The year 2023 ended with an unprecedented tourist price index (TPI) above 141. Before 2023, the most expensive year for tourism in Macau was 2014, when the overall TPI reached 139.60.
The point is that tourist price inflation shows no signs of slowing down; quite the opposite, since the CPI has been increasing quarter by quarter, with the fourth quarter registering 150.47 – the only one above the annual average. However, it should be borne in mind that during this period the holidays of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and the Grand Prix were celebrated, for example.
Most of the areas accounted for broke records: food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco; catering; medicines and personal goods; entertainment and cultural activities; and miscellaneous goods have never been so expensive.
Although the IPT for hotel accommodation in 2023 (147.39) is not the highest it has ever been – the record was set in 2014 (169.52) – this is not the case if we look only at the fourth quarter of the year, when the IPT for accommodation reached 174.76 – an increase of 19.82 per cent on the previous quarter.
Clothing and footwear (104.98) and transport and communications (103.67) are the only ones that still seem to be far from reaching record prices, but they also rose in the fourth quarter of the year.
Compared to the previous quarter, IPT grew by 6.59 per cent. Compared to 2022, it rose 21.53 per cent, mainly due to the rise in prices of hotel rooms, clothing, restaurant services and pastries and sweets.
The CPI reflects the change in prices of goods and services purchased by visitors to Macau. The IPT sections for goods and services are based on the consumption structure of visitors.
