Macao recorded 1.56 million hotel guests in the first five months, a marginal increase of 0.9 percent over the same period of last year, according to official statistics issued on Wednesday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service showed that the total of 75 hotels logged 329,184 guests in May alone, a year-on-year rise of 4.6 percent, while the average room occupancy rate fell 4.1 percentage points to 67 percent over the same month of last year.

Travelers from the Chinese mainland made up 55.7 percent of all hotel guests in May, followed by those from Hong Kong, 27.9 percent and Taiwan, 3.3 percent, according to the statistics. 

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2005)