Shandong Province on the east China coast attracted 430,200 overseas tourists in the first six months of this year, 15 percent more than that in the same period last year.

During the six months, the province made 185 million US dollars in earnings, up 13 percent, said a local tourism official.

According to the official, 44.42 million domestic tourists, a rise of 17 percent, also visited the province and brought in 26.3 billion yuan (about 3.17 billion US dollars) in revenue, a 21-percent increase on the same period last year.

Total revenue from the province's tourism sector was 27.83 billion yuan (about 3.35 billion US dollars) from January to June, up 20 percent, which is higher than the province's growth rate of 9.37 percent in gross domestic product (GDP) for the first half of the year.

( eastday.com July 20, 2002)