Macao's upcoming return to China, due on December 20, has boosted local tourism industry once hit by the Asian financial crisis.

Tourists are now swarming into Macao for local attractions like A-Ma Temple, ruins of the St. Paul's Church, and the venue for the December 20 handover ceremony where workers are now giving finishing touches, nearby buildings, and surrounding lawns and supportive structures.

Anyway, it is a good news for local tourism business as hotel owners are doubling their quotations while travel agencies shuttling their buses in the downtown areas.

According to the Statistics and Census Services, in October alone, Macao saw a 16-percent rise in the number of visitors, mostly from the inland areas of China.

Macao received a total of 637,098 tourists in October, compared with 551,516 in the same month of last year, but the number of visitors from the mainland hit 153,246, compared with 80,970 in October, 1998, a record 90-percent increase.

In the meantime, the number of visitors from Taiwan region reached 84,803, compared with 71,141 in October of last year, while those from Hong Kong went down one percent to be 343,374, against 348,660.

Hong Kong remained the leading source of tourists to Macao, making up 54 percent of the total, followed by the Chinese mainland, 24 percent, and Taiwan region, 13 percent. (Xinhua)