Cambodia has welcomed 2.43 million international tourists in the first seven months of the year, up 19 percent compared with the 2.04 million tourists over the same period last year, the figures of the Ministry of Tourism said Thursday.

During the January-July period this year, Vietnam remained at the top of the chart among the top ten arrivals to Cambodia with 508,200 visitors, up 12 percent year-on-year, followed by South Korea with 268,300 visitors, up 5 percent, and China with 267,500 tourists, up 49 percent, showed the figures.

Its neighboring countries, Laos and Thailand, ranked No. 4 and 5 respectively. About 222,000 Laotians and 130,000 Thais visited Cambodia during the period, up 74 percent and 23 percent respectively.

About 47 percent of visitors came to Cambodia by air, 51 percent by land and the rest by water ways.

Kong Sopheareak, chief of the statistics and planning department at the Ministry of Tourism, said the tourism sector has seen a steady growth even in July when the country held a general election.

"We foresee that the sector could attract up to 4.1 million foreigners this year," he said.

Tourism is one of the sectors supporting the economy in this impoverished nation. Last year, the country received some 3.5 million foreigners, earning more than 2 billion US dollars.

The Southeast Asian nation is well-known for its 12th century Angkor Wat Temple, a world heritage site, which is situated about 315 km northwest of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

The temple received some 1.24 million foreign tourists in the first seven months of this year, up 6 percent year-on-year.

Besides, the country has a pristine coastline, which is one of the world's most beautiful bays. It stretches in the length of 450 km in four southwestern provinces of Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot and Kep.