MACAO, 2016-Nov-30 — /Travel PR News/ — Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) launched the “Macao Tourism News plus” (beta version) today (28 November), an online database of news materials for members of the press. In a brand-new format, the platform is innovatively designed for news dissemination and goes in parallel with the Special Administrative Region Government’s direction to computerize public administration. The service is dedicated to compiling an extensive collection of Macao tourism news coming from different news providers. The inclusive service platform enables members of the press in Macao and from around the world to easily browse and use the information archived in the database, thereby upgrading the efficiency and quality of dissemination of Macao tourism news. The platform also serves to provide reference materials and useful records that may facilitate Macao’s development into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure.
Information transparency and resource sharing
Upholding the principles of information transparency and resource sharing, MGTO actively promotes computerization of public administration. Since launching the “Macao Tourism Data plus” – an online platform of tourism statistical data in the end of 2015, the Office now presents the “Macao Tourism News plus” (beta version), an online database of tourism news materials. The database keeps over 7,300 data records which comprise more than 1,200 press releases, over 1,700 features of various events and up to 4,000 photos, etc. The platform will steadily update its news data, expand the sources of news and upload more past records of data. As a result, the archives will grow in diversity.
Launch of news database across fields
One of the key functions of the platform is to compile tourism news materials of Macao from different sources. At this stage, the providers of news are MGTO and its representatives in different parts of the world, who publish news in their own language based on their market demand. This segment of news data involves nearly 20 visitor source markets and over 10 different languages. For the next stage of the service, MGTO plans to invite members of the local tourism industry to provide news materials in order to create a convenient and reliable database of news across different fields.
Steady upgrade of service
Displaying a simple and handy design, the Macao Tourism News plus is equipped with the function of full-text search across different categories of data, allowing media users to find all the matching results from different categories such as press releases, events, images and attachments by running just one full-text query. In the days ahead, MGTO will take gradual steps to equip the platform with more useful functions, so that media users can promptly browse, collect and use a mass volume of data. The Macao Tourism News plus currently offers Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese and English interfaces. The collection of data includes press releases of MGTO and its various market representatives, images, video links, Macao Travel Talk (monthly publication for members of the industry), What’s On (monthly publication for visitors), promotional events organized by MGTO around the world as well as links to news pages of other government entities with which MGTO works in collaboration, etc.
In the days ahead, MGTO will collect and summarize suggestions from first-stage users to refine and optimize the service steadily. In the next stage, MGTO will invite members of the local tourism industry to provide news materials for the public.
Media are welcome to register for user account
At present, journalists and editors working for local media agencies and overseas members of the press recommended by MGTO representatives (http://en.macaotourism.gov.mo/main/contactus.php) are welcome to register for a user account at the Macao Tourism News plus (http://newsplus.macaotourism.gov.mo). Based upon the status of operation, the Office will open up the platform to more media users, in hope that more members of the press can access the database of Macao tourism news and enjoy the service for free.
Contact:
e-mail: mgto@macaotourism.gov.mo
Tel: (853) 2831 5566
Fax: (853) 2851 0104 |
Tourism Hotline: (853) 2833 3000
Source: Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO)