Less than 20 per cent of tourists surveyed who came to Macau after the resumption of the individual visa scheme claimed to have come mainly for gambling, according to a Macau Research Centre study.
The survey questioned 107 tourists between September 1 and 6 in local border checkpoints about their travel and consumption purposes in Macau.
The issuing of individual visas for tourists was reinstated for Zhuhai residents on August 12, for all Guangdong residents on August 26 and for the whole country on September 23.
Because the visa scheme resumption was still on its early stages and visas still required about a week to be processed, two-thirds of respondents that had come to Macau were from Zhuhai, the survey noted.
A total of 227,113 inbound tourists were reported in Macau for August, a 270 per cent jump from the previous period.
According to the study some 14,600 tourists entries were reported on September 1, a number twice as high as the approximately 4,000 per day reported in July.
Currently, mainland residents with a valid visa just need to present a negative nucleic acid test to enter the SAR and local casinos.
Some 51.4 per cent of tourists surveyed said shopping was their main purpose for visit, 21.5 per cent said they came for tourism purposes while 16.8 per cent said they came mainly for gambling.
Average spending was defined as some MOP9,018 of which shopping accounted for MOP5,713 followed by food MOP1,830.
More than one-third of travellers, about 31.8 per cent actually engaged in gambling during their stay in Macau, with their average gambling budget at about MOP16,022.
Only some 40 per cent of respondents stayed in hotels, with average hotel spending at MOP2,669.
Tourists expressed that they chose to travel to Macau at this time mainly because they feel that the epidemic in Macau is stable and the pandemic prevention measures are appropriate so they feel more at ease.
The fact that prices are now cheaper and more attractive, and that customs clearance is gradually normalizing also attracted many tourists to come shopping in the SAR.
