Macao's Tourist Price Index up 6.08% in Q2 of 2013

Macao's Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the second quarter of 2013 rose 6.08 percent over the same period of last year, according to the figures released Monday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). The DSEC figures indicated that the price index of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, Accommodation and Clothing and footwear increased notably in the period by 9.62 percent, 8.56 percent and 8.52 percent year-on-year respectively. The notable increase was pushed by rising hotel room rate, as well as dearer prices of local food products, alcoholic beverages and tobacco and handbags, the DSEC said. Compared with the first quarter of this year, the TPI for the second quarter 2013 decreased by 6.22 percent quarter-to-quarter, of which the price index of Accommodation and Transport and communications dropped by 23.06 percent and 6.43 percent respectively due to lower hotel room rate and airfare after the Lunar New Year. On the contrary, price index of Clothing and footwear increased by 3.81 percent quarter-to-quarter. The average TPI for the last four quarters ended the second quarter of 2013 increased by 5.47 percent from the previous period, with marked increase being observed in the index of Clothing and footwear (13.16 percent), Food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (8.13 percent) and Entertainment and cultural activities (7.84 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.