The figure was a 12.2 percent rise from the previous year, when Macao for the first time played host to more than 10 million tourists.

The Statistics and Census Services posed Tuesday that the Special Administrative Region (SAR) in south China saw the inflow of 5.1 million Hong Kong visitors last year, a dip of 1.8 percent,though Hong Kong remained Macao's largest tourist source.

Overshadowing the decline of Hong Kong tourists was the number of inland visitors, which rose sharply to make up more than one third -- 36.8 percent -- of the total for Macao, the source said.

And Taiwan tourists ranked the third place in number, accounting for 13.3 percent of tourists to Macao.

In December, Macao received a total of 1.07 million tourists, up 18.3 percent year on year. The rise of inland tourists was eye-popping, reaching 63.5 percent.

Since Macao returned to the motherland, more and more inland Chinese have satisfied their wishes to visit the SAR, known as Monte Carlo in the East. Macao's tourism authorities attributed the boom partly to the upgraded image of the city and the loosening of restrictions on the SAR-bound tours by the China National Tourism Administration.

At present, the Macao Government Tourist Office is seeking to making tourists stay longer and spend more in the city since the number of same-day visitors still reached 43.1 percent of the total in 2002.

(Xinhua News Agency January 21)