University of Macau Organized the First Macao Hengqin Medical Tourism Symposium, Exploring a New Chapter in Medical Tourism - Faculty of Business Administration

On March 28, the University of Macau successfully organized the first Macao Hengqin Medical Tourism Symposium, inviting nearly 100 medical experts and scholars from the Greater Bay Area to explore new ways of integrating the development of healthcare and tourism in Macao and Hengqin. The symposium mainly focused on two major topics: the development prospect of medical tourism and regional cooperation, and the integration and application of Chinese medicine resources in medical tourism.

Prof. Glenn MCCARTNEY, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration and Associate Professor of the Department of Integrated Resort and Tourism Management (DRTM), as the symposium organizer and keynote speaker, pointed out that medical tourism is one of the most important directions in exploring the innovative development of the tourism industry and has great potential for development. He also shared his research results and unique insights in this field. Ink Chufeng WANG, a student of DRTM, also actively participated as the moderator of the symposium and contributed to the smooth progress and in-depth exchanges of the symposium.

As one of the keynote speakers, Dr.Xin CHEN, Director of the Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences of the University of Macau, emphasized Macau’s strong foundation in Chinese medicine, including the country’s first State Key Laboratory for Quality Research in Chinese Medicine and a large team of clinical Chinese medicine practitioners, which provides solid technical support for the development of Chinese medicine tourism in Macau. He also pointed out that medical tourism in Macau has a wide scope for expansion, especially the special tourism projects integrated with the theory of Chinese medicine and nutrition.

Mr. Hua ZHOU, Deputy Director of the Chinese Medicine Guangdong Laboratory, also said that as a high-end tourist city, Macau has excellent entertainment facilities and distinctive recreational and healthcare services, which add more value to tourism. Currently, the laboratory is working with the Macau University of Science and Technology to incubate a project that aims to further apply Chinese medicine to daily life through the combination of high-end technology and Chinese medicine to prevent and treat pathologies.