Highest number of visitors in four years
According to industry analysts JP Morgan, Macau’s gaming industry has made a significant recovery as estimated gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the Golden Week holiday period set new daily post-pandemic records.
GGR reached an estimated MOP$6.65 billion ($825 million/€778.4 million) for the annual holiday period. This equates to around MOP$830 million ($103 million/€97.2 million) per day across the eight days of the holiday. This is the best average daily figure recorded since the last pandemic closures.
According to the note released on Monday, the first six days of the holiday saw GGR sit at around MOP$930 million ($115 million/€108.5 million) per day. On the final two days of the holiday it then fell to MOP$500 million ($62 million/€58.5 million).
The latest figures mean that Golden Week GGR is over 10% higher than previous estimates and represents around 80% of pre-pandemic figures for Golden Week 2019.
The note also estimated that mass market GGR was somewhere in the region of 110% and 120% in comparison to Golden Week 2019.
There will be more detailed reports available beginning next week when casino concessionaires publish their third quarter results with Sands China expected to be the first report released.
Record Visitor Numbers
According to the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Macau welcomed 932,365 visitor arrivals during Golden Week, which took place between September 29th and October 6th.
September 30th saw the highest number of arrivals with 158,726 visitors. This was the highest single-day tally in four years and a post-pandemic record.
Average daily visitor arrivals were 116,546 for the holiday which represents almost four times the figure for last year. This was also 84% of 2019’s pre-pandemic figure. Hotel occupancy rates hit 87.9% across the period.
The MGTO stated that 76% of all arrivals came from mainland China.
