Hainan Week in Macao aims to promote cultural and tourism exchanges

A Li and Miao ethnic minority long table banquet, an interaction with astronaut models, local folk songs and dances, and Qiong opera (Hainan opera) performances...

These are what's happening on the Hainan Week, held at the Macao Cultural Center from Thursday to Sunday.

More than 300 representatives from the tourism and cultural sectors of Macao and South China's Hainan province attended the Hainan Tourism and Culture Promotion Conference and the opening ceremony of the Hainan Week on Thursday. The event aims to promote exchanges and cooperation between Hainan and Macao and showcase Hainan's unique culture and tourism resources to Macao citizens.

Ao Ieong U, secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao Special Administrative Region, said in her speech at the conference that both sides had made remarkable progress in the study exchange of public officials, higher education cooperation, professional personnel training, cultural and sports events, catering industry, airline resumption, and medical and health cooperation and exchanges, since the Macao SAR Government and the Hainan Provincial Government jointly established the Hainan-Macao cooperation working promotion group in June 2022.

"By holding this event, the bilateral cooperation and interaction in various fields is expected to be further expanded, and more innovative thinking and development vitality will be injected into the economic and cultural development of both sides," she said.

Hainan and Macao have worked increasingly closely in economic and trade cooperation since 2018. Macao has set up more than 80 new overseas-invested enterprises in Hainan. In 2022, the import and export of goods trade between the two sides reached 1.14 billion yuan ($160 million), increased by about 34 times compared with that of 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Feng Fei, Party secretary of Hainan, said Hainan and Macao are both located in the Pan-Pearl River Delta region of Southern China, and they can work together to build new heights of opening-up, as they both have the large-scale mainland market and face the emerging markets in Southeast Asia.

Hainan, the tropical island, aims to utilize its visa-free entry policies of 59 countries and expand its flight routes network, and launch "multi-stop" packages for Macao and Hainan.