A surging number of tourists took advantage of good weather and beautiful scenery in Macao to visit the special administrative region (SAR) in April.
Figures released Monday by the Statistics and Census Services showed the tourist mecca saw 206,000 visitor arrivals in group that month -- a sharp rise of 56.6 percent from a year earlier.
This brought the January-April total up to 724,000, leaping nearly 60 percent.
China's inland was again the largest tourist source with group tourists in April soaring 72.9 percent to 135,000, among other tourist providers including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.
Macao's hotel occupancy rate, as a result, increased 9.6 percentage points to slightly over 70 percent with three-star hotels recording the best performance.
On the other hand, Macao residents traveling to other places intour groups fell 20.5 percent to 17,000 out of a population of roughly 440,000.
Their favorite destinations include China's inland, Thailand and Taiwan.
( Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2002)
