The number of Macao's visitor arrivals reached 2.20 million in July, a remarkable year-on-year rise of 22.5 percent, according to official statistics issued Wednesday.

The figures from the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that the majority of the visitors in the month came from the Chinese mainland (53.5 percent), Hong Kong (32.4 percent) and Taiwan Province (5.6 percent).

Among the mainland visitors, some 50 percent traveled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme, which frees mainland tourists from the group tour.

Macao, the only part of China where casino gaming is legal, has been enhancing its fame as a tourism destination with the aid of the booming gaming industry.

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2007)