Tourists unaware of heritage, survey says

More than half of tourists visiting Macau do not think there are enough attractions in the city, with touristic opportunities centered mainly on shopping, accommodation and dining.
According to the visitors’ comments survey conducted in the third quarter by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), only 47 percent of the visitors considered Macau’s tourist attractions adequate.
Meanwhile, about 86 percent of visitors were satisfied with the services and hotel facilities; 84 percent spoke positively of travel agency services, and 17 percent believed that public transport services could be improved.
The DSEC also revealed yesterday that tourist spending in the third quarter of this year reached MOP15.5 billion, 5 percent more than that of the previous year.
Visitors mainly spent money on shopping (49 pct), accommodation (26 pct) and on food & beverages (18 pct). Per-capita shopping spending of visitors increased slightly by 1 percent year-on-year to MOP921, with items such as jewellery and watches (26 pct), local food products (22 pct) and handbags & shoes (18 pct) being preferred.
The total amount spent by overnight visitors totaled MOP12.9 billion while that of same-day visitors was MOP2.6 billion, respectively up by 5 and 3 percent year-on-year. The per-capita spending of the visitors dropped slightly by 1 percent to MOP1,878.
Visitors from mainland China spent an average of MOP2,220, 4 percent less year-on-year. However, per-capita spending of visitors from Japan increased by 12 percent to MOP1,954. Visitors from the United Kingdom had relatively high per-capita spending among the long-haul visitors, at MOP1,563, representing a 38 percent increase on an annual basis.