More people visited Los Angeles last year, an indication that local tourism is rebounding from a recession caused by economic downturn, authorities said Thursday.

The number of tourists from China increased 80 percent, South Koreans 54 percent and Japanese 25 percent.

The city saw some 25.7 million visitors last year, up from 23.8 million in 2009, according to the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, also known as L.A. Inc., a private nonprofit business association acting as the city's official tourism marketing agency.

Among last year's total, 5.5 million were foreign tourists, up 20.7 from that of 2009, while number of domestic travelers also increased 5 percent year on year.

Local hotels, restaurants, theme parks and other attractions raked in a total income of 13.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, up 10.4 percent from the previous year. International tourists spent 4.6 billion dollars out of the total, a 23.1 percent increase year on year, the bureau said.

Domestic travellers spent more than 8.5 billion dollars, a 4.6 percent increase over 2009.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the growth "impressive", saying that "tourism is the city's largest and most lucrative industry, generating billions each year and employing countless Angelenos."