Macau tourist arrivals up 7.5 per cent amid fall in gambling revenue

Macau is attracting more visitors, although fewer gamblers are placing their bets in the troubled casino capital.

The city received 31.5 million visitors last year - a 7.5 per cent jump over 2013 - the Macau Government Tourist Office said yesterday. This contrasted with a predicted 9 per cent drop in gaming revenue for this year, on the heels of a 2.6 per cent drop in revenue last year - the first decline since the government began compiling such data in 2002.

The visitor numbers provided a rare positive note after a troubled year for the city as Beijing's crackdown on graft hit the former Portuguese enclave hard and poured cold water on the lucrative VIP gaming market. Beijing has also stepped up attempts to prevent illicit money flows through the casinos as it puts pressure on corrupt mainland officials who route money abroad.

"The gambling business went down in the second half of last year, but tourist numbers continued to increase," said Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, tourist office director.

"The growing momentum of mainland tourists was especially strong. We are thrilled to know tourists don't necessarily come here to gamble."

The number of mainland visitors to the former Portuguese enclave rose 14.1 per cent year-on-year to 21 million last year, which accounted for about two-thirds of the total number of visitors. The growth comes despite the economic slowdown and President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign.