Analysts predict that Macau’s gaming revenue will experience a complete recovery during the upcoming holiday period, approaching levels seen during the October Golden Week in 2019. JP Morgan, an investment bank, made this projection based on channel checks, which indicated that total gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the first 17 days of September reached MOP$8.1 billion or MOP$476 million per day.
Analysts Selina Li, DS Kim, and Mufan Shi noted that the daily run-rate in the past week averaged between MOP$540 million and MOP$550 million, compared to MOP$430 million earlier in the month when extreme weather conditions had a severe impact on the industry.
Expectations are high for the upcoming Golden Week, with analysts anticipating both visitor numbers and cash flow to reach levels comparable to the 2019 Golden Week. Specifically, they expect visitor traffic to recover to 85% of the 2019 level and gross gaming income to return to 100%. JP Morgan added that investors would be content if visitation recovery exceeded 85% of pre-COVID levels, given the positive trends in recent visitation data.
The August surge in profits has been driven by an influx of tourists, highlighting the significance of the October Golden Week. Macau’s GGR has been on a steady incline throughout the first eight months of 2023, peaking in August at MOP$17.21 billion. The surge is primarily attributed to the increasing number of tourists visiting Macau.
In August, over 100,000 tourists visited Macau daily during the first half of the month, surpassing government expectations. Tourist arrivals in July also exceeded 89,000 per day, totaling nearly 2.76 million for the entire month, according to data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service.
The October Golden Week, which starts on September 29 and extends until October 6, includes China’s National Day on October 1. This annual festival attracts a significant influx of tourists to Macau, benefiting casinos and other tourism-related businesses in the region.
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