since 2010. Visitor numbers reported by destinations around the world reflect strong request for international travel in the initial half of 2017, according to the new UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Worldwide, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 6% compared to the same six-month period last year, well above the sustained and consistent trend of 4% or higher increase since 2010. This represents the strongest half-year in seven years.

Saving face on the Korean Peninsula

2017/05/07 Kim Jong-un sees nuclear capability as almost his sole source of regime security and he is not going to give it up, no matter how strong the pressure. He is not stupid. All he has to do is to look at the history of Iraq and Libya, where neither dictator had nuclear weapons. So if the United States insists on de-nuclearisation of the peninsula, presumably that would require regime change, and regime change is unlikely without the use of force. War in the area would be hugely destabilising and potentially disastrous. No one in their right mind should want that. China is right to urge negotiations, but what is to be negotiated? Kim is not going to negotiate away his own security by giving up his nuclear capability. But if China exerts sufficient pressure, he may acknowledge to stop testing.

Macau receives 30 million visitors in 2016

2017/01/23 Macau received over 30 million visitors in 2016, 28 million of which came from mainland China, and last year was the initial in a decade at the same time as the number of overnight visitors was higher than day visitors, said the director of the Government Tourist Office. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes pointed out that while the total number of visitors saw annual increase of 0.8% to 30.95 million people and visitors from China remained virtually unchanged, increasing by just 0.1%, the number of international visitors increased by 7.9%.

China-Portuguese Speaking Countries Cooperation Fund presented in Macau

2017/01/23 A presentation session of the China-Portuguese Speaking Nations Cooperation and Development Fund and the investment framework for investment in Portuguese-speaking nations is due to take place on 25 January in Macau, organised by the Macau Institute for Trade and Investment Promotion (IPIM). This session is co-organised by the Macau Economic Service, the Finance Services Bureau and the Macau Monetary Authority and support is provided by the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Nations.