Macao's Tourist Price Index up 7.9 pct in Q1

Macao's Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the first quarter of 2013 rose by 7.9 percent over the same period of last year, according to the figures released on Monday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The DSEC figures indicated that the price indices of Clothing and footwear and Transport and communications increased notably in the period by 20.9 percent and 13.19 pent year-on-year respectively.

The notable increase was pushed by soaring hotel room rate and charges for restaurant services during the Lunar New Year, the DSEC said.

Compared with the fourth quarter of last year, the TPI for the first quarter 2013 rose by 20.28 percent quarter-to-quarter, of which the price indices of transport and communications, food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco and restaurant services increased by 5.87 percent, 5.25 percent and 4.19 percent respectively due to increasing prices of local food products, as well as higher airfare and charges for restaurant services, according to the DSEC.

The average TPI for the last four quarters ended the first quarter of 2013 increased by 5.57 percent from the previous period, with marked increase being observed in the index of clothing and footwear (14 percent), restaurant services (9.88 percent) and entertainment and cultural activities (8.8 percent), the DSEC also said.

TPI reflects the price changes of goods and services purchased by visitors, which is compiled according to the consumption pattern of visitors.