China's Tibet Autonomous Region received a record number of 5.27 million tourists in the first 10 months of this year, according to a tourist official.

Wang Songping, deputy head of the Tourism Bureau of Tibet, said the total included 152,077 travelers from abroad, a growth of 168.8 percent over the same period of last year, and 5.12 million domestic tourists, up 154 percent.

The tourist flow generated approximately 4.45 billion yuan (US$652.2 million) in tourism revenue for the region during the 10 months, up 125.4 percent year-on-year, Wang said.

Last year, tourism in the region was affected by the March 14 riot in Lhasa, capital of Tibet.

The number of visitors to the region fell to 2.2 million in 2008 as compared with 4 million in the previous year.

To ensure stable development of the regional tourist industry in the traditional slack season in winter, Tibet has decided to slash ticket prices by half for major scenic destinations in Lhasa, Nyingchi and Xigaze.

(Xinhua News Agency November 14, 2009)