Guilin, a world famous tourist attraction for its natural scenery in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, hosted some 8.55 million tourists from January to November this year, up 10.61 percent over the same period last year.

Overseas tourists made up 569,000 of the total, an increase of 46 percent over the same period last year and also a record high.

Overseas tourists came from 21 countries including the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, France, Germany and Indonesia.

Zhong Xinmin, director of Guilin Tourism Administration, attributed Guilin's tourism boom to the city's efforts to continually improving scenic sites, standardize tourism services and improve the city's infrastructure.

In 1999 alone, the city invested 350 million yuan in protecting and rebuilding ten major tourism projects. Local travel agencies also worked closely with travel services in Taiwan attracted more tourists from Taiwan region.

Guilin is well known for its strange stone formations, picturesque natural landscape.