A record 472,000 overseas tourists arrived in the Chinese capital in October, pushing the number of foreign visitors to the city to 3.68 million in the first 10 months.

Sources with the Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau said on Wednesday that October arrivals were 13.6 percent higher than the same period a year earlier.

During the January-October period, foreign nationals made 3.23 million visits to Beijing, up 14.2 percent. Compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan contributed 449,000 visits, up 3.1 percent.

The combined figure was a 12.7-percent increase over the same period in2006, a growth rate of 5.5 percentage points.

The United States was the city's number one source of overseas tourists with 521,000 arrivals, up 21.7 percent, in the first 10 months. Japan was second with 488,000 visits, up 20.1 percent, followed by the ROK at 383,000, an increase of 6.8 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2007)