Macao's hotels and guesthouses logged a record 3.95 million overnight guests last year, an increase of 30 percent over the previous year.

According to figures released by the Macao Statistics and Census Bureau, the hospitality industry recorded an average room occupancy rate of 75.55 percent last year, up 11.28 percentage points on 2003. Among them, three-star hotels enjoyed the highest room rate, or 86.26 percent and guesthouses the lowest, 41.61 percent. The average room rate in five-star hotels amounted to 77.81 percent.

The average length of stay of hotel guests stood at 1.15 nights in December. By the end of last year, Macao's total number of hotel rooms reached 9,168, which fell short of the rising market demand. In December, 55.4 percent of all hotel guests were from China's mainland and 31.5 percent from Hong Kong.

Industry insiders expected that with construction of a host of mega-casino resorts undergoing and new land applications for hotel projects, Macao's number of hotel rooms could surge up to 20,000 by the end of the decade.

In total, Macao host a recorded 16.67 million visitor arrivals last year representing a year-on-year increase of 40.3 percent, which is much more than the city's population of 461,000.

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2005)