History, culture at the heart of Macao’s rebirth

The special administrative region is banking on its rich cultural and historic heritage to bring back tourists and reduce its reliance on the gaming business. Zhang Tianyuan reports from Macao.

Nestled just a flight of steps away from the iconic Ruins of Saint Paul’s is Rua dos Ervanarios, or Guanqian Street in Chinese — a century-old street that had once served as the center of Macao’s foreign trade. Today, the historic thoroughfare has undergone a remarkable transformation, blending the city’s rich heritage with modern amenities and attractions.

The cobblestone path, adorned with vibrant and colorful murals, is packed with trendy cafes offering a taste of Macao’s quintessential street food — the pork chop bun — that have popped up alongside decades-old antique shops, incense stores and even a stamp collecting boutique. The special administrative region now hosts regular fairs, such as the Arraial na Ervanarios 2023, which integrates autostereoscopy and fog screen projections with tourism, to attract visitors to the historic street.

In its bid to reduce the city’s heavy reliance on the gaming industry, the Macao SAR government is betting on its legacy locales, characterized by Portuguese-style architecture and rich historic heritage. It is offering cutting-edge technologies, incentives and policy support to boost cultural tourism in areas like Rua dos Ervanarios.

All-round development

Unveiling the “1+4” strategy in his Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2023, Chief Executive Ho Iatseng said Macao wants to be a center for tourism and leisure, and will allocate resources to nurture the growth of the “big health” industry, embracing the entire healthcare spectrum as well as modern financial services, high and new technology, convention-and-exhibition, sports, and commercial and trade sectors.

For over a decade, the gaming business has been a crucial pillar of Macao’s economy, with countless tourists flocking to the city’s glitzy casinos to try their luck, mostly at the baccarat tables. The latest data showed travelers spend an average of 6,623 patacas ($821) per person on gambling in 2022. From 2008 to 2019, Macao’s gross gaming revenue accounted for over 60 percent of the city’s gross domestic product, reaching a staggering 91 percent in 2011.

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a blow to the

PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Dance performances are staged to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region during the 2024 Lunar New Year parade. A teenager poses for a photo with a wax figure of an internationally celebrated racing driver alongside a race car model inside the Macao Grand Prix Museum. Pedestrians walk alongside Rua dos Ervanarios during a fair. Crowds gather to capture the right moment at a live concert in front of the Ruins of Saint Paul’s.

Lio Kuok-man (right), music director and principal conductor of the Macao Orchestra, conducts a performance during a live concert.

Portuguese fado vocalist Camane (front left) performs at a concert with the Macao Chinese Orchestra. Fado, a music genre traceable to 1820s Lisbon, Portugal, embodies themes of destiny and fate.