While Macau now has clear jurisdiction of the coastal waters it governs, the government should move on to examine and perfect the regulation of yachts and leasing rules in addition to seeking co-operation with Mainland China to further encourage yacht tourism, the Macau Travel Industry Council and a legislator told Business Daily.
On Sunday, the Macau Government gazetted the demarcation of the city’s 85 square kilometres of territorial waters as approved by Beijing. The coastal waters MSAR governs now cover six sections, namely the Inner Harbour section, the waterway of Cotai, the waters south and east of the Macau Peninsula, a section of the artificial island and the waters north of the Macau Peninsula.
“An important task that the government should look at is the law regulating yacht leasing, which is now totally absent,” remarked Macau Travel Industry Council president Andy Wu Keng Kuong, “Before [Macau’s coastal waters were demarcated] the city had no conditions to set up the related rules but now the government should do so especially when it wishes to develop maritime tourism and sightseeing activities on water.”
“Foreign companies have eyed running a yacht leasing business here but so far we have no supporting regulations or [understand] how the insurance terms should be defined,” Mr. Wu added.
According to the Marine and Water Bureau, most of the yachts that come here are from Hong Kong as Mainland China has strict regulations governing outbound yachts that head for Macau. Macau has an open policy for incoming yachts and the entry and clearance procedures for yachts entering here is “simple”, as normally only two days are needed for the report of the yacht and its personnel data and approval for yacht berthing at Macau piers, the Bureau explained.
“But Macau has yet to improve the law on the registry of ships [to facilitate marine tourism], which is an issue that the government has not dealt with when the city did not have its own territorial waters,” legislator and businessman Dominic Sio Chi Wai remarked to Business Daily, “The law needs to be overhauled, while at the same time the government can also look at how to encourage more incoming yachts from the Mainland to berth in the city.”
Marine tourism
The administration from Macau and Zhongshan City in Guangdong are mulling launching the so-called ‘individual visit scheme’ for yachts travelling between the two territories by the end of this month, Marine and Water Bureau director Susana Wong Soi Man told media on December 3.
The scheme is an initiative for yachts from Macau to be able to berth at the marina in Zhongshan and vice versa, as well as a plan from both the Mainland and local governments to implement a simpler Customs clearance procedure for yacht owners and crew members. The number of passengers travelling on each yacht under this scheme is restricted to 12 persons only.
Apart from co-operating further with the Mainland on running yacht tourism, Mr. Sio believes that Macau has better conditions to develop cruises for visitors given the jurisdiction of its own waters.
“Before the demarcation of the waters, for any cruising vessels to undergo maintenance or sailing [in the city’s customary waters], such matters had to be applied for from the Zhuhai marine authorities as well,” said Mr. Sio.
“But as this administrative trouble can now be saved, the idea mentioned by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, [during the Policy Address debate] to develop some coastal tours for visitors can be put into practice more easily,” the legislator said. “And this definitely benefits Macau’s non-gaming offering.”
During the Policy Address debate, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam spoke of the creation of cruises travelling between the Inner Harbour or Barra pier to Coloane, and setting up piers at the Gate of Understanding, Macau Tower, Kun Iam Statue, Macau Fisherman’s Wharf (all located on the Macau Peninsula) as well as the new urban Zone A currently undergoing reclamation.
