PHNOM PENH, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's tourism earned gross revenues of 3.63 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, a 13-percent rise compared to a year earlier, an official said Wednesday.

Kong Sopheareak, director of the Tourism Ministry's statistics and planning department, said the Southeast Asian country attracted 5.6 million international tourists last year, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier.

China was the biggest source of tourists to the kingdom, followed by Vietnam and Laos.

"Tourism sector has contributed 12.3 percent to Cambodia's GDP last year," he told Xinhua.

The official predicted that the country was expected to receive 6.1 million international tourists this year.

Tourism is one of the four sectors supporting the economy. The country has three world heritage sites, namely the Angkor Archeological Park, the Preah Vihear Temple, and the Sambor Prei Kuk Archeological Site.