A total of 263,288 tourists who traveled in groups visited in March 2004, marking a 47 percent increase as compared with the same month of last year.

According to a news release by the Statistic and Census Services of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Tuesday, among the travelers are 238,552 from China's mainland, 12,170 from Taiwan province, and 6,486 from the Hong Kong SAR.

Meanwhile, some 12,000 Macao residents took trips as members of tour groups, up 63.9 percent over March of 2003. Most Macao tourists chose China's mainland and Taiwan province and Thailand as their favorite traveling destinations.

The document also shows that tourist agencies have brought 543,828 travelers to Macao in the first quarter of 2004, up 10.8 percent over the same period of last year. The number of Macao residents who joined tourist groups in the first quarter shrank by 7.9 percent as compared with the same period of last year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2004)