The Macao Tourist Satisfaction Index for the first three months of 2016 rose 1.8 points quarter-on-quarter to 69.6 points, according to data published by the Institute for Tourism Studies’ Tourism Research Centre.
Judged year-on-year, the overall index was down 0.1 point compared to the first quarter 2015.
Tourist satisfaction with casinos in the January to March period – which includes the Chinese New Year holiday – rose 4.1 points judged year-on-year, to 72.9 points, compared to 68.8 points in the prior-year quarter.
Satisfaction with hotels rose 0.8 points, to 70.3, from 69.5 in the prior-year quarter. The highest level of satisfaction measured by the main index and its sub-indices stands at 100 points.
The index is designed to represent Macau visitors’ satisfaction based on 10 tourism-related experiences. They cover the following: casinos; events; heritage attractions; hotels; immigration services; non-heritage attractions; restaurants; retail shops; tour guides/operators; and transportation services.
In 2016, approximately 100 interviews are being conducted per quarter for each sector; equivalent to about 400 interviews per year per sector. The authors said respondents were selected and interviewed based on a systematic sampling technique.
The survey team led by Don Dioko, head of the IFT Tourism Research Centre, said in its findings: “The overall service performance improved in first quarter 2016. Compared to last [fourth] quarter [2015], casinos, transportation and non-heritage attractions performed considerably better: however, their relative importance in determining overall satisfaction declined. Respondents were more satisfied with [the] immigration service but its importance remained likely the same as last quarter. Events and hotels improved in both service performance and in importance viewed by respondents.”
A total of 94.9 percent of the respondents were from Greater China, namely: mainland China (68.5 percent), Hong Kong SAR (20.9 percent) and Taiwan (5.5 percent). Respondents from other Asian countries and regions accounted for about 3.7 percent of respondents and the remainder were from outside Asia. Among all respondents, 57.9 percent were female, while 42.1 percent were male. More than 90 percent of the respondents were aged 16 to 45.
In the first quarter of 2016, most of the Hong Kong respondents and more than half of the mainland China respondents were repeat visitors. Approximately two-thirds of respondents from Taiwan, mainland China and other Asian places as well as the respondents from Australia or New Zealand indicated that this was their first visit to Macau.
In the reporting period, the majority of respondents said they visited Macau primarily for leisure and holidays (94.3 percent), followed by visits to friends or relatives (3.1 percent) and business (2.1 percent).
The primary reasons the respondents gave for visiting Macau for leisure and holidays included enjoyment of shopping (25.9 percent), cuisine (25.3 percent) and visiting World Heritage attractions (18.4 percent), followed by gambling (10.0 percent), travelling around branded hotels and casinos (8.0 percent), visiting cultural, arts or historical attractions (5.1 percent), staying in branded hotels (4.5 percent), as well as participating in events (2.6 percent).
