Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) improved on the last week of the Chinese New Year holiday to MOP5.8bn ($726m), a 7% increase from January’s levels.

The improvement carried over even after the holiday period was over, according to JP Morgan and Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.

Analysts calculated the average daily rate for the third week of February was MOP466m per day, compared to MOP200m a day during previous weeks, as experts noted that the second half of the holiday usually sees more activity than the first.

Despite the number of arrivals during the holiday dropping by 65% year-on-year, GGR figures were partially sustained by “strong VIP luck and high mass holds”.  

“Chinese New Year tail-end demand was quite decent,” said DS Kim and Derek Choi, experts from JP Morgan. “Based on our checks, GGR for the first 21 days of February is estimated at MOP5.8bn or MOP276m per day, versus MOP250m to MOP260m in recent months.”

According to JP Morgan, the full month of February should bring Macau MOP7.5bn to MOP7.6bn in GGR (MOP270m per day). Analysts at Sanford Bernstein predict February’s GGR to be 70% of pre-pandemic levels.

Macau’s figures should see further improvement as the region will no longer require visitors from Mainland China to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

The last of China’s cities were deemed low-risk for transmission, with no new clusters in the country.