Macau tourist arrivals will rise at least 10% this year

New York Macau's tourist arrivals will increase at least 10 per cent this year from 2011's 28 million, led by visitors from mainland China, said Joco Manuel Costa Antunes, director of the city government's tourism office.

Tourist visits from Eur-ope will gain more slowly than the average due to the continent's economic woes, Antunes said in an interview in New York on Friday. Total arrivals gained 12 per cent last year, according to the Chinese city's statistics agency.

The growth forecast projects a faster increase than in March, when visits gained 7.3 per cent on year to 2.35 million, with tourist numbers from China rising 15 per cent to 1.44 million. April revenue from casinos in the city, the only place in China where they are legal, jumped by 22 per cent to $3.1 billion, according to the government.

More hotel rooms

Antunes said he expects the number of hotel rooms in the city to increase to about 50,000 in five years from 23,000 now, based on the number of projects in the pipeline he expects to be completed. He declined to comment on individual developments.

Macau needs the added rooms because its hotel occupancy rate averages about 85 per cent and it can be difficult to find vacancies during the weekends, Antunes said.