RABAT, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Over 3.6 million tourists visited Morocco in the first four months of 2019, up 6 percent from last year, Moroccan Tourism Observatory said Monday.

Between January and April, the number of foreign tourists rose by 5.3 percent while the arrivals of Moroccan expatriates rose by 7.8 percent, according to the Observatory statistics.

The growth was mainly driven by the continued rise in the tourists from the traditional European markets, as statistics showed an increase of 14 percent in U.S. tourist arrivals, 13 percent in Italian tourists, 9 percent in French and Spanish tourists, 8 percent in German tourists.

In 2018, 12.28 million tourists visited Morocco, up 8.3 percent from 2017.