SARAJEVO, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The number of Chinese tourists to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) recorded a remarkable hike in January and February, up 262.3 percent year-on-year, thanks to a visa-free agreement, authorities said Tuesday.

A total of 4,013 Chinese tourists visited BiH in the first two months of this year and they stayed an average of 1.3 nights in the Balkan country, the Agency for Statistics said in a report published Tuesday.

Tourism in BiH is a fast-growing sector making up an important part of the country's economy. In recent years, BiH has seen a stable growth in the number of foreign tourists.

The increase of Chinese tourists in BiH is accelerated by an agreement on a mutual visa-free regime between the two countries.

It was signed in November 2017 during the sixth meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries in Budapest, Hungary, and took effect on May 29, 2018.