MACAO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- By the end of 2007, the total numberof hotel rooms available in Macao expanded to 16,148, increasing by 24.4 percent from a year ago, according to official statistics released on Tuesday.

    Information from Macao's Statistics and Census Service (SCS) indicated that last year, the city of only 25.8 square kilometers saw 3,170 new hotel rooms enter service, as more and more large-scale casino hotels open.

    In addition, the average hotel occupancy rate for last year increased by 5 percentage points over 2006 to 77.2 percent, and the average length of guest stay rose by 0.15 night to 1.36 nights,according to the SCS.

    The statistics also showed that 42 percent of tourists visitingMacao checked into hotels last year, which was slightly higher than the 41.5 percent of 2006.