YANGON, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar attracted 1.72 million tourists in the first half of this year, down 2 percent compared with the compared with the same period of last year when it showed 1.75 million, according to the Hotel and Tourism Ministry Saturday.

Visitors from neighboring Thailand topped the list of foreign visitors from Asia, followed by those of China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and others.

Western travellers from France, Britain, Germany, Italy and others visited the country during the period.

The country targets over 7 million visitors by 2020.

The country is striving to promote eco-tourism, cultural tourism and community-based tourism in resource-rich areas such as historical landscapes, rivers, lakes, beaches, islands and forests.

According to the statistics, tourist arrivals in the country reached 2.9 million in 2016.