GGRAsia – Macau visitor non-gaming spend grew 20pct in 2Q

Macau visitor non-gaming spend grew 20pct in 2Q

Aug 21, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Visitors to Macau spent an aggregate of MOP16.5 billion (US$2 billion), excluding gaming expenses, in the second quarter, up 20 percent year-on-year and 0.5 percent sequentially, according to the latest visitor expenditure survey released by the city’s Statistics and Census Service.

Overnight visitors spent more than four times as much on aggregate during the period than same-day ones. According to the official data, overnight visitors to Macau spent an aggregate of MOP13.36 billion in the reporting period, and their per-capita spending stood at MOP3,012; while the per-capita spend of same-day visitors stood at MOP819.

In the three months to June 30, the per-capita spending of visitors to Macau was MOP1,996, up by 11.6 percent from the prior-year period, the official data showed.

Shopping remained the largest-single category for Macau visitor non-gaming spend in the second quarter, accounting for 46.3 percent of total outlay. Spending on accommodation and on food and drink completed the top three categories, accounting for respectively 27.8 percent and 18.7 percent of the overall spending during the quarter.

Macau saw 8.27 million visitors in the three months to June 30, up by 7.5 percent year-on-year. The aggregate tally of visitors to Macau for the first half of this year rose by 8 percent year-on-year to slightly above 16.81 million, of which nearly 70 percent were visitors from mainland China.

Travellers to Macau from mainland China were also the highest-spending visitors in the second quarter of this year. According to the census service, the aggregate outlay of all visitors from mainland China grew by 23.9 percent compared to the prior-year period. It totalled MOP13.43 billion in the April to June period, representing 82.1 percent of the total spending by all visitors to the city.

Judged year-on-year, per capita expenditure of mainland Chinese visitors in the second quarter increased by 9.5 percent, to MOP2,367. During the second quarter, visitors from Singapore ranked second in terms of per capita expenditure, at MOP1,704. Japanese visitors were the third highest per capita spenders, at MOP1,681.

Annual aggregate non-gaming spending by visitors to Macau is expected to reach US$12 billion and US$14 billion by 2025, said the Macao Government Tourism Office in a 15-year master plan for the sector published in September last year.