Malaysia saw 8.56 million tourist arrivals in January-June this year, an increase of 4.9 percent compared with the same period last year.

Most of tourists came from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei during the first six months of this year, according to the Immigration Department of Malaysia.

Malaysia welcomed 183,482 tourist arrivals from China during the period, up 23.4 percent compared with the same period of last year.

In June alone, the country recorded 1.34 million tourist arrivals, up 2.2 percent. Most of them also came from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei, according to the Immigration Department of Malaysia.

Tourist arrivals from China numbered 21,436, up 33.8 percent year-on-year.

Malaysian tourist officials have said that the country hoped to see one million tourist arrivals from China this year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2006)