ZeeNews
September 8, 2010

Beijing (PTI) -- Tibet has been visited by over
five million tourists so far this year, up by
43.9 per cent over the same period last year.

While the vast majority of visitors to the region
were Chinese, the "roof of the world" also
received some 160,000 international tourists from January to August.

This is up 43.9 per cent from the same period
last year and 24.5 per cent higher than last year, Xinhua reported.

The region's tourism income grew 37.3 per cent
year on year to hit 4.44 billion yuan (USD 653
million) in the past eight months.

Wang Songping, deputy head of the tourism
administration, attributed the growth in tourist
arrivals to efforts to promote tourism in winter,
sponsoring a series of Tibetan culture activities
and promoting Tibetan tourism in new markets in Oceania and eastern Europe.