Tibet sees record number of tourists in August

　　A man takes a photo for three tourists on the square of the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, capital of southwest China‘s Tibet Autonomous Region, Sept. 11. 2009. (Photo Source: chinatibetnews.com)

　　LHASA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- China‘s Tibet Autonomous Region hosted 1.37 million tourists from home and abroad last month, a record high in history, according to a tourist official.

　　Sun Yongping, vice director with the Tourism Bureau of Tibet, said the number of tourists more than tripled that in the same month last year.

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

　　The tourist flow generated more than one billion yuan (146.4 million U.S. dollars) in tourism revenue for the region last month, he said.

　　In the first eight months of the year, the region in southwest China welcomed 4.09 million tourists, more than the gross number in 2007.

　　Tourism revenue, from January to August, hit 3.23 billion yuan,2.8 times of that in the same period in 2008.