Macau threatens Hong Kong's popularity

Macau is gaining ground in Mainland China’s tourism market, according to a report by China Daily. Thanks to its unbeatable tourism facilities, Macau is expected to match and even exceed mainland tourist traffic to Hong Kong.

According to Professor Dai Bin from Beijing International Studies University, mainland tourist traffic into Macau has risen 30 percent in the five years from 1999 and 2004. While this rate has slowed to 14.6 percent in the past two years, it is almost double the rate of growth recorded in Hong Kong (8.4 percent).

For 2006 alone, 11.99 million mainland tourists were recorded for Macau while 13.50 million people visited Hong Kong. Compare this with a decade ago when 530,000 mainlanders visited Macau and four times as many were recorded in Hong Kong.