With its long history, rich culture, its economic prowess and its status as venue of the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing is attracting increasing numbers of overseas tourists.

 

The city hosted 3.262 million inbound tourists in the first 10 months of the year, up 7.2 percent year-on-year, according to the Beijing Municipal Tourism Administration.

 

The visitors included 2.826 million foreigners, a rise of 8.5 percent year-on-year, and 436,000 visitors from China's Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao areas, a slight drop of 0.5 percent.

 

Beijing received 415,000 overseas visitors in October alone, up 15.1 percent on October 2005. Both the number of visitors and the rate of increase set new records.

 

Visitors from Asian countries made up 48.1 percent of total overseas visitors to Beijing in the January-October period.

 

The United States remained the No. 1 source of foreign visitors. 428,000 Americans visited the capital, up 9.4 percent and accounting for 13.1 percent of total overseas visitors to Beijing.

 

The number of Japanese tourists jumped 9.2 percent to reach 406,000 in the first 10 months, and the Republic of Korea came in third with 358,000.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2006)