Macau Sees Surge in Non-Gaming Visitor Spending

The first quarter of 2024 saw a new peak for non-gaming visitor expenditure, demonstrating the success of Macau’s economic diversification efforts.

Revenue as a whole came to MOP20.35 billion ($2.54 billion), up 20.2% from pre-pandemic levels and 35.9% from the previous year.

Travelers staying overnight contributed MOP16.43 billion ($2.05 billion) to Macau, despite same-day tourists spending far more.

Despite a significant base that caused a slight year-over-year decline in per capita expenditure in 2023, for the bulk of tourist demographics it remains significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels.

One significant group of travelers, mainland Chinese, increased their average spending by 44.1% from 2019 to 2020.

The most expensive category was still shopping, which was followed by hotel and food & drink.

Surprisingly, attendees of conferences and performances had the most spending growth, suggesting that Macau may have discovered a new source of income.

See Related Articles: Macau Aims for Economic Diversification as Gaming Industry Share Stabilizes

Original Story by: Asian Gaming Brief