Macao recorded 1.83 million hotel guests in the first four months of this year, seeing a notable year-on-year rise of 24.8 percent, according to official statistics issued Wednesday.

The figures from the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that in April alone, nearly half of a million guests checked into hotels and boarding houses, up 24.2 percent over the same month in 2006.

Visitors from the Chinese mainland accounted for 51.4 percent of all hotel guests in the month while those from Hong Kong had a share of 30.1 percent, the figures showed.

The average hotel occupancy rate stood at 79.2 percent in April, a year-on-year rise of 1.4 percent, according to the statistics.

Macao, the only place in China where casino gaming is legal, has been enhancing its fame as a tourism destination with the aid of the booming gaming industry.

Source:Xinhua