Macao's tourism industry booming

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

 ◆ Macao's tourism industry booming

Macao played host to 10.46 million tourists in the first 11 months of the year, outnumbering the whole year of 2001, the Statistics and Census Services announced Monday.

Buoyed by the huge influx of China's inlanders, tourist arrivals in Macao leapt a year-on-year 11.6 percent from January to November, it said.

Hong Kong remained the largest tourist source for Macao, bringing in 4.68 million visitors, but the figure dipped a 1.5 percent per annum.

China's inland was catching up quickly, with tourists from there now making up 36 percent of the total for Macao. And Taiwan tourists ranked the 3rd place in number, reaching 13.6 percent of the total.

November saw slightly more than one million tourists arrivals in Macao, jumping 22.1 percent.

Industry insiders note that the city's tourism industry has benefited greatly from a sharp rise of travel agencies allowed by the China National Tourism Administration to manage the SAR-bound tours.

The Macao Government Tourist Office is seeking to make tourists stay longer and spend more as the number of same-day visitors still reached 43.1 percent of the total in the 11-month period.

Tourists to the SAR hit a record of more than ten million in 2001 and the figure for this year is now set to be even larger.