SPAIN: Chinese Tourists Spend A Lot

Foreign tourists in Spain spent some 77.6 billion euros (83.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, up 9 percent from the previous year, according to data released Friday by Spain's Statistical Office.

British tourists spent the largest amount of money in Spain, which reached 16.2 billion euros (17.3 billion dollars), a 12.8-percent increase compared with 2015.

The British were followed by Germans and French, who spent 11.07 billion euros (11.8 billion dollars) and 6.8 billion euros (7.3 billion dollars), respectively.

In December alone, foreign tourists spent 4.5 billion euros (4.8 billion dollars), up 19.3 percent year-on-year.

In the same month, the average spending per tourist stood at 1,131 euros (1,210 dollars), while the average daily spending stood at 124 euros (133 dollars).

Spain received a record 75.6 million international tourists in 2016. It is one of the most visited destinations in the world, ranking the first in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum.

Meanwhile, Cambodia attracted some 694,712 Chinese tourists last year, up 24 percent year-on-year, accounting for 14.5 percent of the total international visitors to the country last year, said a report from the Tourism Ministry Monday.

China ranked the second largest source of tourists to Cambodia last year after Vietnam, the report said.

Ang Kim Eang, president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, attributed the increase in Chinese visitors to Cambodia to excellent ties between Cambodia and China and many direct flights between the two countries.

"Moreover, Cambodia has a lot of attractive tourism resorts, especially the Angkor archaeological park," he said.

Cambodia sees China as a key market for its fast-growing tourism industry. In January, the Southeast Asian country released a white paper, aiming to attract roughly 2 million Chinese tourists by 2020.

The white paper lists steps to be taken by the tourism authorities to facilitate visits by Chinese tourists, such as providing Chinese signage and documents for visa processing, encouraging local use of the Chinese yuan currency, and ensuring that food and accommodation facilities are suited to Chinese tastes.

Cambodia is famous for its Angkor archaeological park, a world heritage site, in northwest Siem Reap province. Besides, it has a 450-km pristine coastline, which is one of the World's Most Beautiful Bays.