Chongqing, China's youngest municipality, signed 174 new overseas investment projects in the first eight months of this year, down 0.6 percent compared with the same period of 2004, said a press release of the municipal statistical bureau.

According to the press release, the city's actual use of overseas investment came to 312 million US dollars, up 26.2 percent year-on-year. This included 308 million US dollars of direct foreign investment, a rise of 25.9 percent over the figure a year ago.

Chongqing, an increasingly popular tourist destination, received 321,599 international tourist arrivals in the first eight months of the year, up 17.8 percent over 2004. The booming tourism industry earned the city 160 million US dollars of foreign currency income, up 24.6 percent year-on-year.

Source: Xinhua