ZAGREB, August 11, 2008 (AFP) - Croatia attracted about 5.9 million tourists in the first seven months of 2008, up two percent from the figure for the same period last year, the statistics bureau said on Monday.

About 85 percent of these were foreigners mostly from central European countries, while 5.5 million paid visits to the country's Adriatic coast, said the bureau.

The number of overnight stays reached 31.3 million for the same period, which is five percent more than in 2007.

Croatia, a country of 4.4 million inhabitants, hosted more than 10.4 million tourists in 2007, when income from the industry was more 6.7 billion euros (10 billion dollars), according to the central bank.