Macao Visitor Profile Survey (VPS)
The NEW VPS DASHBOARD is coming soon. Stay tuned!
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The NEW VPS DASHBOARD is coming soon. Stay tuned! **
The VPS is a year-round survey that studies the the trip characteristics, purpose of visit, source of gaining travel information, travel arrangement and activity, spending behaviour, length of stay, source market, etc. of the visitors.
objectives of the VPS
To provide tourism policy and decision makers, planners and members of the tourism and hospitality industry with up-to-date, regular and insightful information regarding the profile of visitors to Macao and how they evolve over time.
To supplement general visitor (tourism) data currently provided by the Macao Census and Statistics Department (DSEC), MGTO and the Immigration Service by:
a. Providing greater detail and analysis of behavioral and psychological variables.
b. Providing cross tabulated data analysis and presentation of practical use to managers and decision makers in both government and private organizations.
To provide a source of reference and information archive over time of the short- and long-term changes to the mix of visitors to Macao.
To provide reference data to help evaluate the impact and effectiveness of destination management and marketing efforts.
Methodology
The VPS seeks information from visitors primarily on (1) their purpose and reasons for visiting Macao, (2) their trip and travel characteristics, (3) travel and transportation arrangements, (4) accommodation arrangements, (5) major information source, (6) spending behavior, (7) gaming behavior, and (8) evaluation of their overall travel experience. Data are collected at each quarter of the year beginning from the third quarter of 2009. Starting in 2018, approximately 500 interviews are conducted per quarter targeted for visitors who completed at least half of their visit at the time of interview. Interview locations included major sites and ports includingthe Border Gate, Hong Kong Macao Ferry Terminal, Taipa Ferry Terminal, Airport, and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Border, the Ruins of St. Paul’s, Rua do Cunha at Taipa, Senado Square, Cotai Strip, .
Outline of the VPS report
I. General Findings of the Source Markets
II. Travel Characteristics by Place of Residence
III. Major Information Sources
I. General Findings of the Source Markets
HOW TO READ the CHART
The general results of the chosen variables will be shown by choosing from the Variable Change List on the right of the chart below by year.
Place of Residence: A total of 2,467 visitors were surveyed in 2019. Majority came from Mainland China (70.8%), Hong Kong SAR (18.7%) and Chinese Taiwan (2.7%). Around 5.7% of the respondents were from other Asian countries and the rest of the respondents (2.1%) were visitors from Western, Oceanian and other countries.
Number of People in Immediate Group: About 68.5% respondents visited Macao in a group comprising of 1-3 person(s); 28.2% came in groups of 4-6 individuals.
Length of Stay: About 49.2% of the respondents stayed overnight while 50.8% were same-day visitors.
Number of Times Visited in the Past 1 Year: Among those being interviewed, 56.1% were repeat visitors of which 39.8% have visited more than 3 times in the past 1 year.
Primary Purpose for Visiting Macao: The majority of the interviewed visitors (89.2%) visited Macao mainly for leisure and vacation, followed by 6.5% of them mainly came for visiting friends/ relatives, business (3.6%) and others (0.8%).
II. Travel Characteristics by Place of Residence
HOW TO READ the CHART
By selecting the variable from the Variable Change List on the right of the chart below display the result by chosen place of residence by year.
Visitors from Mainland China (91.9%), Hong Kong SAR (78.9%), Chinese Taiwan (95.7%), other Asian countries (84.3%) and Western, Oceanian and other countries (92.6%) visited Macao mainly for leisure and vacation in 2019.
Among visitors whose main purpose of visiting Macao is for leisure and vacation, the majority of the visitors from Mainland China (33.2%) considered shopping and the visitors from Western, Oceanian and other countries (32.0%) and other Asian countries (23.4%) found visiting world heritage as the most attractive factor. Enjoying cuisine is found as the most attractive factor for visiting Macao by the visitors from Hong Kong SAR and (53.3%) and Chinese Taiwan (29.9%).
III. Major Information Sources
HOW TO READ the CHART
Results related to the most influential information source in planning to visit Macao are displayed on the the following three figures. By selecting the chosen variable, result will be shown by year.
For planning their trip to Macao, first-time visitors found internet/ forum/ blogs (53.7%) and friends/ colleagues (23.7%) as most informative source for planning their visit in 2019. Information from the internet/ forum/ blogs is the most important information source by visitors for all places of residence. For visitors whose primary travel purpose being leisure and vacation, they found internet/ forum/ blogs (47.3%) as their most informative source in 2019.
IV. Travel Arrangement and Activity
HOW TO READ the CHART
Means of booking accommodation and transport can be chosen on the Means of Booking button on Figure IV-2 for the results by place of residence.
Figure IV-1 shows 87.6% of the survey respondents stayed at hotel in Macao in 2019.
Respondents from all places of residences who stayed overnight in hotel/ guesthouse booked their accommodation through third party websites with Mainland China (81.2%), Hong Kong SAR (64.1%), Chinese Taiwan (84.2%), other Asian countries (87.2%) and Western, Oceanian and other countries (92.3%). Regarding transportation, the majority of the respondents from Mainland China (53.0%) and Hong Kong SAR (68.9%) booked their transportation directly from the service providers while the most respondents from Chinese Taiwan (70.9%), other Asian countries (75.7%) and Western, Oceanian and other countries (65.2%) bought their transport tickets from third-party websites.
According to Fig. IV-3, 81.6% of the respondents reported they have gambled during their trip in Macao; 36.3% of those who have gambled claimed that they have spent more than MOP5,000 on gaming in Figure IV-4.
Figure IV-5 shows whether the survey respondents have gambled or not by different variables. 40.4% of those with monthly income more than USD6,000 have gambled during their trip in Macao in 2019.
V. Spending and Satisfaction
HOW TO READ the CHART
By selecting the variable from the Visitor Characteristics on the right of the charts below display the result by year.
In 2019, the majority of the respondents from Mainland China (30.8%) and Hong Kong SAR (46.4%) had expenditure ≤MOP1,000 while more than half of the respondents from Chinese Taiwan (53.8%) and about one-third from other Asian countries (37.6%) spent between MOP4,001-8,000. Respondents from the Western, Oceanian and other countries (36.0%) had expenditure of more than MOP8,000.
Over half of the same-day visitors spent ≤MOP1,000 while 31.2% of the overnight visitors spent more for MOP4,001-8,000.
The average spending of the visitors in 2019 who travelled to Macao as FIT or by tour group including tour group fee, hotel/ hostel, transportation, shopping, food and beverage, and others (excluding gambling) is MOP5,239 and MOP7,300 respectively.
A comparison of the average spending among respondents from first-time and repeat visitor are MOP5,264 and MOP5,345 respectively.
The interviewed visitors rated the propensity of future visit using a 7-point scale with 1 representing “definitely will not”, 2 “will not”, 3 “somehow will not”, 4 “neutral/ no comment”, 5 “somehow will”, 6 “will” and 7 “definitely will”. First-time and repeat visitors of the respondents intend to visit Macao again with average scales of 5.4 and 5.8 respectively in 2019.
VI. Demographics
HOW TO READ the CHART
By selecting the variable from the Visitor Characteristics on the right of the charts below display the result by year.
In 2019, about 53.6% of the survey respondents were female and 46.4 were male. Around 71.3% of the respondents were below 35 years old. Most of them are well-educated with 70.4% having attained tertiary degrees and 40.1% of respondents with monthly personal income between USD 1,501 and 4,500.
The Macao Visitor Profile Survey (VPS)
Research team: Leonardo (Don) A.N. Dioko, Phd., Patrick Lo, Wendy Tang, Virginia Hong and Janice Leong
The VPS is a year-round survey that studies the the trip characteristics, purpose of visit, source of gaining travel information, travel arrangement and activity, spending behaviour, length of stay, source market, etc. of the visitors. Results of the VPS are published annually.