Visitor Expenditure Survey for the 1st Quarter 2020

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors declined by 70.4% year-on-year to a mere MOP5.01 billion in the first quarter of 2020, resulting from a 68.9% decrease in number of visitor arrivals (3,219,170). Total spending of overnight visitors (MOP3.78 billion) and same-day visitors (MOP1.23 billion) fell by 70.8% and 69.3% respectively.

Per-capita spending of visitors dropped by 4.8% year-on-year to MOP1,555 in the first quarter. Visitors from mainland China spent an average of MOP1,789, a drop of 3.2%, with spending of those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme dipping by 6.8% to MOP2,159. Per-capita spending of visitors from Hong Kong (MOP851) and Taiwan (MOP1,228) decreased, whereas spending of those from the Republic of Korea (MOP2,108) surged by 47.5%. Per-capita spending of overnight visitors fell by 9.0% year-on-year to MOP2,484, while that of same-day visitors rose by 1.6% to MOP723.

As regards type of spending, visitors spent primarily on shopping (43.3% of total), accommodation (27.4%) and food & beverage (22.9%). Analysed by main purpose of visit, per-capita spending of visitors coming to Macao for MICE events (MOP3,024) and shopping (MOP2,434) decreased by 30.6% and 4.5% respectively year-on-year; meanwhile, spending of those coming for vacation (MOP2,230) grew by 2.7%.

With respect to visitors’ comments collected in the first quarter of 2020, the proportion of visitors who were satisfied with the services of hotels (88.1%) went up by 0.2 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2019; in addition, both the shares of those who complimented on the services of travel agencies (86.6%) and retail shops (85.2%) rose by 1.1 percentage points. However, the proportions of visitors who expressed satisfaction with environmental hygiene (86.4%) and public facilities (83.1%) dropped by 0.2 percentage points and 0.9 percentage points respectively. Meanwhile, 62.1% of the visitors considered that there were adequate points of tourist attractions in Macao, down slightly by 0.1 percentage point quarter-to-quarter, whereas 7.2% expressed that public transport services should be improved.

As affected by the epidemic of novel coronavirus pneumonia, visitor arrivals in the first quarter of 2020 recorded substantial decline, owing to the successive suspension of ferry services, reduced number of commercial flights, as well as tightened quarantine measures for arrivals in Macao since late March. Data collection for Visitor Expenditure Survey was suspended in February, and thus survey results for the first quarter were extrapolated from the samples collected in January and March.