Tourism destinations and cities globally are locked in a strong competition for visitation, which includes tailoring their strategies to reach specific profiles – be it for example for business, family, sports, culture, or music – or a mix of travel motives. To win a portion of this global visitor traffic, tourism authorities commonly engage in various tourism marketing and promotion campaigns and tactics. Macao is no exception to this trend, rolling out major campaigns, such as 2022’s ‘My treat for you, see you in Macao’ and the 2024, ‘My Treats for you’ initiative. These efforts continue into 2026 with free coach tickets being offered from the Hong Kong International Airport to Macao, on cross-border transport, accommodation, and entertainment.
However, as I presented this week at the Council for Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE) conference in Adelaide, the popularity of these sales promotions requires us to look closer at their actual impact. Co-authored by Lily Zhang (who is conducting her doctoral studies on tourism at the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau), we are conducting an ongoing study titled ‘Promoting destinations through discounting and complimentary coupons. A case study of Macao’*. Our research goal is to determine the extent to which these campaigns move the needle on Macao’s primary tourism objectives within our study frame. As I highlighted for 2026, Macau faces three key challenges that have received added emphasis. First, to increase international visitation; second to extend average overnight stay; and third to diversity tourism beyond gaming (measured for example in terms of non-gaming contribution to the gaming concessions’ revenues and profits) noting the average stay in Macao of 1.2 days, with the same day visitor being around half of visitation.
While I have empirically assessed the impacts of marketing and promotions for some years in Macao, on examining international studies on tourism promotions there are several factors and information sources impacting visitation, and as such the potential impact and influence of price discounting and messaging as a determinant of decision-making should form part of the analysis. For example, perceived creditability and messaging appeal can be just some factors to consider, especially across audiences with varied demographic profiles and travel motives. Our study is designed to consider these factors and when concluded, will hopefully provide more insights.
Reflecting on Macao’s broader goal of tourism diversification, an increasing application of consistent research metrics – be it to measure the outcomes of marketing campaigns, events, entertainment, destination branding, new tourism products – will certainly help to provide an indication of where we are, and on refining future tourism actions.
*McCartney, G., & Zhang L. (2026). Promoting destinations through discounting and complimentary coupons. A case study of Macao. CAUTHE 2026, 9th – 12th February, Adelaide, Torren University.
