China's foreign exchange earnings from the tourism industry reached US$22 billion during the January-September period, up 18.2 percent year on year, Financial News has reported.

During the period, China received a total of 89.63 million overseas tourists, an increase of 12.2 percent from the same period last year.

Of the total, overseas tourists who stayed over in China were numbered 34.79 million, up 14.4 percent year-on-year.

China's tourism industry has maintained fast growth over the past few years. In 1978, when China began its reform and opening-up, the country received only 1.81 million overseas tourists and had a foreign exchange earning of 263 million dollars.

In 2004, the number of overseas tourists to China surged to 109million, including 41.76 million who stayed over night; and foreign exchange earnings from tourism reached US$25.7 billion.

The World Tourism Organization forecasts that China will become the world's largest tourism destination nation in 2013.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2005)