Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that attributable to a rise of 13.8% in visitor arrivals, total spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors in the fourth quarter of 2018 increased by 1.3% year-on-year to MOP18.42 billion, and rose slightly by 0.4% quarter-to-quarter. Total spending of overnight visitors and same-day visitors amounted to MOP14.95 billion and MOP3.46 billion in the fourth quarter, up by 1.2% and 1.7% respectively year-on-year. For the whole year of 2018, total spending of visitors reached MOP69.69 billion, an increase of 13.6% as compared to 2017 (MOP61.32 billion). Total spending of overnight visitors (MOP56.24 billion) and same-day visitors (MOP13.45 billion) recorded respective growth of 13.0% and 16.2%.

Per-capita spending of visitors in the fourth quarter decreased by 11.0% year-on-year to MOP1,844, with that of overnight visitors (MOP3,064) and same-day visitors (MOP678) dropping by 4.2% and 17.3% respectively. Visitors from Mainland China spent an average of MOP2,091, down by 13.5% year-on-year. Per-capita spending of visitors from Singapore (MOP1,710), Malaysia (MOP1,594) and Taiwan (MOP1,577) saw decreases, whereas spending of those from Japan (MOP2,281) and Hong Kong (MOP1,053) increased by 18.2% and 2.8% respectively.

Supported by the growth in per-capita spending in the first three quarters of 2018, spending of visitors for the whole year rose by 3.5% from MOP1,880 in 2017 to MOP1,946, despite registering a decrease in the fourth quarter. Per-capita spending of overnight visitors grew by 5.5% year-on-year to MOP3,041, and that of same-day visitors rose by 3.1% to MOP777.

Analysed by country/place, per-capita spending of Mainland visitors took the lead in 2018, at MOP2,242, up by 1.8% year-on-year; spending of those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (MOP2,609) rose by 4.9%. Meanwhile, per-capita spending of visitors from Japan (MOP1,871), Singapore (MOP1,853) and Taiwan (MOP1,613) registered year-on-year growth, whereas spending of those from Malaysia (MOP1,605) decreased. As regards long-haul visitors, per-capita spending of those from Australia (MOP1,508) and the United States (MOP1,318) saw increases, while spending of those from the United Kingdom (MOP1,193) showed a modest drop.

In 2018, shopping spending of visitors (MOP916) rose by 7.2% year-on-year and accounted for 47.1% of per-capita spending, whereas spending on accommodation (MOP498) and food & beverage (MOP389) constituted 25.6% and 20.0% respectively. Shopping spending on cosmetics & perfume (MOP280) expanded by 21.9% year-on-year, while that on local food products (MOP248) decreased by 1.5%. In terms of main purpose of visit, per-capita spending of visitors coming for MICE events (MOP3,506) topped the list, up by 1.4% year-on-year, and spending of those coming for shopping (MOP2,618) and vacation (MOP2,552) both increased by 1.8%.

With respect to visitors’ comments, their satisfaction towards the various services and facilities in Macao registered increases to different extents in 2018; the proportions of visitors who expressed satisfaction with the services of travel agencies (79.6%) and public facilities (80.4%) grew by 8.9 percentage points and 6.8 percentage points respectively year-on-year. However, 8.2% of the visitors indicated that improvement in public transport services was needed.