by The 30th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest will stage 12 firework displays on September 7, 13, 21, 28 and October 1 and 5, Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes announced at a press conference at Macau Tower on Thursday.
According to an MGTO statement, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland and the 30th edition of the pyrotechnic extravaganza, for the first time MGTO has contracted a dozen companies to compete.
The 12 companies are from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, the Chinese mainland, Malaysia, the Philippines, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, which will be blasting their fireworks into the night sky on six nights, two competitors each time.
According to Senna Fernandes, each company will have 18 minutes to present their pyrotechnic choreography with last year’s songwriting competition winner’s song “Light your fire” as one of their pieces of background music.
MGTO held a songwriting competition last year of which the winner’s composition will be used in this year’s competition as part of each competitor’s routine.
Senna Fernandes pointed out that this year, for the very first time, MGTO will be selling tickets for members of the public to watch the firework displays from a boat. She did not reveal the price of the tickets.
According to the Macau Post Daily, she added that since MGTO has invited 12 teams instead of the usual 10, the budget for the contest has risen by 15 per cent, taking it to more than 24 million patacas.
To double the fun, there will also be a Fireworks Carnival next to Macau Tower on the six nights. People can also watch the displays live on TDM and listen to the synchronised music by tuning in to the broadcaster’s Chinese-language radio channel (FM100.7).
