Macao registered a record high of 26,992,995 visitor arrivals in 2007, up by 23 percent over 2006, according to statistics released on Monday by Macao's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The DSEC figures indicated that the majority of the visitors last year came from the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong, which accounted for 55 percent and 30 percent of the total respectively, and visitor arrivals in package tours rose notably by 45 percent to 4,233,714 compare with 2006.

Meanwhile, per-capita spending of visitors stood at 1,637 in 2007, increasing by 2 percent over 2006, of which Mainland visitors had the highest per-capita spending of 3,080 patacas (385 U.S. dollars), according to the figures.

DSEC also said that the opening of three new hotels in 2007 increased the availability of guest rooms by 24 percent to 16,148, while the number of hotel guests jumped by 23 percent year-on-year to 5,739,734.

In addition, the average hotel occupancy rate last year rose by five percentage points to 77.2 percent, and the average length of stay of hotel guests was 1.36 night, rising by 0.15 night compare with 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency, April 1, 2008)