Macaus visitor arrivals jump 8pct in October The Associated Press Fri, Nov 21, 2008 (1:33 p.m.)

Macau's visitor arrivals jumped 8 percent in October from a year earlier to 2.6 million amid the global financial turmoil, the Chinese territory's government said Friday.

While the overall arrivals from mainland China rose 12.2 percent in the period on year, the number of mainland Chinese visitors traveled under the individual visit scheme fell 25.9 percent from a year earlier, the Statistics and Census Service said on its Web site.

The large drop-off may be attributed to China's grip to curb the boomtown's gambling industry which has outstripped rival Las Vegas as the world's biggest gambling center in recent years. China has reportedly tightened the traveling scheme which used to allow residents of major mailand cities to travel more easily to Macau and Hong Kong. Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, received 25.2 million visitors in the January-October period, up 14.5 percent from the same time last year, the government said.

American casino operators have been investing heavily in the former Portuguese colony since 2002 when the four-decade gambling monopoly ended. However, the unfolding global financial crisis has taken a toll on its growth with struggling Las Vegas Sands Corp. announcing last week to halt construction on multibillion dollar projects in the Chinese gambling city.