Travellers are returning to Macau in a surprise windfall for the world’s largest casino destination.
Visitor numbers to Macau rose 9.9 per cent year on year from October 1 to 3, the start of the China National Holiday week. The numbers from mainland China were up 16.4 per cent, and accounted for the majority of the 501,078 people entering the SAR over the three days.
Shares in Galaxy Entertainment Group and Sands China both soared on the Hong Kong exchange on Monday.
The reason for the gain was that officials had predicted a tepid Holiday Week given recent trends of Mainland Chinese tourists heading for Japan and Europe given the currency values and active mainland government efforts to curb gambling spending.
Tourist numbers into Hong Kong also started strongly, with a 16.2 per cent rise on October 1 and 660,000 travellers entering the SAR over three days – about 10 per cent more than last year.
But government data shows fewer tourist groups and an increase in the number of people using Hong Kong as a transit point.
Beauty products retailer Sa Sa Group experienced a nine per cent jump in stock price on Monday, based on preliminary visitor numbers, but fell back to six per cent by the end of the day.