Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors in the third quarter of 2019 dropped by 17.2% year-on-year to MOP15.20 billion, with that of overnight visitors (MOP12.19 billion) and same-day visitors (MOP3.01 billion) decreasing by 20.0% and 3.2% respectively. In the first three quarters of 2019, total spending of visitors amounted to MOP47.83 billion, down by 6.7% year-on-year; total spending of overnight visitors (MOP37.39 billion) fell by 9.4%, whereas that of same-day visitors (MOP10.45 billion) increased by 4.6% on account of a 30.6% surge in number of same-day visitors.
Per-capita spending of visitors decreased by 24.9% year-on-year to MOP1,532, marking a drop for the fourth consecutive quarter. Apart from an increase of 17.5% in per-capita spending of visitors from the Republic of Korea (MOP2,037), spending of those from all other countries/places registered a year-on-year decline. Per-capita spending of visitors from mainland China (MOP1,691) reduced by 26.7%, with spending of those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme falling by 13.8% to MOP2,172. Per-capita spending of visitors from Singapore (MOP1,842), Japan (MOP1,805), Hong Kong (MOP969) and Taiwan (MOP1,339) dropped by 17.4%, 6.6%, 16.2% and 21.7% respectively. Besides, per-capita spending of long-haul visitors from Australia (MOP1,608), the United Kingdom (MOP1,171) and the United States (MOP993) showed year-on-year decreases.
Overnight visitors spent an average of MOP2,545, a drop of 19.1% year-on-year; spending of those from Singapore (MOP2,899) and mainland China (MOP2,766) fell by 16.7% and 20.4% respectively. Meanwhile, per-capita spending of same-day visitors decreased by 21.6% year-on-year to MOP587 and spending of those from mainland China (MOP683) fell by 23.2%.
In terms of type of spending, visitors spent primarily on shopping (45.2% of total), accommodation (26.9%) and food & beverage (20.5%). Per-capita shopping spending of visitors declined by 32.5% year-on-year to MOP693, of which spending on cosmetics & perfume (MOP219) and local food products (MOP218) saw respective decreases of 35.4% and 13.5%. Analysed by main purpose of visit, per-capita spending of visitors coming to Macao for MICE events leapt by 67.4% to MOP4,319, driven by an increase in number of relatively high-spending MICE visitors from mainland China, as well as a low base of comparison in the same quarter last year. On the other hand, spending of visitors coming for vacation (MOP2,231) and shopping (MOP2,044) dropped by 20.7% and 11.3% respectively.
Regarding visitors’ comments collected in the third quarter of 2019, the proportions of visitors who were satisfied with the services of restaurants (81.5%) and retail shops (84.6%) rose by 1.1 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points respectively quarter-to-quarter, whereas the proportions of those who complimented on the services of hotels (88.8%) and travel agencies (82.8%) fell by 0.6 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points. In addition, 60.7% of the visitors considered that there were adequate points of tourist attractions in Macao, down slightly by 0.2 percentage points quarter-to-quarter. Meanwhile, 7.1% of the visitors considered that public transport services should be improved, up marginally by 0.4 percentage points over the previous quarter.