About 58 per cent of all inbound travellers come from mainland China, where gambling is outlawed. Although the number of mainland tourists to Macao increased by 10.6 per cent in August, it is a far cry from the 29.9 per cent growth registered in July and the even faster rate of 36.6 per cent recorded in June.
The slowdown is already affecting casino revenue, which rose more than 50 per cent in the first six months of this year but was flat in the first half of last month, according to Standard & Poor's.
Since Stanley Ho's monopoly on the gaming market was ended in 2002, Macao, which has 30 casinos and has attracted heavy investments from Las Vegas casino operators, is now the world's biggest gaming market.