Tibet received 3.72 million tourists in the first 10 months of 2007, a year-on-year increase of 64 percent, said the regional tourism bureau on Friday.

 

The region's tourism revenues were 4.4 billion yuan (600 million U.S. dollars) from January to October, up 84 percent from the same period last year, said the Tibet Tourism Bureau.

 

Tourist arrivals from Japan reached 78,000 in the first 10 months. Japan has become Tibet's biggest source of overseas tourists, followed by the United States. The U.S. had 58,000 tourists travel to Tibet in the first 10 months.

 

The bureau said the region received 350,000 overseas visitors in the period under review, 150 percent up from the same period last year.

 

Improved transportation, especially the opening of railway service last year, and overseas promotional drives contributed to the sharp growth of tourism, the bureau said.

 

The region had 2.5 million tourists last year and reaped 2.77 billion yuan in total tourism earnings, accounting for 9.6 percent of the region's gross domestic product.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2007)