China’s Trip.com, one of the country’s leading providers of online booking and information services for travellers, says it has expanded a campaign to promote Macau to overseas visitors. The campaign is being conducted in partnership with the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), according to a Monday press release.
The announcement from Trip.com said that travellers that book a stay of two consecutive nights or more, at selected hotels marked with a “Macau Bonus” tag using a specific promo code, would be entitled to a SGD100 (US$74.8), “with a maximum discount of up to 50 percent during the promotion period from April 19 to June 30”.
The statement quoted Edison Chen, vice president of Trip.com Group, saying its partnership with MGTO would be extended to its “Trip.com platform for travellers from Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and worldwide”.
Trip.com has already been collaborating with MGTO via the Ctrip platform, a sub-brand of Trip.com Group, in order to target visitors from mainland China.
Such cooperation “was proven to be a huge success,” stated Mr Chen, adding that Trip.com saw “a significant increase in search volumes and bookings among travellers across various markets in recent months”.
MGTO’s director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, said in prepared remarks included in the release that she was “confident that the ‘See You in Macau’ campaign” would provide international travellers with a “wonderful opportunity” to explore Macau.
“We will continue to collaborate with our trusted partners on co-marketing campaigns with the aim of empowering visitors with most up-to-date travel information and exciting deals,” she added.
The Macau government has budgeted MOP650 million (US$80.7 million) for “expanding sources of tourism” in 2023, with incentives including discounts on flight tickets and on hotel accommodation, said in November the city’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong.
The Macau government launched this month a new subsidy scheme for local travel agencies, with the aim of attracting to the city more tourists either from overseas or Taiwan, and getting such visitors to extend their stay for longer than they might otherwise.
