Tourism | Visitor spending falls 13.6 percent in Q1

Total spending of visitors in the first quarter of 2016 amounted to MOP11.54 billion, according to new information released yesterday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), down by 13.6 percent from MOP13.36 billion in the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the first quarter of 2016 represented a decline of 11.6 percent from the MOP13.05 billion recorded in the last quarter of 2015.
For Q1 2016, total spending of overnight visitors (MOP8.86 billion) and same-day visitors (MOP2.68 billion) decreased by 14.8 percent and 9.6 percent respectively.
Per capita spending of visitors was MOP1,547, down by 14.1 percent year-on-year. Visitors coming to Macau for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) purposes had the highest per capita spending of any group, at MOP3,132, up by 9.9 percent year-on-year.

While those who came mainly for vacation (MOP2,177) and shopping (MOP2,074) dropped by 19.1 percent and 10.4 percent respectively, year-on-year.
Per capita spending of visitors from Mainland China tumbled 18.1 percent year-on-year in the quarter to MOP1,762, with those from Guangdong Province and Fujian Province spending an average of MOP1,437 and MOP1,415, falling 7.5 percent and 4.8 percent respectively.
Also recording declines were the per capita spending averages of visitors from Singapore (MOP1,635), Malaysia (MOP1,619) and Taiwan (MOP1,579), which fell by 8.3 percent, 1.3 percent and 2.3 percent respectively.
On the other hand visitors from Japan (MOP1,692) and Hong Kong (MOP950) recorded an increase of 12.5 percent and 11.8 percent each.
Analyzed by consumption structure, visitors spent mainly on shopping (43.7 percent), accommodation (27.8 percent) and food and beverage (20.4 percent) in the first quarter of 2016. Per capita spending on shopping decreased by 22.3 percent year-on-year to MOP677, while the shopping spending per capita of Mainland Chinese visitors fell at a slightly sharper rate (23 percent) to MOP923.