Tourists dressed in ethnic clothing take pictures in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region on April 17, 2023. The tourism market in Lhasa continues to pick up, as data from the regional tourism development department shows that in the first quarter of 2023, Lhasa received 1.808 million tourists from both home and abroad, a year-on-year increase of 20.33 percent. Photo: VCG

GDP of Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region hit 57.59 billion yuan ($8.31 billion) in the first quarter of 2023, with the year-on-year growth rate of 8.2 percent ranking first nationwide, showing a positive and stable start for the whole year economy recovery.

Officials from Xizang government said during a press conference held on Wednesday that the autonomous region also made the highest year-on-year growth rate for fixed assets investment of 66.2 percent in the first quarter, 61.1 percentage points higher over the national average rate of 5.1 percent.

The growth rate for value added of industries above designated size in Xizang also surged by 18.5 percent year-on-year, 15.5 percentage points high over the national average rate of 3 percent, leading the nationwide statistics.

Value added for local mineral industry increased by 27.9 percent year-on-year, and manufacturing industry increased by 10.5 percent year-on-year. In the first two months of 2023, total profit of industrial enterprises above designated size in Xizang recorded 42.1 percent year-on-year increase.

The registered business entities in Xizang's market reached 448,900 by the end of March, increased by 8.2 percent year-on-year, reflecting local economy has entered the recovery track.

Xizang's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 20.07 billion yuan, up 6.6 percent year-on-year. Total number of received domestic and foreign tourists of Xizang crossed 2.55 million, surged by 39.6 percent year-on-year, which generated 2.03 billion yuan of tourism revenue for Xizang, up 42.9 percent year-on-year.

Xizang's residents' per capita disposal income stood at 5,128 yuan in the first quarter, up 6.1 percent year-on-year, with the growth rate ranking second among 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country.

Development and Reform Commission of Xizang vowed to deploy 191 key construction projects in the autonomous region in 2023, covering sectors of infrastructure, special industry development, ecological protection, border security and livelihood improvement backed with 143 billion yuan, local media Xizang Daily reported on Wednesday.

A planned investment of 54.7 billion yuan will be used in the Linzhi-Ya'an section of the Sichuan-Xizang railway route, refurbishment of Lhasa Kongga International Airport and other construction projects involved in the infrastructure sector.

Xizang government conducted special campaign to secure the completion of multiple construction programs backed with over 18 billion yuan, and further stabilize the economy growth in the first quarter of 2023, said the report.

Global Times