Macau seemed to be pretty set on the idea of establishing a tourist tax when they surveyed their people about how proceeds from it should be spent. We’re now finding out a bit more about the idea, and learning that not everyone might be on board with the idea.
According to a press release on the Macao Government Tourism Office website, Macau’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam Chon Weng, held a meeting of the Tourist Development Committee (CDT) to specifically discuss how Macau can go forward while its tourist capacity is stretched to the limit. The Tourist tax, as a means to specifically reduce the number of tourists, was a hot topic.
Several committee members of the CDT expressed worries that a tourist tax wouldn’t help the region. Instead, they proposed an appointment system, where tourists would be required to reserve their spot to visit certain landmarks in the city, thus avoiding a crush of people causing congestion in neighborhoods that are unable to handle it.
Another anonymous member suggested the committee needed to create short and long term plans to solve this problem, with task forces created to analyze problems and find solutions.
Tam specifically pointed at the Art Macao initiative as a way to help diversify the city’s tourism offering. He also talked about the government’s dedication to studying how other countries handle tourism, citing a visit to Portugal.
Adding to that feasibility study is the recent survey put to citizens about how a tourist tax should be spent. With some members already doubting if a tax would work, and questioning how a tax could even be imposed, it’ll be interested if the CDT even takes those survey results into account.
An idea that truly appears to be dead is the tourist cap. Sulu Sou’s idea to put a limit on total tourism wasn’t discussed at all, it seems, and the group as a whole seems to want to figure out how to get more tourists in the city in an orderly fashion, rather than to limit them in any way.
