The gross domestic product (GDP) of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region totaled 144.04 billion yuan (about 22.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of 2021, up 7.2 percent year on year, local authorities said Saturday.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the region's average GDP growth for the past two years reached 6.7 percent by the end of September, according to the regional statistics department.

The value-added output of major industrial enterprises in Tibet increased by 13.8 percent year on year during the period, up 21.9 percent from the first three quarters of 2019.

The region received 36.89 million domestic and overseas tourists in the first three quarters this year, up 15.2 percent year on year. Tourism revenue from January to September surged 26.6 percent from a year earlier to 42.4 billion yuan.

The region also saw strong consumption demand, with its retail sales of consumer goods increasing by 8.6 percent year on year to 55.88 billion yuan.

Li Fangping, the deputy head of the Tibet survey office of the National Bureau of Statistics, said Tibet's economy grew steadily between January and September with the income of locals continuing to rise.