A total of 25.26 million tourists from mainland China visited Macao in 2018, marking a historical high and accounting for 70.6 percent of total tourists traveling to the region. (Photo/Xinhua)

The number of tourists visiting Macao increased fourfold in the 20 years since the region returned to China, and 70 percent of those tourists came from mainland China, said a recent report.

The report was jointly issued by the Chinese platform for lifestyle services and products Meituan-Dianping and the Enterprises Service Center for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao under the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

The report revealed that Macao received 7 million tourists in 1999, and that figure soared to 35.8 million last year.

In the meantime, Macao's tourism revenue hit 373.5 billion patacas in 2018, up 13.9 percent from a year ago.

According to the Statistics and Census Bureau of Macao, non-gambling revenue from the tourism sector witnessed continuous growth since 2005. It reached 69.69 billion patacas last year, accounting for 18.66 percent of total tourism revenue.

The report said a total of 25.26 million tourists from mainland China visited Macao in 2018, marking a historical high and accounting for 70.6 percent of total tourists traveling to the region.