
Macao Government promotes family tourism and business links with Saudi Arabia
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) successfully concluded its roadshow in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, held on February 25th, 2025, at The Ritz-Carlton. The event attracted a large numbers of travel trade professionals, business leaders, and industry stakeholders, providing a platform to promote Macao as a world-class family destination and strengthen business ties between the travel and tourism industries of Macao and Saudi Arabia.
The roadshow, which featured pre-scheduled meetings and networking opportunities, focused on Macao's unique offerings in family travel, culture, luxury, and adventure. Attendees had the opportunity to engage directly with representatives from MGTO and other co-partners, gaining deeper insights into Macao's diverse travel and tourism experiences.
'We are thrilled with the success of our roadshow in Riyadh,' said Mr. Cheng Wai Tong - Deputy Director, Macao Government Tourism Office. ' This event not only allowed us to showcase Macao's incredible attractions to Saudi travel professionals and travelers but also reinforced our commitment to strengthening ties with this strategic market within the GCC region. We look forward to further promoting Macao as the ideal destination for both family leisure and business tourism through new campaigns and initiatives with our partners in the region.'
The event also featured a vibrant cultural performance which offered attendees a glimpse into Macao's rich heritage and history.
The event emphasized Macao's growing appeal to Saudi travelers, showcasing special promotions, including halal-friendly dining options and accommodations catering to the needs of Muslim travelers. A newly launched Arabic-English travel guide, developed in collaboration with Halaltrip, was also introduced to help Muslim visitors plan their ideal trip to Macao.
The roadshow provided an invaluable opportunity for Macao to foster stronger connections with key Saudi trade partners, creating new opportunities for collaboration in the tourism and business sectors. The event allowed for meaningful networking among travel professionals, local stakeholders, and Macao representatives, fostering the creation of new business partnerships and collaborations aimed at boosting tourism from Saudi Arabia to Macao.
During the event, MGTO showcased the city's incredible diversity in tourism, including its UNESCO World Heritage Sites, world-class shopping including cultural shopping regions, luxury accommodations, and the distinct identity that makes Macao a truly unique destination for travelers from Saudi Arabia. Attendees, including local press, learned more about Macao's award-winning hotels, including 24 five-star hotels recognized by the prestigious Forbes 2025 Star Awards, solidifying Macao's position as a global leader in hospitality.
MGTO also introduced its 'Travel Stimulation Programs' to encourage niche travel, including incentive trips, weddings, student groups, and sports tourism. These tailored programs are aimed at attracting diverse travelers in Saudi Arabia, offering new opportunities for travel agents and businesses to expand Macao's reach to a broader audience
The roadshow comes on the heels of a significant increase in visitor arrivals from Saudi Arabia, with the number of visitors in 2024 nearly doubling compared to the same period in 2023. This growth highlights the increasing interest in Macao as an ideal travel destination for Saudi travelers.
Macao continues to strengthen its position as a key global tourism and leisure hub, offering an array of experiences that appeal to diverse traveler profiles. From its UNESCO World Heritage-listed Historic Centre to its status as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, Macao continues to attract Saudi travelers seeking both culture and luxury.
With exciting events planned for 2025, including the Macao International Arts Festival, Macao International Fireworks Display Contest, and Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale, Macao is set to attract even more visitors from Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region in the coming months.
For more information on upcoming events, travel offers, and unique experiences in Macao, please visit: www.macaotourism.gov.mo, or follow us on social media: Facebook: @Visit Macao, Instagram: @Visit Macao, TikTok: @Experience Macao, YouTube: @Macao Government Tourism Office, WeChat: @MGTOweixin.
-Ends-
#Hashtag
#MacaoTourism, #MGTO, #MacaoInRiyadh, #VisitMacao #SaudiTravel,#FamilyTravel, #BusinessTourism #ExploreMacao, #HalalTravel, #LuxuryTravel, #MacaoRoadshow, #MacaoEvents2025, #TravelWithMGTO #MacaoGastronomy #TravelIncentives #MacaoCulture #MacaoAdventures #Travel # #SaudiArabia #MiddleEastTravel #AVIAREPS.
About the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO):
The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) is responsible for promoting and developing Macao as a global tourism and leisure destination in line with the Macao SAR Government's strategy. MGTO works with local trade partners to enhance Macao's reputation and attract diverse visitors by promoting tourism products, services, and mega events across both established and emerging markets. It also plays a key role in improving tourism offerings, ensuring industry quality standards, licensing, and facilitating training opportunities. Additionally, MGTO manages the region's travel alert system and formulates emergency plans to ensure the safety of both residents and visitors.
For more information, please contact:
Mazen Al-Ibrahim
Director of Public Relations
AVIAREPS Middle East
Dubai Media City, Dubai, UAE
e: malibrahim@aviareps.com
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Middle East Eye
9 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
What to know about the new Trump travel ban now in effect
US President Donald Trump's new travel ban went into effect on Monday, to far less mobilisation and criticism than the first time around, in 2017. With a bigger mandate this time, and relatively high approval ratings for his immigration policy, Trump's new travel ban has not just expanded, it's also on far more solid legal footing, immigration lawyers told Middle East Eye. The executive order targets 12 countries: Afghanistan; Burma; Chad; the Republic of the Congo; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Haiti; Iran; Libya; Somalia; Sudan; and Yemen. Additionally, nationals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela will be partially restricted. Those already inside the US are exempt. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters For those abroad at the time the ban went into effect, they may enter the country if they are green card holders, preauthorised visa holders, preauthorised refugee claimants, dual citizens where one of the countries is not included in the travel ban, or if they are the immediate family members of a US citizen. Still, increased scrutiny at ports of entry and orders from Secretary of State Marco Rubio could lead to visa revocations by a border agent. The administration has made it clear that no person is entitled to entry into the US, apart from US citizens. The White House said the ban, as well as heightened vetting measures, is necessary because of excessive visa overstays, which the Trump administration says is a national security concern because it could lead to "terrorist" activity. 'We don't want them': countries facing travel ban to US Read More » The ban was initially expected back in March, but was only introduced following an attack by an Egyptian national on a pro-Israeli march in Colorado last week. "This is definitely a Muslim ban couched in language that the Trump administration knows how to get around as it pertains to the courts," Haris Tarin, the vice president of policy and programming at the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), told MEE. "There was a lot of online chatter - especially by the Laura Loomers and the Randy Fines - these intense Islamophobes in Congress and supporters of the administration who basically said Muslims are responsible for this, and that they needed to ban the Muslim Brotherhood and that they needed to have travel bans," he added. The administration "already spooked so many people from coming into this country... with the detention of students, with the detention of tourists," Tarin said. "This was the perfect time to go even further." 'Anxious, desperate, exhausted' Unlike the 2017 ban, this one is likely to remain in effect in its current form, Hassan M Ahmed, managing attorney at the HMA Law Firm, told MEE. "It's clear that a lot more thought went into this version of it. It seems that they learned their lessons from the previous iterations," Ahmed said, referring to the persistent challenges they faced in court. In a precedent-setting decision in late 2017, the US Supreme Court maintained that the president did not violate the First Amendment with his so-called Muslim Ban, and was well within his rights to determine what is in the national security interest. The Court also said there was no anti-Muslim animus in the ban, simply because many other Muslim countries were not targeted. "Anytime a policy changes, whether for good or for bad, we get an increase in phone calls," Ahmed said. "In this case, we're dealing not just with a change in policy, but there's sort of a psychological aspect to a lot of the administration's offensive policies, and that creates a great deal of uncertainty." On those phone calls are people who are "anxious, desperate, and exhausted", Ahmed told MEE. "Unfortunately, given the track record of open defiance of court orders and lawlessness that's become sort of emblematic of this administration, sometimes we as lawyers are at a loss [and unable] to tell clients that they don't have anything to worry about." Laila Ayub, an immigration attorney and co-founder of Project ANAR, which assists in the resettlement of Afghan refugees, said the climate of fear is deeply pervasive among the community she works with. "Everyone who's already here started contacting us, thinking they're now at risk of deportation just because of their nationality, which is not actually the reality," Ayub told MEE. "So there is a lot of opportunity still to empower people with information about their rights." "The number one question, though, that people have always despite their situation when they are in here in the US, is when they can reunite with their family. That is really something that will be impacted by the travel ban." Impact on visas While advocacy groups have been pleading with the Trump administration for months to make an exemption for Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans who aided American soldiers between 2001 and 2021, there is such a carveout. Still, the visa does not include everyone who worked for or who worked closely with the US during their presence in Afghanistan, Ayub said. Mirriam Sediq, who runs Seddiq Law Maryland, told MEE that previously "lawful categories for Afghans" now suddenly no longer exist. "There are people that came to the US in 2021, 2022 through humanitarian parole. There are also those who have [Temporary Protected Status]. And TPS has been ended for Afghans, so they're really left in a completely no man's land right now." Handful of US lawmakers demand Trump ban the Muslim Brotherhood Read More » Seddiq said she feels "super betrayed by this idea that we've told our clients to do [the right] things" in terms of entering legally and maintaining a law-abiding presence, yet "they're walking directly into the lion's den when they do it". Among other actions, the Trump administration has sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to courthouses around the country to arrest largely undocumented immigrants who are appearing for their immigration court date, just as the government asked them to. This, Seddiq said, was always standard practice: as long as an immigrant did regular check-ins with ICE agents and showed up in front of a judge and violated no laws, they could carry on with their lives in the US. Now, they're being taken away from their US-born children to be detained and then deported. "We've allowed people to enter even when they don't have a pathway forward. And this is where we are," Seddiq told MEE. "But we've been here for decades and decades and decades, and we've asked for major immigration reform, major overhauls, maybe even some sort of amnesty for people who are doing all the right things. And there's never the political will to do it." Legislative change Despite a much more muted societal reaction compared to 2017, civil liberties groups and immigrant advocacy organisations are working on ways to respond to the new Trump travel ban. The public that took to the streets eight years ago is simply too exhausted this time, Tarin told MEE. "People have been responding to students being kidnapped off the streets by ICE. People have been mobilising to try to support students on student visas. Lawyers have tried to mobilise around protecting students on college campuses," he said. But that's also a strategy the administration has employed. "The way advocates organise is they take one issue at a time and they organise around it, and that's how they're successful. And so if you throw 15 issues at them, they won't be able to respond," Tarin said. In the immediate term, MPAC is putting together a network of lawyers that can be accessed in case of emergencies where otherwise legal entrants to the US are stuck at airports or put into detention. However, the group is also eyeing the 2026 midterm elections, when members of the House and Senate will be up for reelection, and Democrats may stand a chance of gaining a majority of seats in both chambers. MPAC is pushing for traction on the NO BAN Act so that if Democrats take control of Congress, there is an opportunity to make the bill a law. The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in February by Democratic Congresswoman Judy Chu of California. It aims to limit Trump's authority to ban an entire class of foreigners - or "aliens" as they are called in the US - from arriving in the country, and demands that Rubio provide lawmakers with reports on the number of denied visitors. For the time being, people will "always try" to come to the US anyway, Seddiq said. "I am loath to tell anybody that the United States is closed the way the administration wants to seemingly advertise to the world. I think that where there's a will, there's a way, and frequently, when you're dealing with immigration, the key to success is merely standing up one more time when you're knocked down," Ahmed said.


Sharjah 24
10 hours ago
- Sharjah 24
Sharjah Airport receives pilgrims with flowers
Al Baqish confirmed that the airport made special arrangements to greet the pilgrims with flowers, Arabic coffee, and sweets, ensuring their comfort and facilitating travel and passport procedures as quickly as possible. He also congratulated the pilgrims on completing their rituals, wishing them a blessed Hajj, accepted efforts, and forgiven sins, emphasising Sharjah Airport's commitment to providing a unique experience that reflects Emirati hospitality.


Middle East Eye
13 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Bank of America says Saudi Arabia preparing for 'long and shallow' oil price war
Saudi Arabia is batting down the hatches for a "long and shallow' oil price war, in part to clip the wings of US shale energy companies, the Bank of America's top commodities expert said. 'It's not a price war that is going to be short and steep; rather, it's going to be a price war that is long and shallow,' Francisco Blanch, the bank's head of commodities research, told Bloomberg in an interview on Monday. Saudi Arabia led an alliance of energy producers dubbed Opec+ in April to boost supply. The decision was a U-turn for Saudi Arabia, which for years had pushed Opec+ to cut production in a bid to lift energy prices. Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman went so far as to warn market speculators that they would be 'ouching like hell' if they doubted his willingness to starve the oil market of supply. However, energy analysts had been warning for more than a year that Saudi Arabia was in an untenable position. The kingdom was doing the heavy lifting to keep supplies low, while other countries were benefiting from higher prices. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Saudi Arabia has also surrendered market share in Asia to Iran and Russia. 'They've (Saudi Arabia) done this price support already by themselves for three-plus years,' Blanch said. 'They're done with that.' The United Arab Emirates won concessions to lift its production quotas in recent years. Abu Dhabi wants to pump more of its oil faster, with an eye towards a time in the future when energy demand peaks. Why Saudi Arabia can spend more money than it makes, even as oil prices drop Read More » In April, energy analysts also said Saudi Arabia's decision to boost output was taking aim at Iraq and Kazakhstan, two Opec+ members who were exceeding their Opec+ production quotas. Because Saudi Arabia is richer and is able to quickly extract oil, analysts say it can endure a prolonged slump better than poorer Opec+ members. The Bank of America's analysis points to another target: the United States. The US has become energy independent thanks to a boom in shale oil production over the last 15 years. The US is not a member of Opec, and American production has surged. Oil and gas production in the US hit a record high in December 2025. Saudi Arabia has been issuing a historic amount of debt to make up for budget shortfalls caused by lower oil prices. The kingdom is already scaling back mega-projects like Neom and tightening its purse strings on consulting firms that have raked up a windfall advising on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 agenda to remake Saudi Arabia's economy. The worst-case scenario for Saudi Arabia is that oil prices spiral further down, risking a price war like the one that erupted in 2020 between Russia and the kingdom during the coronavirus pandemic.