A new Visa Asia Pacific tourism spending report said on Thursday that the biggest increase in tourist spending was in Chinese Mainland.

According to the report, entitled "Recent trends in spending by visitors to Asia Pacific", in 2005, visitors to Asia Pacific spent more on their Visa cards than ever, injecting US$23.7 billion into the region's tourism industry; while Visa card holders spent US$636 million more on the Chinese Mainland last year than they did in 2004.

The report found that Asia Pacific Visa cardholders to be the largest international spenders in the region with US$10 billion, or 43 percent of total international spending.

Destinations that drew the most tourists dollars in 2005 were Australia, US$4.5 billion; Thailand, US$2.8 billion and Chinese Mainland, US$2.7 billion.

Chinese Mainland is expected to overtake Thailand this year as the market receiving the second-largest amount of tourists dollars, the report said.

The Mainland had attracted more tourist spending than Thailand in the last two quarters of 2005, said the report, adding that over the next few months, it is expected to report accelerated growth as interest is fueled by the nation's major marketing and tourism campaigns in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2006)