Group Tourists to Macao Rise in JanuaryThe number of visitors to China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) in tour groups was 110,000 in January, up 3.6 percent over the same period of last year, the latest official statistics show.Of the figure, 71,900 came from the inland areas of China and 20,000 from the Taiwan region, according to the figures released Wednesday by the Statistics and Census Services of the Macao SAR government. On the other hand, more than 20,000 Macao residents, out of a population of some 430,000, traveled to other places in groups in January, doubling the figure of the same 1999 period. The most favored destination for Macao residents was China's inland areas, which attracted 78.1 percent of the total. The other three favored tourist destinations were Thailand, the Republic of Korea and Malaysia. Statistics show that Macao's hotels hosted 229,200 guests in January, up 17.5 percent on an annual basis. Their occupancy rate reached 56.5 percent on average. |
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