Macau woos gourmets to city’s gastronomic offerings in effort to veer away from gambling

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Macau was listed as a “City of Gastronomy” in 2017 by Unesco, along with Chengdu, Shunde, Yangzhou and Huaian

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Tourists and shoppers walking along Food Street in Macau on September 19, 2015. Photo: Shutterstock.

Salina Li

Published: 7:00am, 18 Jun 2024Updated: 7:08am, 18 Jun 2024

Macau plans to organise public events to showcase the city’s food, from street fare to fine dining, as it exploits its reputation as one of only six Chinese cities recognised by the United Nations for its gastronomic offerings, said the city’s tourism chief.

“A lot of people travel to Macau just to have a special meal, or a special experience [at a] restaurant here,” Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), said in an interview. “There are possibilities to work with community associations, and non-government organisations to create more interesting events in the small districts for tourists to explore local culture.”

Macau was listed as a “City of Gastronomy” in 2017 by Unesco, along with the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, Shunde and Chaozhou in Guangdong province and the Jiangsu provincial cities of Yangzhou and Huaian.

The focus on food underscores how the casino hub is trying to diversify its economy from its biggest tax revenue contributor. Macau, the only city on Chinese soil that legalises casinos, last year ordered its six gambling concessionaires to invest more than 100 billion patacas (US$12.37 billion) on non-gambling attractions over the next decade, under the terms of their licences.

The concessionaires are building new arenas to house conventions, concerts, shows and large sports events, as well as developing health and community tourism.

“The cultural development of the creative gastronomy industry is an important element in enhancing the attractiveness and competitiveness of cities and a new innovation in the transformation of urban industries,” Qin Changwei, the Secretary General of the Chinese National Commission for Unesco, said in a recorded speech during the International Gastronomy Forum.