Statistics tell that from January to June this year foreign tourists descending in China totaled 42.8117 million persons/times, an increase of 6.87 percent over the same period of last year, foreign tourism revenue reached US $8.478 billion, up 10.68 percent over the same period of last. In the first half of the year, foreign visitors to Macao registered the fastest growth rate, a jump of 34.3 percent. Among the 15 major source countries of tourists to China, 14 recorded a growth except a cut number of tourists from Indonesia. Thailand, ROK, Russia, Japan, America, Canada all showed a double digital growth, with Thailand up 28.8 percent and ROK 19 percent. China earned US $7.776 billion and US $702 million, respectively, from overnight tourists and one-day tourists.

(People's Daily 07/23/2001)