BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- China contributed the biggest portion of international tourist arrivals into Brunei through Brunei International airport for first quarter of 2018, latest government statistics show.

According to Brunei's Tourism Development Department under the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism, A total of 70,729 international tourists arrived in the country through the Brunei International Airport in Q1 2018, an increase of 4.1 percent compared to the same period of the year 2017.

China emerges as the top contributor to tourist arrivals into the sultanate in Q1 2018 due to the increase of air connectivity from chartered flights with 26.2 percent share (18.5 percent in Q1 2017).

This is followed by Malaysia 21.5 percent (23.9 percent in Q1 2017), Indonesia 10.5 percent (9.9 percent in Q1 2017), Philippines 7.3 percent (8.5 percent in Q1 2017) and Singapore 4.5 percent (5.4 percent in Q1 2017).

In total, the top five countries have contributed the majority portion of total international tourist arrivals for Q1 2018 at 70 percent share.

While the Far East market including China, South Korea and Japan continued to show persistent growth at 40.5 percent, other markets comprising Long Haul markets, Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN have declined by 13.3 percent, 8.4 percent and 5.1 percent respectively.

The main purpose of visiting Brunei is for holiday and leisure which stands at 48.8 percent share. About 12.7 percent of total tourists were on transit in Brunei, while 12 percent visited for business purposes followed by visiting friends and relatives at 8.9 percent.