The number of tourist arrivals from January to November has surpassed the total in the year 2000 in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), the latest official tallies show.

Figures released by the Statistics and Census Services show that Macao received 9.38 million tourists in the first 11 months of this year, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.3 percent.

The authorities predict that the SAR will have a record of more than ten million tourists in 2001.

Hong Kong remains the largest tourist source for Macao.

The number of same-day visitors stood at 4.06 million in the 11- month period, making up 43.3 percent of the total, the source said.

Macao witnessed 821,700 visitor arrivals in November, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier, statistics show.

( People's Daily December 19, 2001)