Q4 tourist price index down 15.2% year-on-year

Macau’s Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020 dropped by 15.26%, year-on-year to 118.21, mainly driven by the reduced prices of hotel rooms and clothing, according to the latest figures from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
In terms of commodity types, the price index of accommodation in Q4 2020 — dampened by the Covid-19 pandemic — demonstrated the greatest plunge, falling by 49.9%, year-on-year.
It was followed by drops in Clothing & Footwear, and Entertainment & Cultural Activities, which declined respectively by 12.5% and 7.6%, year-on-year.
Jewelry was among those that bucked the downward trend in Q4 2020. It helped offset the drop of the overall TPI for the last quarter.
In comparison, TPI for Q4 2020 saw an uptick of 2.68% from the third quarter of 2020.
The economic fallout of the pandemic led the annual TPI for 2020 to contract by 8.2% year-on-year to 122.88, predominantly dragged down by a 28.5% decrease in hotel room rates. The contraction was partially offset by the increased price of jewelry and airfares last year.
TPI is a metric that represents the price change of goods and services purchased by visitors in Macau.
The up-to-date official data points to increased buoyancy in the city’s accommodation industry during the four-day New Year holiday — boosted by the large influx of visitor arrivals to Macau during the period.
The city’s average room rate stood at MOP1,128 during the holiday from December 31, 2020, to January 3, 2021, representing an advancement of 21.7% and 25.6% from November and December 2020 respectively.
Further broken down, the average room rate was MOP1,448 for 5-star hotels, MOP701 for 4-Star hotels and MOP 694 for 3-Star hotels across the period.
Meanwhile, the occupancy rate of hotels stood at 67.2% during the New Year holiday, up by 27.4%, 23.3% and 15.1% from October, November and December last year respectively.
Tourism industry players originally eyed the Lunar New Year to drive businesses. But such an aspirations have been stifled by the government’s entreaty to locals to avoid unnecessary travel during the upcoming festival.