Visitors to Macau spent MOP$16.42 billion in the three months to 31 March 2018, an increase of 22% year-on-year but down 9.7% sequentially.
The majority of spending came from overnight visitors, who contributed MOP$12.68 billion – up 19.6% year-on-year – while spending by same-day visitors grew 30.7% to MOP$3.74 billion. Per capita spending was MOP$1,921, with those from mainland China spending an average of MOP$2,234.
Mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) spent an average of MOP$2,558, up 18.8% year-on-year, with those from Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan spending MOP$1,948, MOP$1,712 and MOP$1,652 respectively.
Per-capita spending of overnight visitors rose by 8.6% year-on-year to MOP$2,928. Overnight visitors from mainland China spent an average of MOP$3,312 with IVS visitors spending MOP3,693. Same-day visitors from mainland China spent an average of MOP$1,102, a 23.7% year-on-year increase, while IVS visitors spent MOP$1,644, up 22.5%.
Shopping was the biggest beneficiary of spending, comprising 47.3% of total visitor spend, followed by accommodation (23.3%) and food and beverage (22.0%) in 1Q18.
Per-capita shopping spending of visitors rose by 21.7% year-on-year to MOP$910, of which spending on local food products (MOP$290) and cosmetics and perfume (MOP$243) grew by 24.8% and 20.8% respectively.
Analyzed by main purpose of visit, visitors coming to Macau for MICE events had higher per-capita spending (MOP$2,908), followed by those coming specifically for shopping (MOP$2,596) and for vacation (MOP$2,500).