Editor's note: This article was translated from the original Chinese and first published on MNA. It reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

China's Macao Special Administrative Region has ranked first for consecutive years in the China Tourism Academy's ranking for Chinese outbound tourist satisfaction, posting impressive tourism results. As a "World Center of Tourism and Leisure," Macao's shift toward green tourism is about far more than strengthening its culture and tourism industry — it is about building the city's overall capacity for sustainable development, and raising the quality of urban governance by upgrading green and smart-city operations.

Green tourism as a key lever for high-quality development

Wong Seng Fat, executive director of the Smart City Alliance Association of Macao: Green tourism is not simply about "ecological sightseeing". It is an all-for-one tourism development model centered on ecological priority, cultural continuity, low-carbon emissions reduction and sustainable operations. Its essence is to break away from the extensive-growth ills of conventional sightseeing—heavy visitor flows, high resource consumption, high waste generation, low-quality experiences and low added value—and to achieve a dynamic balance between ecological protection, cultural continuity, economic development and habitability across the entire chain of travel and consumption, attraction operations, visitor spending, and urban services. It is the inevitable direction of transformation and upgrading in the global tourism industry.

Seen against Macao's city positioning and development direction, green tourism fits squarely with the core strategy of upgrading the tourism industry and operating the city as a smart city. It is the key lever for Macao to break out of a single-industry structure and achieve high-quality development.

Firstly, it aligns with the policy direction of the Chinese mainland and Macao. Macao has incorporated sustainable development into its five-year development plan and the master programme for tourism development, explicitly identifying environmental protection and carbon reduction, efficient resource use and the diversification of tourism as core strategies. Green tourism is precisely the core vehicle for delivering that policy.

Secondly, it fits Macao's resource endowment. With scarce land and limited ecological space, the traditional model of large-scale, extensive tourism development has no room left. Only a refined, low-carbon, quality-driven green tourism can maximize the use of the resources available.

Thirdly, it fits the logic of smart-city operations. Macao is pressing ahead with the development of a smart city, using digital and intelligent tools to improve urban governance and public services. Green tourism is the core scenario in which a smart city takes shape in the culture and tourism field, and it enables the deep integration of the tourism industry with urban transport, environmental protection and public services.

Fourthly, it fits the deepening of what it means to be a World Center of Tourism and Leisure. Competition among modern international tourism cities has long since moved beyond a contest over the number of attractions; it has shifted to a composite contest of ecological quality, cultural depth, the green credentials of services and the warmth of the visitor experience. Green tourism is the path Macao must take to benchmark itself against the world's leading tourism cities.

Li Xi, professor at the Faculty of International Tourism and Management, City University of Macau: Considered against Macao's city positioning and development framework, green tourism fully matches the core direction of upgrading the tourism industry and running the city smartly. Its fit and practical value stand out in three main dimensions.

Firstly, it matches Macao's core strategic positioning as an international tourism city. Macao has clearly established the "One Center, One Platform, and One Base" development framework, and building a World Center of Tourism and Leisure is one of its core development goals. Building a world-class tourism destination requires the internationalization of both visitor-source structure and product quality and, more importantly, requires that the city's tourism operating philosophy and management model be aligned with mainstream international standards.

Secondly, it helps Macao integrate more deeply into the national "dual carbon" development strategy. Delivering on the carbon-peak and carbon-neutrality goals is an important step for Macao in aligning itself with China's overall development agenda. As Macao's pillar industry, the culture and tourism sector is a key link in the region's carbon-reduction work, and its green transformation is critical to that effort.

Thirdly, it improves the operating efficiency of Macao's local communities and reconciles the interests at stake in urban development. Macao's geographic space is limited, and the development of culture and tourism is tightly interwoven with the daily lives of local residents. Visitor activity and residents' lives, industrial development and community operations are closely connected.

Cui Wenjing, Macau China Youth Innovation Promotion Association: My understanding of green tourism can be developed on three levels: resource efficiency, tourist behavior, and the long-term value of the destination.

Green tourism most directly concerns resource and environmental issues such as energy, water, transport, waste and carbon emissions. The focus has moved on from individual measures—energy saving in hotels, cutting single-use items, waste sorting—to the resource consumption and environmental impact of the journey as a whole. This reflects the fact that the scale at which green tourism is governed is expanding, from individual enterprises and isolated measures to the entire process of travel, and to resource and environmental management at destination level.

Tourist behavior is another important dimension of green tourism. From the moment visitors arrive at a destination, their choices in transport, accommodation, dining, sightseeing and consumption all generate resource consumption and environmental impact to varying degrees. The focus of related research has likewise moved beyond simple environmental concerns and green intentions, extending to the translation of those intentions into actual behavior in real travel situations.

Green industry demonstration begins to bear fruit

Wong Seng Fat, executive director of the Smart City Alliance Association of Macao: After years of cultivation, Macao's green tourism has completed its initial layout and formed a development pattern of "policy guidance, business participation, demonstration at selected sites." Overall, it remains at a transitional stage: early exploration, localized implementation, and city-wide transformation.

In terms of what has been achieved: Firstly, green industry demonstration is beginning to bear fruit. Many local hotels have taken part in the Macao Green Hotel Awards, and low-carbon facilities such as natural-gas conversion, solar photovoltaic systems, electric-vehicle charging infrastructure, and wastewater and energy-saving systems are now widely deployed. The green transformation of the accommodation sector has produced notable results. 

Secondly, ecotourism assets have continued to improve. Macao has wetlands, coastal zones and nature reserves, and has carried out sustained work on waterbird conservation in wetland, park greening and biodiversity protection, creating ecological leisure spaces within the city. 

Thirdly, the green integration of culture and tourism has just begun. Through measures such as greening roads in community tourism areas, organizing energy-saving activities, and creating zero-waste events, green concepts are being integrated into tourism settings. 

Fourthly, smart green infrastructure is gradually being put in place, with Macao's big-data allocation platform, the Light Rapid Transit system and smart traffic control systems providing the basic support for green tourism.

At the same time, Macao's green tourism still faces four core bottlenecks that hold back an industry-wide upgrade.

Firstly, resource scale is constrained and the product system lacks diversity.

Secondly, industry integration is insufficient (the number of low-carbon buildings remains small) and development is fragmented. Green initiatives are still largely concentrated in hotels and accommodation, while the green transformation of scenic-area operations, green dining, transport services and cultural and entertainment activities lags behind.

Thirdly, public's awareness of green consumption is weak and the relevant habits have yet to form.

Fourthly, the standards system is incomplete and the regulatory mechanism needs strengthening. Macao currently lacks unified industry standards, an evaluation system and a reward-and-penalty mechanism for green tourism. Green transformation by companies is mostly voluntary, and the results are uneven in quality.