LHASA: Tibet received a record number of 4.75 million tourist arrivals in the first nine months of this year, twice as many as last year's total, regional tourism authorities said Wednesday.
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The region also raked in almost 4 billion yuan (580 million U.S. dollars) in tourism revenue, said Wang Songping, deputy director of Tibet's regional tourism bureau.
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"It's a high point for Tibet's tourism industry," Wang said at a meeting of the regional committee of the Communist Party of China Wednesday.
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The plateau region received only 2.25 million tourist arrivals last year, when the region was affected by the Lhasa violence of March 14.
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This year, the regional government had offered discounted package prices and reduced average hotel and ticket costs by almost half to draw more tourists, said Wang.
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During the eight-day National Day holiday season alone this month, Tibet hosted 295,400 domestic and overseas tourists, he said.
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Booming tourism, particularly with the increasingly popular homestays, had increased local people's income.
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The regional tourism bureau said at least 41,844 Tibetans from 10,460 families were hosting tourists in their homes, which brought an additional per capita income of 6,116 yuan a year.