A total of 38 percent of people that admit to gambling in Macau say they spend fewer than MOP1,000 (US$125.30) on that activity per trip, according to the results of a new survey.
About 25 percent of the respondents indicated that they had gambled during their visit.
The findings were included in the Macao Visitor Profile Survey 2nd Quarter Report. Data for the survey, conducted by the city’s Tourism Research Centre at the Institute for Tourism Studies, came from field surveys of visitors conducted between April and June 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 69 percent of the respondents were below 35 years old. Most of them were well educated, with 62 percent having a degree gained at tertiary education level. A total of 27 percent of respondents had monthly personal income equivalent to between US$1,501 and US$4,500.
A total of 25 percent of the self-described gamblers in the survey said they had spent more than MOP5,000 on gambling during their current visit. A further 18 percent said they had wagered MOP2,001 to MOP5,000; 19 percent MOP1,001 to MOP2,000; 17 percent MOP501 to MOP1,000; and 21 percent under MOP500.
According to the 2014 Visitor Profile Study by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the average visitor’s gambling budget per trip made to the Nevada gambling hub was US$530, the equivalent of MOP4,231.
A total of 1,025 visitors were questioned in the second quarter 2015 Macau survey. The majority came from mainland China (68 percent), Hong Kong (17 percent) and Taiwan, (8 percent). Around 6 percent of the respondents were from Malaysia and other Asian countries while the rest (about 1 percent) came from worldwide destinations including Australia, Brazil and Canada.
About 42 percent of the respondents stayed overnight while 58 percent were same-day visitors. Among those staying overnight, 83 percent had stayed or intended to stay in Macau for two to three days. About 74 percent visited Macau in a group comprising of one to three people; while 22 percent came in groups of four to six individuals. Among those being interviewed, 70 percent were repeat visitors of which 70 percent had visited more than three times in the past five years.
The IFT says the aim of the survey is to provide tourism policy and decision makers, planners and members of the tourism and hospitality industry with “up-to-date, regular and insightful information” regarding the profile of visitors to Macau and how that profile evolves.
