Macau Non-Gambling Spending Rises, in Line with Diversification Efforts

Macau’s non-gaming spending by visitors has continued to swell, amid continued efforts to diversify the local tourism industry and end the region’s reliance on casinos. The most recent statistics show that tourists spent 10% more on things other than gaming in the third quarter of 2025.

The Non-Gaming Spend Is on the Rise

Macau authorities have been trying to diversify the region’s income and end its historic over-reliance on gambling. The latest data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) suggests that these efforts may finally be yielding results, Macau Daily reported.

The DSEC reported non-gaming spend of MOP 20.4 billion ($2.55 billion) for Q3 2025, marking a 10.7% increase year-on-year. This was in part due to a 7.6% increase in spending by overnight visitors to MOP 16.8 billion ($2.1 billion), according to the report. The overall non-gaming spend also reflected a 27.6% increase in the spending of same-day visitors to MOP 3.6 billion ($0.45 billion).

On a year-to-date basis, visitors spent MOP 58.25 billion ($7.3 billion) on things other than gaming, marking a 3.6% increase year-on-year.

DSEC Reports Increase in Low-Spending Same-Day Visitors

The breakthrough suggests that 42.4% of the total non-gaming spend was spent on shopping. Accommodation was also a major driver of non-gaming spend and was responsible for 26.7% of the total figure. In the meantime, 21.2% of visitors’ non-gaming expenses were food and beverage-related.  

However, the favorable non-gaming spend figure was somewhat offset by an overall decrease in per-capita non-gaming expenditure. The latter metric experienced a 2.6% decrease to MOP 1,950 ($244), suggesting a surge in low-spending same-day visitors. On a year-to-date basis, per-capita spending decreased by 9.5% to MOP 1,963 ($245).

The decrease was driven by a 5% drop in per-capita spending of mainland China visitors to MOP 2,123. This decrease was partially offset by a 0.1% increase in per-capita spending of Hong Kong visitors to MOP 1,063, a 9.8% increase in the spending of tourists from Taiwan to MOP 2,335, and a 3.3% increase in the spending of international visitors to MOP 2,261.