The number of tourists to China's Macao Special Administrative Region(SAR)inched up 0.3 percent year on year to 850,700 in July, according to the latest official tallies.

Figures released Thursday by the Statistics and Census Services show that Hong Kong remains the largest tourist source for Macao. The number of tourists from Hong Kong, China's inland area, Taiwan and Japan accounts for 52.8 percent, 26.1 percent, 15.3 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, of the total.

The number of one-day visitors stood at 375,700, making up 44.2 percent of the total. The tourism authorities said that Macao is projected to build more scenic spots and recreational facilities and host more activities to make the tourists stay longer.

Statistics show that Macao played host to 5.86 million tourists in the first seven months of this year, up 12.4 percent from the same 2000 period.

(Xinhua 08/16/2001)