The number of Macao's visitor arrivals reached 2,121,988 in May, a remarkable year-on-year rise of 24.3 percent, according to official statistics issued Thursday.

 

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 (56.2 percent), Hong Kong (29.3 percent) and Taiwan (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 June 22, 2007)