Macau's National Festive Week Sales Reach Nearly $825 Million
Thanks to the nationwide Golden Week celebration, the Macau gaming industry reportedly generated about 6.65 billion MOPs ($824.5 million) in total revenue in the first eight days of October. So, Festival Week, celebrated from Sept. 29 to Oct. 6, brought more MOPs 830 million a day to Macau operators in casinos and mass markets.
Daily revenue of $103 million:
Revenue generated in the first eight days of October represents 29% better results for the industry than the festive daily average for 2023, according to the same source. Recent industry results beat the Golden Week in May 2023, celebrated around Labor Day, reaching a daily average of 645 million MOPs. Nevertheless, analysts at JP Morgan reported to sources that the October 2023 results represent a recovery of about 80%, referring to levels in October 2019.
Golden Week Driving Visit
According to reports, the festival's Golden Week was extended to eight days this year as mainland authorities merged the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day celebrations in China, with the eight-day holiday attracting a total of more than 930,000 visitors. The Macau Government Tourism Authority (MGTO) reportedly said that more than 76 percent of the visitors came from mainland China. The peak of around 160,000 visitors has already been recorded on the second day of the festival week in Game Mecca.
Thus, casinos in Macau recorded daily revenue of more than 930 million MOPs in the first six days of October. JP Morgan analysts DS Kim, Mufan Shi, and Selina Li recorded the numbers and said the holiday is coming to an end, with the region's gaming industry producing 500 million MOPs per day on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, slowing down.
The figure reportedly represents about an "80% recovery" compared to the October 2019 Golden Week bringing in total gaming revenue of 1.16 billion, using a total of 825 million MOPs that occurred in the first eight days of October. Nevertheless, analysts are said to regard the recent holiday as representing a "significant acceleration" after Macau's total gaming revenue recovered 70% in the third quarter of 2023.
The JP Morgan team also noted that earnings from the region generated during the Golden Week in October "highly likely recovered from 110% to 120% of the Golden Week in 2019, sufficiently exceeding the 100% bar that we think many buyers [investors] had.