Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors amounted to MOP13.46 billion in the first quarter of 2017, up by 16.6% year-on-year, yet down by 9.0% from the fourth quarter of 2016. Total spending of overnight visitors (MOP10.60 billion) and same-day visitors (MOP2.86 billion) went up by 19.6% and 6.7% respectively year-on-year.
In the first quarter of 2017, per-capita spending of visitors was MOP1,709, up by 10.5% year-on-year but down by 6.6% quarter-to-quarter (MOP1,830). Per-capita spending of visitors from Mainland China rose by 13.6% year-on-year to MOP2,002, with spending of those from Guangdong Province (MOP1,630) rising by 13.4% while spending of those from Fujian Province (MOP1,291) dropping by 8.7%. Per-capita spending of Mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) increased by 5.4% year-on-year to MOP 2,154. Meanwhile, per-capita spending of visitors from Singapore (MOP1,825), Malaysia (MOP1,625) and Taiwan (MOP1,607) grew by 11.6%, 0.4% and 1.8% respectively year-on-year. On the other hand, per-capita spending of visitors from Australia (MOP1,373), the United States (MOP1,211) and the United Kingdom (MOP1,118) recorded decrease.
Per-capita spending of overnight visitors increased by 6.8% year-on-year to MOP2,696, with spending of those from Mainland China (MOP3,111) rising by 7.4%; nevertheless, spending of those from Taiwan (MOP2,893) dropped by 2.7%. Per-capita spending of same-day visitors went up by 6.9% year-on-year to MOP725, with spending of those from Mainland China (MOP891) increasing by 9.6%.
With regard to type of spending, visitors spent mainly on shopping (43.7%), accommodation (26.9%) and food & beverage (21.3%). Per-capita shopping spending increased by 10.4% year-on-year to MOP747, of which spending on local food products (MOP233) and cosmetics & perfume (MOP201) rose by 4.5% and 36.9% respectively. Analysed by main purpose of visit, visitors coming to Macao for MICE events had the highest per-capita spending at MOP3,286, up by 4.9% year-on-year, followed by those coming for shopping (MOP2,468), up by 19.0%. The former accounted for 0.5% of the total visitor arrivals (+0.2 percentage points) while the latter made up 10.8% (-1.1 percentage point).
Results of the Visitors’ Comments Survey indicated a decrease in visitor satisfaction towards all aspects of services and facilities in the first quarter of 2017; 89.2% of the visitor-users were satisfied with the services and facilities of hotels, down slightly by 0.5 percentage points quarter-to-quarter; the proportion of visitors who expressed satisfaction with services of gaming establishments (81.9%) and retail shops (81.0%) dropped by 2.9 and 3.7 percentage points respectively. Meanwhile, a relatively low proportion of visitors were satisfied with the services of public transport (68.2%), down by 1.0 percentage point quarter-to-quarter. Moreover, 45.2% of visitors commented that the points of tourist attractions were adequate, down significantly by 6.1 percentage points from 51.3% in the fourth quarter of 2016.