Macao saw its number of tourist arrivals during the Labor-day holidays grew by 4.01 percent year-on-year to 374,625, according to the figures released Tuesday by Macao's Immigration Authorities.

The figures showed that some 1.298 million border crossings were recorded during the holidays, lasting from May 1 to 3, among which number of visitor arrivals stood at 647,306 while that of departures amounted to 650,758.

The Chinese mainland cut the length of the May Day holiday from a week to three days from this year as part of its scheme of restructuring national holidays to avoid the overcrowding spring travel.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese mainlanders used to travel at the same time during the May Day holiday and the other two "golden weeks" for the Spring Festival and the National Day, cramming transport and tourist destinations, and making holiday experiences far from enjoyable.

Local retailers have said the shortening of the holidays has taken some negative effect on their sales.

"Thanks to the Olympic torch relay (which took place on May 3),we have a relatively good business, but it was still no match for the sales during the seven-day holidays of last year," said Leong Heng Tai, an owner of a local specialties store.

Beginning from this year, China scraped the May Day "golden week" and added Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon-boat Festival and Mid Autumn Festival to the list of public holidays.

Meanwhile, some local retailer still believed, with more holidays coming, there is no need to focus on the long holiday. "Tourists will come to Macao every day of the year for they now have more liberty in choosing when to travel," said Chan Siu-Chun, who runs a boutique in Macao.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2008)