Last year saw 35m visitors! People don't want tourists to barge in and interfere with their everyday lives. We don't have the land mass to cope with these huge numbers. Now we're all moving towards the 'quality' of the traveller. Now the tables have turned and we're not sure if more is better.
Back in the day we wanted as many tourists as possible. Westin, Hyatt, Lisboa and Mandarin Oriental were the first hotels here. MHDSF : Well, with about five million tourists including gamblers it was not very big. I joined MGTO 4 July 1988 … what an auspicious date! Our overseas representatives had started expanding around that time. MHDSF : Travel was just opening up at that time. Then one of my aunts – very much a PR lady – asked if I would like to try out at the Tourism Office. Banks are not very interesting places at all. I graduated in 1987 from the University of East Asia (now Macau) with business administration/marketing. It sounded boring and packed with red tape. MARIA HELENA DE SENNA FERNANDES: Definitely not the civil service, too much bureaucracy. Smart Travel Asia: What sort of career did you first consider? Dressed in a dark mandarin-collar jacket with a yellow floral drape and short hair swept casually to one side, she spoke with Editor Vijay Verghese about the remarkable changes in her city and how Macau is developing a tourism playbook many are watching with envy and interest. Politely reserved but quick to smile and prodigiously intelligent, she is at once elegant diplomat and candid intellectual, brimming with ideas, never more animated than when describing how her city is dealing with the challenges and successes of tourism. Guiding this tumultuous sector towards sustainability while protecting local sentiment and lifestyle is a daunting task that has fallen upon the shoulders of the petite but dynamic Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the Director of the Macao Government Tourism Office. With tourism dollars gushing into Macau's coffers, travel has become a muscle business as this once sleepy enclave performs a delicate high wire act balancing cash-spewing casinos with laid back culture. Stuff-To-Go/ Gadgets & Digital Camera ReviewsĬharming, affable, thoughtful, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes feels travel and local needs must develop hand in hand to avoid swamping Macau/ photo: Vijay Verghese.
0 kommentar(er)
