Visitors to Macau spent an aggregate of just under MOP20.35 billion (US$2.53 billion), excluding gaming expenses, in the first quarter of 2024, up 35.9 percent year-on-year. That is according to the latest visitor expenditure survey released on Monday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service. The figure was up 20.2 percent compared with first-quarter 2019, the immediate trading year before Covid-19.
Per capita spending of visitors during the period stood at MOP2,293, a decline of 24.3 percent from the prior-year period.
Macau saw nearly 8.88 million visitors in the three months to March 31, up 79.4 percent from a year earlier, show official data.
Overnight visitors to Macau spent around four times as much on aggregate during the first quarter than same-day tourists, the city’s Statistics and Census Service said on Monday. According to the data, overnight visitors to Macau spent an aggregate of MOP16.43 billion in the reporting period, a 33.1-percent increase year-on-year.
Aggregate spending by same-day visitors rose by 48.5 percent year-on-year to MOP3.92 billion, said the statistics bureau
Shopping remained the largest-single category for Macau visitor non-gaming spend in the January to March period, accounting for 48.0 percent of total outlay. Spending on accommodation and on food and drink completed the top three categories, accounting for respectively 23.3 percent and 20.9 percent of the overall spending during the quarter.
Market-wide casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau for the first quarter this year increased by 65.5 percent in year-on-year terms, to MOP57.33 billion. The GGR figure includes both spending by locals and visitors.
