Visitor Expenditure Survey for the 3rd Quarter 2019

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors in the third quarter of 2019 dropped by 17.2% year-on-year to MOP15.20 billion, with that of overnight visitors (MOP12.19 billion) and same-day visitors (MOP3.01 billion) decreasing by 20.0% and 3.2% respectively. In the first three quarters of 2019, total spending of visitors amounted to MOP47.83 billion, down by 6.7% year-on-year; total spending of overnight visitors (MOP37.39 billion) fell by 9.4%, whereas that of same-day visitors (MOP10.45 billion) increased by 4.6% on account of a 30.6% surge in number of same-day visitors.

Per-capita spending of visitors decreased by 24.9% year-on-year to MOP1,532, marking a drop for the fourth consecutive quarter. Apart from an increase of 17.5% in per-capita spending of visitors from the Republic of Korea (MOP2,037), spending of those from all other countries/places registered a year-on-year decline. Per-capita spending of visitors from mainland China (MOP1,691) reduced by 26.7%, with spending of those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme falling by 13.8% to MOP2,172. Per-capita spending of visitors from Singapore (MOP1,842), Japan (MOP1,805), Hong Kong (MOP969) and Taiwan (MOP1,339) dropped by 17.4%, 6.6%, 16.2% and 21.7% respectively. Besides, per-capita spending of long-haul visitors from Australia (MOP1,608), the United Kingdom (MOP1,171) and the United States (MOP993) showed year-on-year decreases.

Overnight visitors spent an average of MOP2,545, a drop of 19.1% year-on-year; spending of those from Singapore (MOP2,899) and mainland China (MOP2,766) fell by 16.7% and 20.4% respectively. Meanwhile, per-capita spending of same-day visitors decreased by 21.6% year-on-year to MOP587 and spending of those from mainland China (MOP683) fell by 23.2%.

In terms of type of spending, visitors spent primarily on shopping (45.2% of total), accommodation (26.9%) and food & beverage (20.5%). Per-capita shopping spending of visitors declined by 32.5% year-on-year to MOP693, of which spending on cosmetics & perfume (MOP219) and local food products (MOP218) saw respective decreases of 35.4% and 13.5%. Analysed by main purpose of visit, per-capita spending of visitors coming to Macao for MICE events leapt by 67.4% to MOP4,319, driven by an increase in number of relatively high-spending MICE visitors from mainland China, as well as a low base of comparison in the same quarter last year. On the other hand, spending of visitors coming for vacation (MOP2,231) and shopping (MOP2,044) dropped by 20.7% and 11.3% respectively.

Regarding visitors’ comments collected in the third quarter of 2019, the proportions of visitors who were satisfied with the services of restaurants (81.5%) and retail shops (84.6%) rose by 1.1 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points respectively quarter-to-quarter, whereas the proportions of those who complimented on the services of hotels (88.8%) and travel agencies (82.8%) fell by 0.6 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points. In addition, 60.7% of the visitors considered that there were adequate points of tourist attractions in Macao, down slightly by 0.2 percentage points quarter-to-quarter. Meanwhile, 7.1% of the visitors considered that public transport services should be improved, up marginally by 0.4 percentage points over the previous quarter.