A total of 52 percent of people polled that admitted to gambling in Macau said they spent fewer than MOP1,000 (US$125.20) on the activity during that trip, according to the latest survey released by IFT Tourism Research Centre (ITRC) at the city’s Institute for Tourism Studies.
About 26 percent of respondents said that they had gambled during that particular visit.
The findings were included in the Macao Visitor Profile Survey 4th Quarter Report, conducted by ITRC. The results came from field surveys of visitors between October and December 2015. The survey targeted people that had completed at least half of their visit at the time of interview.
About 60 percent of the respondents were female and 40 percent were male. Around 72 percent of the respondents were below 35 years old. Most of them were well educated, with 65 percent having a degree gained at tertiary education level. A total of 35 percent of respondents had monthly personal income equivalent to between US$1,501 and US$4,500.
A total of 20 percent of the self-described gamblers said they had spent more than MOP5,000 on gaming during their current visit. A further 12 percent said they had wagered MOP2,001 to MOP5,000; 16 percent MOP1,001 to MOP2,000; 20 percent MOP501 to MOP1,000; and 32 percent under MOP500.
A total of 1,042 visitors were questioned in the fourth quarter 2015 Macau survey. The majority came from mainland China (62 percent), Hong Kong (18 percent) and Taiwan (10 percent). Around 9 percent of the respondents were from Malaysia and other Asian countries while the rest (about 1 percent) came from Western countries.
About 57 percent of the respondents stayed overnight while 43 percent were same-day visitors. Among those staying overnight, 81 percent had stayed or intended to stay in Macau for two to three days. About 77 percent visited Macau in a group comprising one to three people; while 19 percent arrived in groups of four to six individuals. Among those being interviewed, 61 percent were repeat visitors of whom 59 percent had visited more than three times in the past five years.
