Macao recorded 2,925,724 package tourist arrivals in 2006, up 9.3 percent over the previous year, according to official statistics issued here on Monday.

The figures from the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that above 50 percent of the package visitors came in the year from the Chinese mainland.

The SCS statistics also showed that the number of Macao's hotel rooms reached 12,978 at the end of December, up 19.8 percent over the same month of 2005.

Hotel guests accounted for 41.5 percent of the total number of tourists in 2006, according to the statistics.

Source: Xinhua