As electoral protests rage on in the streets of Hong Kong, tourists from all over China have been flocking the world's biggest gambling hub, Macau, in record number since the week-long holidays that began last week.

Since the China National Day holidays on October 1, an estimated 845,000 Chinese tourists have visited the global gambling center.

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According to Bloomberg News, the Hong Kong unrest, which had closed down shops and disrupted traffic beginning late September, has brought mainland Chinese tourists to Macau, boosting the latter's tourism by about 17 percent.

Meanwhile, street demonstrations have been paralyzing large areas of downtown Hong Kong over the last two weeks, closing down shopping areas like Causeway Bay and Mong Kok and reducing the number of tourist visitors by about seven percent over the holidays, the newspaper said.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States along with various European countries had earlier advised against visiting Hong Kong as protests take over parts of the city. Beijing also refused to issue travel permits to groups of Chinese tourists intending to visit the city.

Amid the chaos, Macau sees a silver lining.

The worst political crisis in China's special administrative district in decades has hurt the city's tourism revenues, while bolstering Macau's beaten-down casino sector, Bloomberg News observed.

The surge in tourism comes at the heels of Macau's worst revenue decline in the last five years following President Xi Jinping's aggressive national campaign against corruption.

The Macau casino crashed as a result of lesser high-stakes gambling in the city. Bloomberg News said, about 60 percent of Macau's casino business comes from high rollers who have been badly dented by the president's crackdown on graft.

The Golden Week, or the week-long celebration of the National Day holidays, has always been Macau's busiest time of the year. Likewise, it is a typical peak travel period in Hong Kong, reported The Wall Street Journal.

However, despite the city temporarily benefiting from the fallout from the Hong Kong protests, Macau's casino and luxury goods businesses remain at an all-time low.

The street protests in Hong Kong began in earnest in late September following Beijing's decision to pre-screen candidates for the city's next chief executives.

Tagshong kong protests, Macau, Special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, Hospitality Recreation, Gambling in Macau