Visitors to Macau spent MOP23.09 billion on non-gaming items in the third quarter of 2026, a 13.3% rise from a year earlier, but almost all of the extra money came from day trippers while overnight guests barely moved.
The figures come from the latest quarterly Visitor Expenditure Survey by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), published by the Macao government on Friday. The survey tracks what visitors pay for shopping, hotel rooms, meals and other items during their stay, and leaves casino play out of the count. A 13.3% gain implies a base of roughly MOP20.4 billion in the July to September period of 2025.
Same-day visitors carry the growth
Spending by same-day visitors climbed 73.6% to MOP6.29 billion in the quarter, lifting their share of the total to about 27%. Overnight visitors, who usually account for the bulk of hotel and dining revenue, spent MOP16.80 billion, up just 0.2%. Average outlay per visitor rose 5.4% to MOP2,055.
The third quarter marked a pickup from the second, when total non-gaming spend grew 9.8% to MOP20.04 billion and day trippers posted a 35.1% increase, according to the DSEC release for the first half. Overnight spending was up 3.6% in that period, so the stall among staying guests is a new development.
By source market, per capita spending by mainland Chinese visitors increased 3.2% to MOP2,191 in the third quarter. Hong Kong visitors raised theirs 24.0% to MOP1,318 and international visitors 9.9% to MOP2,485, while Taiwan visitors cut back 21.3% to MOP1,837. DSEC said per capita spending of MICE visitors, at MOP4,393, “remained relatively high in the third quarter”.
Nine month picture
For January to September, visitors spent MOP67.56 billion outside the casinos, 16.0% more than a year ago. Overnight guests contributed MOP49.21 billion (up 5.2%) and same-day visitors MOP18.35 billion (up 59.9%). Shopping took 44.7% of the total, accommodation 22.7% and food and beverage 22.0%.
Singapore was the highest spending source market at MOP3,228 per head over the nine months, ahead of South Korea at MOP2,772 and Japan at MOP2,409, Macau Business noted. Korean and Japanese per capita spending rose 27.7% and 31.7% respectively, while Thai visitors spent 13.5% less.
Diverging from casino revenue
The non-gaming numbers move in the opposite direction to the gaming tables. Macau’s casino GGR fell 3.8% in the third quarter as mass baccarat weakened, and the October tally dropped 10% to MOP21.68 billion despite the Golden Week holiday.
Higher non-gaming spend supports the government’s push for concessionaires to broaden their offer beyond the casino floor. The mix matters, however: day trippers spend far less per head than overnight guests, and the flat result for staying visitors suggests hotel and dining revenue is not growing at the pace of the headline figure.
