Macau (MNA) – After received advices from the Legal Affairs Bureau, the drafting of the bills for the licensing of hotels and travel agencies are at the final stage and will soon proceed to legislative procedure, the head of Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes reported at the Legislative Assembly (AL) on Thursday.
In response to legislator Si Ka Lon’s enquiries, Ms. Senna Fernandes said the most notable change about the new bill is separating the evaluation of license applications between MGTO and the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM).
“Licenses of restaurants [and bars] which located inside of hotels will be evaluated by MGTO, whilst restaurants located outside of hotel properties will be evaluated by IACM,” said the MGTO director.
In addition, Ms. Senna Fernandes revealed the issue of temporary licenses for restaurants and bars inside hotel properties is also added in the new bill.
The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng also disclosed that a cross department task force will be formed to coordinate licensing matters, with himself to chair the task force.
