Statistics Announce Q1 Tourist Price Index, Hotels Index and Visitor Expenditure
The overnight visitors expenditure in the first quarter of 2017 went up by 19.6 per cent
Macao SAR Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the first quarter of 2017 dipped 5.45 per cent year-on-year to 129, with guests of hotels and guesthouses totalling 3,047,000, up 13.7 per cent year-on-year. The average length of stay of guests was 1.4 nights. In addition, from January to March, visitor expenditure increased year-on-year, with visitors spending mainly on shopping and accommodation.
Tourist Price Index down, led by lower hotel charges
The decline in Tourist Price Index was attributable to lower charges for hotel accommodation, reduced airfares and lower prices of handbags that significantly pushed down the price indices of Transport & Communications, Accommodation and Clothing & Footwear by 21.16 per cent, 14.39 per cent and 9.50 per cent, respectively, year-on-year. By contrast, the price indices of Restaurant Services and Entertainment & Cultural Activities increased by 4.86 per cent and 4.59 per cent, respectively, year-on-year on account of higher charges for restaurant services and dearer prices for leisure goods such as fireworks and firecrackers during the Lunar New Year.
Hotel occupancy rate and available hotel rooms up
In the first quarter of 2017, the average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses increased by 5.2 per cent to 83 per cent, while visitor-guests accounted for 73 per cent of total overnight visitors, up by 1.2 per cent year-on-year. Some 108 hotels and guesthouses were operating as at the end of March 2017. The number of guestrooms increased by 13.1 per cent year-on-year to 36,000, of which 22,000 rooms were 5-star hotel rooms, accounting for 60.2 per cent of the total.
Overnight visitors expenditure up 19.6 per cent
The total spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors amounted to MOP13.46 billion in the first quarter of 2017, up by 16.6 per cent year-on-year, although down by 9 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2016. Total spending of overnight visitors (MOP10.60 billion) and same-day visitors (MOP2.86 billion) went up by 19.6 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively, year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2017, per capita spending of visitors was MOP1,709, up by 10.5 per cent year-on-year but down by 6.6 per cent quarter-to-quarter (MOP1,830).
With regard to type of spending, visitors spent mainly on shopping (43.7 per cent), accommodation (26.9 per cent) and food & beverage (21.3 per cent). Per capita shopping spending increased by 10.4 per cent year-on-year to MOP747, of which spending on local food products (MOP233) and cosmetics and perfume (MOP201) rose by 4.5 per cent and 36.9 per cent, respectively. Analysed by main purpose of visit, visitors coming to Macao for MICE events posted the highest per capita spending at MOP3,286, up by 4.9 per cent year-on-year, followed by those coming for shopping (MOP2,468), up by 19 per cent.
Macao posts 370,000-plus visitor arrivals for 1st May Labour Day holidays
According to records provided by the Public Security Police Force (PSP), Macao registered over 375,000 visitor arrivals (excluding non-resident employees and students) during the 1st May Labour Day holidays (29th April – 1st May), a rise of 6.7 per cent over the corresponding three-day holidays of last year.
Industry figures reveal that hotel establishments (hotels and guesthouses) in Macao registered an average occupancy rate of 94.5 per cent during the 1st May Labour Day holidays, a year-on-year increase of 2.6 per cent. The average room rate of hotel establishments (hotels and guesthouses) in Macao during the three-day holiday reached MOP1,700 approximately, up 1.2 per cent.