RSS Feed

Tech Support

This is calculated as a percentage of net service income from service exports.

During the same period, Macau Casino's total gaming revenue increased by 19.8%, according to initial data from the city's gaming inspection and coordination bureau.

According to the financial authorities, visitor spending in all service export sectors achieved double-digit growth of 12.1 percent in the first quarter.

All visitor spending using GDP accounting as a whole in 2013 also rose 12.1% from 6.9% in 2012, despite a mere 4.4% increase in visitor arrivals during the period, according to the authorities' monetary and financial stability review.

Also in 2013, the general economy grew 11.9 percent, up from 9.1 percent the previous year.

"Services exports grew at a rapid pace on the back of strong growth in the mass market gaming sector and high margins," the authority added in a report on the 2013 figures

According to the game bureau, bakara sales in the mass market increased 38.3% year-on-year in 2013, which is significantly faster than the 13.1% increase in the VIP sector.

Visitors from mainland China, the largest source of Macau tourists, rose 15.8% to 8.6 million in the first five months of 2014. Financial authorities say the proportion of mainland tourists entering the country on individual visiting visas rose to 44.4 percent from 42.5 percent in the same period in 2013.

In addition, authorities confirmed that as of the end of May, 40% of Macau's employed labor force was non-resident.

The authority's monetary and financial stability review said, "With local labor supply shortages apparent, imported workers rose 28.4% year-on-year to 152,299 at the end of May 2014, or about 40.0% of Macau's employed population."

In the three months to May 31, the unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point year-on-year to 1.7 percent, it added.

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