RABAT, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Foreign tourist arrivals in Morocco increased 24 percent in the first quarter of 2018 year on year, according to the Moroccan Tourism Ministry.

This growth was mainly driven by the continuous increase of arrivals from traditional European markets, the ministry said in a statement.

The statistics showed that tourists from Germany were up 39 percent, from Spain up 26 percent and from France up 24 percent.

From January to March, tourism revenues reached 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, 20 percent higher from a year ago.

In 2017, Morocco registered a record of 11.35 million tourists, 10 percent more than 2016.