Informação Geral

Smart tourism is more than counting visitor arrivals, and bringing visitors to different sites for taking photographs and purchasing souvenirs. It is about whether and how a destination can effectively and efficiently facilitate and enable visitors to explore and experience what the city’s natural, heritage, cultural, and entertainment venues can offer. Because of that, a proper portrayal of the city must be given, not only in terms of visual appearance but also in terms of sonic environments. This paper presents a new initiative in enhancing the experience of tourists visiting Macao, by way of applying soundscape based on the new technical specification ISO/TS 12913-2:2018. A soundwalk was conducted in Macao to identify key sonic elements in four UNESCO world heritage sites including St. Lawrence’s Church, Mandarin’s House, Lilau Square, and Moorish Barracks. The results of the soundwalk showed that participants perceived the sonic environment at Lilau Square to be fairly pleasant, and having the highest degree of comfort and quietness among the four selected sites. The measured sound levels at Lilau Square were found to range from 47.6 to 65.7 dBA, with the continuous equivalent sound level Leq at 54.2 dBA.