Despite an increasing number of tourists that flooded into Macao in recent years, limitation of land and human resources still "stands in the way" of the city's tourism industry development, according to a research report released on Wednesday.

The report said that Macao's tourism industry currently enjoys a number of opportunities and strengths because of her unique background, since the Special Administration Region (SAR) understands how to capitalize on its tourism and gaming industry to attract more tourists.

The report was jointly compiled by Macao's Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) and the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Figures released by the SAR's Statistics and Census Service ( DSEC) showed that the island city registered a record high of over 26 million visitor arrivals in 2007, a significant increase of 23 percent over the previous year, with visitors from the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong accounted for 55 percent and 30 percent of the total respectively.

However, the report also said that issues, such as the city's lack of land and human resources, negative effects of gaming industry boom on local community, heating competition in tourism market of the Asia-Pacific region, still pose potential threats to the city's tourism development.

To tackle these issues, the report proposed that the SAR government put more effort in education and training to enhance the quality of the local workforce, and look actively for business opportunities by cooperating with neighboring tourism destinations, attracting more human and capital resources globally.

In addition, local government is also advised to consider establishing a "clean" image, making Macao an environmentally clean and socially peaceful city.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2008)