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HVS International reports that Macau’s casino revenues recorded approximately $1 billion in April 2009, or a 9 percent decline from a year ago and 13 percent decline from March 2009. The numbers represent the fifth consecutive month in which casino revenues on the Asian offshore gambling island have declined.
Media reports from the area have previously indicated that Chinese government constraints on the numbers of people visiting Macau have contributed to the decline, as has the impact of the global recession on travel organisations.
Macau's Statistics and Census Service has posted statistics indicating that the average hotel occupancy rate fell by 3.1 percentage points year-on-year to 72.6 percent in March 2009 with the four-star hotels leading occupancy rate at 86.4 percent during this period.
Approximately 596 000 guests stayed in local hotels and similar establishments in March 2009, with 55.7 percent of guests from mainland China and 18.7 percent from Hong Kong. Average length of stay of hotel guests declined to 1.3 nights in March 2009.
Last year the Chinese authorities began limiting the number of people permitted to cross into the enclave. Visitors from China dropped by about 13 percent and revenues in the first quarter of this year are down $3.3 billion on the same period last year.
