China’s May Golden Week might see less spending this year
Golden Week is coming up in China, with the holiday expected to bring massive tourism from China to places like Hong Kong and, for gamblers, Macau. The special administrative region of China is seven times that of Las Vegas, with an estimated 50% of the economy stemming from gambling.
Macau is expected to see a huge number of people enter the region, with last year’s numbers pegged at nearly 300 million people. Macau is also one of the only legal places in China, aside from the limited offerings in Hong Kong. With the ongoing Trump trade war quieting down people’s spending, Success Universe Group Deputy Chairman Ma Ho Man said that he’d expect to see less spending per person.
On the gambling front, he expects to see slots take over table games, as they’ll be much cheaper. Another junket operator, Lam Kai Kong, has said that high-end players might be harder to bleed for cash this year. Junkets have even begun to pull back on lending.
Junkets are trips that high rollers don’t have to pay for. If you’re known to be a big spender within the casino, that casino might entice you with a free trip and offers on food or drink.
Macau hotels strained for space during May Golden WeekWhile the business should be good for the area, Macau’s various casino hotels are expecting to see up to 90% occupancy with smaller returns. According to numbers sourced from various hotel chains by Gambling Insider, prices for some hotels have actually dropped in 2025 compared to last year.
Of course, some hotels have raised their prices specifically for May Golden Week, with one hotel increasing the prices from MOP$2,000 ($250) to MOP$4,679 ($586).
May’s Golden Week was brought back in 2019 after it was scrapped in 2007. The original intention behind them was to increase domestic tourism and spending within the country. 295 million people travelled during the May Golden Week in 2024.
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