MACAO - Macao's hotels under construction and planning in the fourth quarter of 2015 will provide 19,600 rooms for tourists, said the special administrative region's land authority Friday.

Macao's Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau issued its latest hotel statistics, saying 16 hotels under construction are expected to provide 10,800 rooms, while another 34 in planning stage will provide 8,800 rooms.

The St Regis Macao, a newly opened hotel of Sands China, added 400 rooms to Macao's tourism market at the end of 2015. The corporation's chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson said they would continue to invest in Macao's tourism future as more leisure tourists and business visitors will come.

Macao's tourism and leisure sector was mentioned in China's 13th Five-year plan draft that is reviewed by this year's National People's Congress annual session. The draft says Macao should strive to become a world tourism and leisure center.