Cambodia welcomed 1.86 million Chinese tourists during the first nine months of 2019, up 29.4 percent over the same period last year, said a Tourism Ministry report released on Wednesday.

The report showed that China remained the largest source of foreign visitors to the Southeast Asian nation, accounting for 38.7 percent of the total foreign arrivals to the kingdom during the January-September period this year.

Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon has said that China is a huge market for Cambodia's tourism industry.

"We hope to attract about 2.6 million Chinese tourists in 2019, three million in 2020, five million in 2025 and up to eight million in 2030," he said.

According to the report, a total of 4.81 million international tourists traveled to Cambodia during the first nine months of this year, up 10 percent over the same period last year.

Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting the country's economy.

Last year, Cambodia received 6.2 million foreign tourists including two million Chinese, earning gross revenue of 4.35 billion U.S. dollars, Thong Khon said, adding that tourism contributed 12.7 percent to the country's GDP.

Cambodia is famous for three world heritage sites, namely the Angkor archaeological park, the Preah Vihear temple, and the Sambor Prei Kuk archaeological site.

Besides, it has a pristine coastline stretching 450 km in four southwestern provinces of Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot and Kep.