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A record number of 490,000 tourists visited southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region during the first seven months of this year, according to local tourism officials.
Officials with the Tourism Administration of the Tibet Autonomous Region said the total number of tourists visiting Tibet is expected to exceed last year's record of 620,000.
As a result of the increase, Gonggar Airport in Lhasa, capital of the region, has had to handle record numbers of passengers in recent days.
A total of 2,506 passengers departed the airport on August 17, beating the record of 2,145 set last year.
The figure rose to 2,968 on August 22 and 3,211 on August 24.
The airport managed to resume normal operations on Monday, August 26 following heavy rains that had disrupted air traffic since August 21. Tourists had to wait their turns, however, as nearly 3,000 were awaiting flights out, and not all were able to fly out till Monday.
(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2002)
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