Investment in Macau Gaming Services Up 13% In Q1

Visitor spending on gaming services rose 13.0% year-on-year in the January-March period of 2014, while non-gaming spending rose 6.6%, according to a report released on Monday by the Macau Monetary Authority.

This figure uses the Gross Domestic Product accounting method, which is calculated as the ratio of service exports to service imports.

Total gaming revenue from Macau casinos increased by 19.8% during the same period.

Visitor spending in all service export categories achieved double-digit growth of 12.1% in the first quarter, according to the financial authorities.

Despite visitor arrivals increasing just 4.4% during the period, all visitor spending using GDP accounting overall rose 12.1% in 2013, up from 6.9% in 2012, according to the authority's review of monetary and financial stability.

In addition, the general economy grew 11.9% in 2013, up from 9.1% in the previous year.

In a report on the 2013 figures, the authority added: "Service exports grew at an active pace, driven by solid growth and high margins in the large market gaming sector."

Popular market baccarat sales were up 38.3% year-over-year in 2013, much faster than the 13.1% increase in the VIP segment, according to the gaming bureau.

Visitor arrivals from mainland China, the biggest source of Macau tourists, rose 15.8% to 8.6 million in the five-month period of January 2014. The proportion of mainland tourists arriving on private planned visas rose to 44.4% from 42.5% in the same period in 2013, the currency said.

Authorities also confirmed that as of the end of May, 40% of Macau's employed were non-resident labor.

"With a clear shortage of local labor supply, imported workers at the end of May 2014 increased 28.4% year-on-year to 152,299 - accounting for about 40.0% of Macau's working population," the authority's monetary and financial stability review said.

It also added that unemployment fell 0.1 percentage point year-on-year to 1.7 percent in the three months to May 31, 2014.

"In the short term, imported labor will be the most effective option to meet growing labor demand and expand production capacity," the review said.

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