Visitor Expenditure Survey for the 2nd Quarter 2019

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors in the second quarter of 2019 dropped by 4.8% year-on-year to MOP15.71 billion. Total spending of overnight visitors decreased by 8.1% to MOP12.28 billion, whereas that of same-day visitors grew by 9.3% to MOP3.43 billion on account of an upsurge of 35.0% in number of same-day visitors. In the first half year of 2019, total spending of visitors edged down by 0.8% year-on-year to MOP32.64 billion, with that of overnight visitors falling by 3.2% to MOP25.20 billion while that of same-day visitors rising by 8.2% to MOP7.44 billion.

Per-capita spending of visitors in the second quarter decreased by 20.7% year-on-year to MOP1,583, marking a drop for three consecutive quarters since the fourth quarter of 2018. Per-capita spending of visitors from mainland China (MOP1,796) declined by 24.1%, with spending of those from Guangdong Province and Fujian Province decreasing by 21.8% and 23.3% respectively; spending of mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) dropped by 18.5% to MOP2,322. Per-capita spending of visitors from Japan (MOP1,641), Hong Kong (MOP946) and Taiwan (MOP1,283) fell by 2.4%, 7.3% and 15.0% respectively year-on-year, whereas spending of those from Singapore (MOP1,803) and the Republic of Korea (MOP1,648) went up by 5.8% and 16.7%. On the other hand, per-capita spending of long-haul visitors from the United States (MOP1,387) and the United Kingdom (MOP1,234) saw year-on-year growth, while spending of those from Australia (MOP1,346) decreased.

Per-capita spending of overnight visitors dropped by 14.2% year-on-year to MOP2,585 in the second quarter; spending of those from mainland China (MOP2,865) and Taiwan (MOP2,594) dropped by 16.9% and 8.6% respectively. Meanwhile, per-capita spending of same-day visitors fell by 19.1% year-on-year to MOP663, with spending of those from mainland China (MOP797) decreasing by 23.6%.

In terms of type of spending, visitors spent primarily on shopping (44.8% of total), accommodation (26.3%) and food & beverage (20.8%). Per-capita shopping spending of visitors decreased by 23.3% year-on-year to MOP709, of which spending on cosmetics & perfume (MOP237) and local food products (MOP229) went down by 17.5% and 0.7% respectively. Analysed by main purpose of visit, per-capita spending of visitors coming for MICE events (MOP3,926) rose by 2.6% year-on-year, while spending of those coming for shopping (MOP2,161) and vacation (MOP2,191) declined by 36.9% and 7.6% respectively.

Regarding visitors’ comments collected in the second quarter of 2019, the proportions of visitors who were satisfied with the services of hotels (89.4%), environmental hygiene (86.6%), services of retail shops (84.1%) and public facilities (83.7%) rose by 0.6 percentage points, 1.7 percentage points, 0.7 percentage points and 1.2 percentage points respectively quarter-to-quarter; however, the proportion of those who complimented on the services of travel agencies (83.3%) decreased by 1.0 percentage point. Besides, 60.9% of the visitors considered that there were adequate points of tourist attractions in Macao, down slightly by 0.3 percentage points quarter-to-quarter; meanwhile, 6.7% considered that public transport services should be improved, a drop of 0.8 percentage points.