Predicted revenue from gambling and gaming before and after COVID-19 Macao 2020

The gambling industry in Macao suffered from the outbreak of coronavirus in 2020. Macao's projected annual revenue from the gambling and gaming industry decreased from 260 billion to 49.8 billion Macao patacas. In 2019, Macao generated more than 292 billion Macao patacasof revenue from the gambling industry.

COVID-19 impacts on service sector in Macao

Macao's economy has endured tremendous losses since the coronavirus lockdown in March 2020. Macao's service sector, which accounted for nearly 96 percent of GDP, tumbled as the government imposed travel restrictions, including a 14-day quarantine and a pause of issuing tourist visas. The number of inbound visitors to Macao in 2020 plunged by 85 percent compared to the year prior. Furthermore, the hotel industry also reported a year-on-year loss of 62 percent in occupancy rate.

The road to recovery

Macao's inbound tourism showed signs of rebounding as the travel ban was lifted. The daily number of visitors entering Macao increased from merely hundreds to around 21 thousands as of January 2021. Nevertheless, this number is hardly comparable to the number of visitors in Macao before the pandemic. Macao reported nearly 40 billion visitor arrivals in 2019 and about three million visitors in January 2020 alone, indicating that the road to a full recovery is still some time away.