Macau’s mass gaming revenues recovered to better than 70% of pre-COVID levels by the end of March, reflecting a further relaxing of travel impediments for mainland Chinese visitors as industry-wide GGR again beat expectations, analysts said Monday.

As reported by IAG over the weekend, Macau booked GGR of MOP$12.74 billion (US$1.58 billion) for the month of March – once again the highest monthly tally since January 2020 following the reopening of borders on 8 January.

In a follow-up note, Credit Suisse analysts Kenneth Fong and Sardonna Fong said the step up in GGR was likely the result of the gradual reopening of packaged tours in China. This, they explained, helped daily GGR grow from between MOP$350 million and MOP$370 million (US$43 million and US$46 million) in mid-March to between MOP$480 million and MOP$500 million (US$59 million and US$62 million) by the end of the month.