It is announced by the Tourism Bureau of China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region that the number of tourist arrivals increased by 3.05% year on year to 10.18 million in the first half of 2010.

From January to June, the number of overseas tourists grew 16.07% year on year to 220,400 while the number of domestic tourists rose 2.8% from a year earlier to 9.96 million, the bureau said.

The figures show that tourism revenues totaled CNY9.89 billion in the first six months, increasing 5.43% year on year.

The bureau also said that different scenic spots reported different growth rates. The Yili Nalati scenic spot reported the number of tourist arrivals continued to grow since July, when it received 200,000 tourists, a year-on-year jump of 317%.

In addition the bureau said the hotel prices had climbed in Xinjiang since the previous month.