Over 100,000 visitors from the Chinese mainland are expected to flush in Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) under the mainland's facilitated individual travel scheme (FIT) on Hong Kong and Macao-bound tours during the "Labor's Day" holiday, according to the Macao Tourist Office's forecast Tuesday.

In a joint press conference held by the Tourist Office, the Health Service, the Fire Brigade and the Public Security Police Bureau, the SAR government showed an all-out endeavor to deal with the large passenger flow during the mainland's "Golden Week Travel" in the week-long "Labor's Day" holiday.

Manel Goncalves Pires Junior, deputy director of the Macao Tourist Office, said that the FIT scheme will be extended to the whole province of Guangdong from May 1, which will not only greatly activate Macao's tourism, but also bring challenges to Macao's overall tourist handling capacity.

According the latest statistics from the office, over 1.4 million FIT passport holders have made their trips to Macao since the policy was launched on July 28 last year. The authorities foresaw that there will be a peak of the FIT travel in May.

Macao's cross-sector SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) taskforce vowed to stay on high alert on the disease-control measures at customs during the travel spree. The police headquarters and the customs authorities have asked all staff to remain on post during the holiday in order to ensure a swift passenger flow and social security.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2004)