Group Tourists to Macao SAR on RiseThe number of visitors to China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) in tour groups was 1.17 million in the first three quarters this year, up 48.8 percent over the same period of 1999.In September alone, the number of group tourists rose 32.5 percent to reach 107,281. About 54 percent of them came from the interior of China and 29 percent from Taiwan province, according to the latest figures released by the Statistics and Census Services of the Macao SAR government. A total of 9,710 Macao residents, out of a population of some 430,000, traveled to other places in tour groups in September, an increase of 52.8 percent over the same month of last year. The most favored destination for Macao residents was China's interior areas, which attracted 75.8 percent of the total. The other two favored destinations were Thailand and Taiwan. During the first nine months of this year, the number of Macao residents traveling to other places in tour groups rose 21.7 percent over the same period of last year. |
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