Macao recorded 7.12 million visitor arrivals in the first four months of 2006, a year-on-year rise of 19.6 percent, according to official statistics issued on Monday.

The figures released by the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that the majority of visitors came in the period from the Chinese mainland (55.7 percent), Hong Kong (31. 2 percent) and Taiwan (6.4 percent).

Macao, with its famed casino gaming industry, has long been a tourism destination in Asia.

The region, with a population of 480,000, logged a record 18.71 million visitor arrivals in 2005 and the number is predicted by local analysts to exceed 21 million this year.

Source: Xinhua