Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose 8.8 percent year-on-year in real terms in 2024, to MOP403.31 billion (US$50.35 billion), according to data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service. “The overall economic output returned to 86.4 percent of the level in 2019,” before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, said the statistics bureau in a report published on Friday.
Full-year 2024 exports of services rose by 9.2 percent year-on-year, “driven by an increase of 23.8 percent in the number of visitor arrivals,” stated the bureau.
The number of visitor arrivals to Macau reached 34.93 million in full-year 2024, according to official figures. Macau’s tourism boss said in mid-January that Macau might be able to draw “38 million to 39 million” visitors this year, a level “very close” to the pre-pandemic trading year of 2019.
According to the report, exports of gaming services in 2024 grew by 21.8 percent from the previous year. Exports of other tourism services however fell by 6.1 percent, “owing to a relatively high comparison base in the previous year”. Exports of other tourism services still went up by 13.0 percent when compared to 2019, showed the data.
Gaming and tourism services in Macau are included in exports when calculating the city’s GDP. That is in order to reflect spending by tourists in the city’s casinos and other tourism-focused businesses.
According to the statistics bureau, the valuation of gross output and gross value added of the gaming industry at producers’ prices – i.e., incorporating gaming tax into output of the gaming industry – also “provides a more accurate measure of the industry’s contribution to the economy”.
Macau casino GGR for calendar year 2024 stood at MOP226.78 billion, up 23.9 percent year-on-year, according to official data.
The report said private consumption expenditure in 2024 increased by 4.9 percent year-on-year in 2024, “on account of the continued recovery of various local economic activities, coupled with a stable job market”.
The report also showed that gross fixed capital formation increased by 4.6 percent year-on-year in 2024, “as enterprises continued to step up their investment in Macau during the year”.
In the final three months of 2024, Macau’s GDP expanded by 3.4 percent in real terms from the prior-year period. The overall economic output corresponded to 88.0 percent of the same quarter of 2019, according to the statistics bureau.
