Macau’s robust Golden Week holiday performance isn’t likely to continue with concerns over mainland China’s softening economy weighing down the gambling outlook in the world’s biggest gaming hub.
Mainland Chinese tourist arrivals in Macau for the week-long holiday that ended on Sunday jumped 14 percent year on year to about 734,000, according to Macau government data. Betting volume from high rollers was up more than 10 percent in the first six days of the month over the same period last year, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note.
Still, the casinos’ robust performance during the holiday isn’t removing analysts’ concerns that the industry will grow at a slower pace in the next few months amid a weakening macro economy in mainland China. The firm expects Macau gaming to grow six percent in the fourth quarter, and lowered its forecasts for this year and in 2019.
