Visitors in Macao increase, CPI up 5.43%

MACAO, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Visitors arriving in Macao in the first 11 months of 2007 soared 22.9 percent over the same period of 2006, while average Consumer Price Index (CPI) went up by 5.43 percent year-on-year, according to Statistics and Census Service ( SCS) Friday.

SCS statistics showed that the number of visitor arrivals reached 2,458,120 in November 2007, a year-on-year increase of 26.1 percent, boosting the total number of visitors arriving in Macao in the past 11 months of 2007 to reach 24,384,547.

It also indicated that the majority of visitors were from the Chinese mainland, which grew by 23.8 percent to 13,425,247.

In addition to the increase of visitor arrivals, Macao's CPI for November 2007 was up 0.74 percent than the previous month to reach 117.34, which was mainly attributable to the increase in price indices of housing and fuels, food and non-alcoholic, beverages and transport, according to SCS.

The Composite CPI reflects the impacts of price changes on the general population.

Macao, a Special Administrative Region of China with a mere population of 527,000, marked its eighth anniversary of official return to China on Thursday.