Macau’s economy surged in the first three months of 2023, with gross domestic product (GDP) rising 38.8% in real terms.

Story continues below

The improvement follows a dramatic increase in visitor arrivals in Q1, which grew by 163.7% year-on-year to 4,948,000 – representing 48.4% of visitor numbers in 1Q19.

The increase in visitor arrivals drove up the exports of gaming services and other tourism services respectively, with gaming exports rising 100% year-on-year and other tourism services exports rising 72.9%. Overall service exports rose by 71.5%, while service imports also rose by 24.0%.

In the first quarter of 2023, GDP rose 38.8% in real terms year-on-year, and the Macau economy recovered to 66.4% of its current level compared to the first quarter of 2019.