On July 19^th, 2021, “Joint Working Committee to Support the Construction of Macao World Tourism Leisure Center” (hereinafter referred to as the “joint committee”) held it’s 2021 Annual Working Conference in Macao. Zhang Xu, vice minister of Culture and Tourism, and Li Weinong, secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR Government, attended as organizers. Yao Jian, deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Macao, attended at the invitation. Other attendees were from relating departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Department of Economy and Finance of Macao SAR Government, Social Cultural Department and brunch departments, Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR and it’s relating department, Culture and Tourism Department of Guangdong Province and Zhuhai Municipal People’s Government and it’s relating departments.

    In the meeting, the cooperation result of the working mechanism of the joint committee in 2020 was announced. Multiple consensus were reached, including perfecting working mechanism; supporting Macao to be integrated into the national development plan; enhancing the construction of the culture and tourism of the Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area, deepening the cooperation in culture and tourism between Macao and the mainland of China and other cooperation in various areas. It’s also being announced in the meeting the committee’s working plan in 2021 and goals for several stages to push Macao to be a world tourism and leisure center.

    Zhang Xu said that it’s stipulated in the “14^th five year plan” that the government needed to support Macao to enrich the central content of a world tourism and leisure center and create a communication and cooperation foundation with Chinese culture as the main stream and with other various cultures. Macao was expected to promote pandemic prevention and control and tourism recovery; to promote the high-quality construction of culture and tourism of Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area and to make full use of Macao’s advantages of diversity and wide international connection, all of which could contribute to the construction of a country with strong cultural power and international people-to-people communication. The joint committee was expected to have the effect of top-designing, organization and coordination, so as to improve cooperation and initiate a new chapter of high-quality development of Macao cultural and tourism communication and cooperation.

    Li Weinong said that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism encouraged relating departments in the mainland of China to support Macao to build a world tourism and leisure center, which could guide Macao’s economic recovery after the pandemic and promote the sustainable development of it’s tourism and cultural industries. There was a promising prospect for cultural and tourism communication and cooperation between Macao and the mainland of China. Macao was expected to do well in the following aspects, including making full use of the “one country, two system”; speeding up the construction of “one center, one platform and on foundation”; facilitating the national development strategy; participating the construction of the Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area; promoting diversified economic development with suitable effort and better being integrated into the new national development structure of dual circulation.

    Yao Jian fully recognized the importance of the joint committee in Macao’s construction to be a world tourism and leisure center. He also said that, because of the pandemic, it’s increasingly urgent for Macao to transform tourism and innovate products, so he wished the joint committee to expand the space of modern tourism cooperation between Macao and Hengqin Island, to offer more tourism products; to expand the digital platform for tourism promotion and to push innovation of the construction of a world tourism and leisure center in Macao.

    In Macao, vice minister Zhang Xu also attended a symposium with local cultural and tourism practitioners. He introduced policies supporting Macao’s cultural and tourism recovery and listened to suggestions from local people of different industries.