Receipts of Macao's hotel sector surge 86.6% in 2007

MACAO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Spurred by the openings of
new hotels, total receipts of Macao's hotel sector increased remarkably by 86.6
percent year-on-year to 6.97 billion patacas (871 million U.S. dollars) in 2007,
according to the figures released Wednesday by the city's Statistics and Census
Service (DSEC).

The DSEC said that a total of 82 hotels and similar
establishments were in operation in 2007, including 52 hotels and 30
guest-houses, and the number of guest rooms increased by 25.1 percent from
12,915 in 2006 to 16,152 in 2007.

Gross fixed capital formation of local hotel sector amounted
to 14.23 billion patacas (1.78 billion dollars) in 2007, up notably by
48.2 percent over 2006, meanwhile total expenditure of the sector increased
significantly by 88.3 percent over 2006 to 9.39 billion patacas (1.17 billion
dollars), according to the DSEC figures.

At the end of 2007, the hotel sector had 23,377
persons engaged, up significantly by 65.1 percent compared with 2006. Among
them, 23,247 (99.3 percent of the total) were working in
hotels.