Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 15.7 percent year-on-year in real terms during the first half of 2024, reaching MOP204.3 billion ($25.4 billion).
This figure surpassed the MOP200 billion level ($24.9 billion) for the first time since the first half of 2019.
According to data released on Friday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), exports of services, including casino gaming services, accounted for 81.8 percent of the current-prices GDP in the first half of this year, totaling nearly MOP167.03 billion ($20.8 billion).
This was the first time since the opening quarter of 2019 that such exports, measured at current prices, had surpassed this percentage contribution.
The city’s exports of gaming services grew by 39.9 percent year-on-year, while exports of other tourism services increased by 2.8 percent. Both categories exceeded their levels from the same period in 2019 by over 20 percent.
DSEC noted, ‘Exports of services continued to thrive due to increases in the number of visitor arrivals and tourism activities.’
Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) surged by 36.7 percent year-on-year to MOP132.2 billion ($16.4 billion) between January and July of this year.
According to a July forecast, analysts at CLSA project Macau’s casino GGR could reach MOP232.7 billion ($28.6 billion) in 2024, a 27 percent increase year-on-year.
However, the brokerage has lowered its 2024 GGR estimates by 3 percent, adjusting visitation and GGR per visitor assumptions based on the Macau casino regulator’s reported 2Q24 GGR of MOP56.4 billion ($7 billion), which is 1.6 percent lower than 1Q24, and suffered in part from the effects of China’s crackdown on illegal money exchange.
