FEBRUARY GGR TO REBOUND FOLLOWING LUNAR NEW YEAR VISITOR ARRIVALS

February 9, 2022 Macau Earnings & Filings

Analysts are expecting slightly higher gaming revenue for February following the increase in visitor numbers to the region during the Lunar New Year.

Although the visitor arrivals fell short of what the government had initially expected, the figure was 25% higher than last year.

The seven-day Spring Festival Golden Week saw total tourist arrivals hit 113,699.

Pre-pandemic, February was typically one of the busiest months with the highest gaming revenue due to the weeklong holiday in mainland China.

Bernstein Research forecasts gross gaming revenue (GGR) for February will likely be up 29% from January.

January GGR dropped 20.3% month-to-month to MOP6.34 billion. This decline coincides with a series of new outbreaks in the neighbouring region, causing local authorities to impose strict border entry measures to deter the spread of Covid-19 variants.

Due to the outbreak, the government shortened the validity period of negative nucleic acid test (NAT) results for those entering Macau from Zhuhai in a bid to discourage tourists from traveling to Macau.

However, due to the stability of case numbers, Bernstein Research said that the average daily revenue from February 1 to 6 stood at MOP333 million compared with MOP205 million in January.