明朝澳门开埠,葡萄牙人来此定居经商。华洋共处,缔造了澳门独特的中西旅游历史文化景观。鸦片战争后,澳葡政府单方面殖民管治澳门,推动澳门城市近代化进程,城市街道、交通和绿化不断得到改善,赌博、娼寮、客栈、酒店等旅游相关行业也被纳入政府管理中。新商业中心崛起,城市娱乐场所及活动逐渐丰富,澳门成为远东舒适的休养所,近代旅游休闲产业得到了初步发展。20世纪上半叶,在世界旅游业长足发展的影响下,澳葡政府主动发展旅游业,成立旅游委员会,组织会展旅游、跑狗、赛马和棒球等休闲活动,从而刺激了旅店、酒店、酒楼、茶楼、娼妓等旅游相关产业的发展,使旅游业成为澳门一种特殊的商业。抗战期间,澳门避难人数激增,其旅游业空前发达。战后,有识之士已展望把澳门打造成“著名之国际游览区”。
Macau opened its arms towards the outside as a commercial port since Ming dynasty. After that,Portuguese came to Macau for living and business. Chinese and Portuguese jointly built the unique tourism featuring mixed historic and cultural landscapes in Macau. After the First Opium War,Portuguese government one-sidedly colonized and administrated Macau. The government promoted the urban modernization of Macau,in which streets,traffic,and trees-plant were continuously improved,and tourism-related businesses such as gambling,brothels,taverns,and hotels,etc. were brought into the governmental administration. The rise of new commercial centers gave rise to the urban entertainment venues and relevant activities. Macao became a comfortable resort in the Far East,whose tourism and leisure industry gained a primary development in modern times. In the first half of twentieth century,with a rapid growth of the global tourism industry,the Macao Portuguese government initially developed the tourism industry,established the tourism committee,and organized leisure activities such exhibition-tourisms,dog-races,horse-races and baseball games,etc. Hence,the tourism-related businesses were gaining grounds. The development of taverns,hotels,Cantonese restaurants,and teahouses,etc. crowned Macao’s tourism industry as a special commercial business. During the Anti-Japanese War,the number of people who took refuge in Macao increased rapidly,which propelled the tourism industry at an unprecedented rate. After the War,insightful intellectuals pictured Macao as a famous international tourism area.