In a gleeful and harmonious atmosphere, Macao residents spent the first several days of the Year of Dragon which began on February 5.

Macao, which returned to the motherland on December 20 last year, seemed more bustling during the Spring Festival period. Crowds of local residents and tourists formed long queues at the Barrier Gate leading to Zhuhai City and to Hong Kong.

Statistics show that in the first three days of the Chinese Lunar New Year, 340,000 persons passed through the Barrier Gate. Officials at the checking station said that the large flow of passengers would maintain till the middle of the month.

Streams of people could also be seen at the Macao side of the Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal over the past few days. The shipping company had to increase more than 20 voyages on February 7. At the busiest time, vessels would leave every five minutes, twice of the normal days.

Although many people in Macao chose to spend the Spring Festival at their hometowns outside Macao, streams of tourists filled up the consumer market in Macao. People in the tourism sector said that improving public security has rebuilt tourists' confidence in Macao.

In fact, almost all rooms in the hotels of Macao were occupied and the prices were doubled or even higher. Restaurants saw booming business all day, and sometimes people had to wait for vacant seats.

One sales manager of a restaurant said that the number of diners went up about 30 percent in the first three days of the Year of Dragon. He attributed the boom to the fact that Macao became more well-known around the world in the course of its return to the motherland.

In addition to the traditional scenic spots in Macao, the hall which had witnessed Macao's power transfer ceremony attracted hordes of local residents and tourists. As there were too many visitors, they had to enter the hall group by group.

What's more, the visitors could hardly tear themselves away from the valuable gifts sent by provincial governments in the mainland areas of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government.

On February 6, the Japanese government removed its tourism warning to Macao. Officials with the Macao SAR government and people in the tourism sector hailed the decision, believing that the favorable signal would attract more tourists overseas. After Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, Japan has been a major source of tourists to Macao.

As public security deteriorated before Macao's return, some countries used to list Macao as a dangerous place for tourists and advised their citizens not to head for Macao. Japan was the first country to lift such a warning.

According to Fernando Chui Sai On, secretary for social and cultural affairs of the Macao SAR government, the SAR government is working on a series of activities entitled "Welcome to Macao" which will make every tourist feel at home in Macao.