Visitor Profile Studys are commonly conducted globally to investigate visitors’ interests, behaviors, and cognitions. It serves as a reference for the formulation of strategies and policies in varied industries. The major categories of collected information usually include reasons for visiting, trip arrangement, time allocation, money spending pattern, gambling behavior, satisfaction level, and visitors’ demographics. Conceived with similar purposes, the “Macao Visitor Profile Study” was conducted since October 2010 by the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming at the University of Macau. During the early months of 2010, efforts were mainly put into pilot testing the questionnaire and fine-tuning fieldworkers’ interviewing skills. The main part of the first study began on 1st January 2011. Since then, interviews were launched at major departure checkpoints in Macao. In all, a total of 43,150 valid samples were collected from 2011 to 2019.

Through a continuous and systematic collection of comprehensive information on the characteristics of visitors, current study aims to facilitate the strategic and operational decision making of different stakeholders, including the Macao government, the tourism industry and the small and medium enterprises. The ultimate goal is to help Macao develop into a world-renowned center for tourism and leisure.