Macau tourism committee starts to doubt tourist tax idea

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.