Macau recorded a total of 17.6 million visitor arrivals for the first eight months of this year, according to the city’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, in comments to reporters on Wednesday. The official – who oversees the tourism and gaming sectors – declined however to provide an update regarding the government’s forecast for industry-wide full-year casino gross gaming revenue (GGR).
Mr Lei (pictured in a file photo) said he hoped Macau could keep up the momentum until the end of the year in terms of visitor arrivals volume, via the hosting of special events and entertainment activities.
The head of Macau’s tourism authority said on Sunday her office expected the city to welcome a daily average of “80,000 to 90,000” visitors during the October Golden Week. In pre-pandemic times, it marked a strong trading period for Macau’s tourism and gaming industries.
China’s State Council has designated September 29 to October 6 inclusive this year as the holiday period popularly known as October Golden Week. This year, the period encompasses the lunar-calendar based Mid-Autumn Festival, falling on September 29, and China’s National Day on October.
Secretary Lei declined on Wednesday to make any forecast on industry-wide casino GGR in Macau for full-year 2023.
“There are still several months left, and the overall gaming revenue for the year is not being assessed at the moment,” stated the official.
The Macau government officially estimates the city’s casino GGR to be MOP130 billion (US$16.08 billion) this year. The figure is in the city’s 2023 fiscal year budget, issued at the end of last year, and has yet to be updated.
Macau’s GGR for the eight months to August 31 reached MOP114.01 billion, a rise of 295.1 percent from the comparable 2022 period.
Under the new concession contracts with the city’s six operators, if Macau’s annual GGR reaches a MOP180-billion threshold, the casino firms will have to increase their collective MOP108.7 billion non-gaming and overseas-marketing spending pledges by up to 20 percent.
