People in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) were among all the Chinese who reveled on the eve of the Spring Festival, a traditional red-letter day.
Macao people flocked to the streets in the past days to buy potted chrysanthemum for decorations at home, for "Ju" (chrysanthemum) is pronounced in a very similar way with "Ji" (luck) in Cantonese dialect. Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah went downtown Monday afternoon to extend his best wishes for them.
Crowds of passengers joined long queues at the Barrier Gate leading to Zhuhai City. The figure reached 172,000 on February 9 alone, far above the daily record in the last Spring Festival. Still, more voyages had to be added at the Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal.
The vast majority of hotels have already been booked up, with their charges doubled or even higher. Restaurants saw booming business around the clock and people had to wait for vacant seats sometimes.
Many locals would spend the festival at their hometowns outside Macao, while streams of tourists filled up the SAR's consumer market. Tourism authorities noted that bettering law and order has consolidated tourists' confidence in Macao.
In a special message, Chief Executive Edmund Ho called for concerted efforts from the Macao residents to create a brilliant future for the city in the Year of Horse. "Macao has stepped into a new development stage with a new start in the gaming industry," he said.
(China Daily February 12, 2002)
