Photo taken on July 2, 2022 shows the scenery of the Yamdrok Lake in Nagarze County of Shannan City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)

LHASA, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region received 258.4 million tourists from 2012 to 2021, achieving a total tourism revenue of 334.5 billion yuan (about 47.1 billion U.S. dollars), authorities said on Friday.

During this period, the tourism industry accounted for an increasing proportion of the region's economy, Dondrup, deputy head of the regional tourism development department, said at a press conference.

In 2021 alone, the region received a total of 41.5 million tourists, up 18.5 percent from the previous year. Tourism revenue surged 20.6 percent to 44.2 billion yuan, Dondrup said.

Rural tourism in Tibet attracted more than 12.7 million tourists last year, generating about 1.6 billion yuan in tourism revenue and creating 64,500 jobs for farmers and herders.