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A history of more than 3,000 years, a traditional folk culture and rapid modernization have made Beijing an attractive destination for more and more tourists around the world.
A record of 3.104 million overseas tourists came to the Chinese capital in 2002, an 8.6 percent rise over the previous year, according to the municipal statistics bureau.
Overseas visitors brought a record 3.1 billion yuan (US$375 million) in tourism income to the city last year, according to statistics published in the Beijing Star Daily.
Each overseas tourist stayed in Beijing for 4.3 days on average indicating the city's tremendous appeal, the paper said.
The number of tourists from the Republic of Korea went up 16.1 percent on a yearly basis to 380,000, and those from Japan and the United States grew by 11.4 percent and 13 percent to reach 565,000and 374,000 respectively.
But slight decreases were recorded in the number of tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2003)
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