Artists perform lion dances to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year in front of the Ruins of St. Paul's in south China's Macao on Feb. 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)
MACAO, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Information released on Thursday by the Government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Statistics and Census Service showed that the SAR's total visitor expenditure (excluding gaming expenses) in 2023 surged by 292.2 percent year-on-year to MOP 71.25 billion (8.85 billion U.S. dollars), and 11.2 percent compared to 2019.
As regards the type of expense, the per-capita spending of visitors on shopping and food & beverages dropped by 42.3 percent and 2.1 percent year-on-year respectively, whereas spending on accommodation (MOP 647, 80.3 dollars) and transport (MOP 101, 12.5 dollars) grew by 50.9 percent and 36.6 percent.
The total expenditure of overnight tourists stood at MOP 60.18 billion (7.47 billion dollars), and that of same-day tourists was MOP 11.07 billion (1.37 billion dollars), soaring approximately 3 times and 2.4 times from a year ago respectively.
Statistics from major tourist source markets showed that the per capita expenditure of tourists from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan increased by 66.6 percent, 21.6 percent, and 55.5 percent respectively compared to 2019.
The survey also released that total tourist expenditure in the fourth quarter of 2023 increased nearly three times year-on-year to MOP 19.19 billion (2.38 billion dollars), up by 18.1 percent compared to the same period in 2019. ■