Sichuan, a Chinese province with four World Heritage sites, recorded a tourism revenue of 25.2 billion yuan (3 billion US dollars) in the first half of 2004, according to the provincial tourism authority.

The authority said that Sichuan received 260,000 overseas visitors in the first six months, up 9.2 percent from the same period last year.

Tourism revenue from overseas tourists in the January to June period was 82.5 million US dollars, up 12.9 percent from the same period of 2003.

The province saw domestic arrivals of 54.49 million in the period, up 62.1 percent from a year earlier, raking in a revenue of 23.7 billion yuan (2.9 billion US dollars), up 56.3 percent.

The province, in southwest China, has four sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, ranking second after Beijing, which has six sites.

Of the four sites in Sichuan, one is a cultural site, two are natural sites, and the other is mixed.