Beijing overseas tourists decline in August

BEIJING - Beijing saw overseas tourist arrivals down 6.4 percent year on year in August as the gloomy global economy took its toll on tourism spending, according to data released by the local statistics bureau on Wednesday.

The Chinese capital received 444,000 overseas tourists last month, the Beijing municipal bureau of statistics said in a statement. Of that number, 386,000 were from foreign countries, an annual decrease of 4.5 percent, Meanwhile, 58,000 were from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, down 17.4 percent year on year.

During the January-August period, the city hosted 3.36 million overseas tourists, a slight annual increase of 0.5 percent, according to the statement.

The United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea were the three biggest tourist sources, contributing 1.16 million visitors, or 34.6 percent of the total, it added.