Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region saw a record high per capita GDP of 1,000 US dollars in 2005, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the autonomous regional government, on Friday.

Thanks to infrastructural development and industrial restructuring, the region registered a GDP growth rate of over 12 percent for the fifth straight year in 2005, said the chairman.

With a regional GDP of 25.04 billion yuan (about 3 billion U.S.dollars) for the previous year, Tibet's economy has been in a period of fast growth in the past five years, according to Qiangba.

The tertiary industry contributed the lion's share in the regional GDP growth with an added value of 14.25 billion yuan (about 1.75 billion US dollars), up by 14.2 percent over the previous year.

The tourism sector witnessed a strong momentum with an income totaling 1.93 billion yuan (some 240 million US dollars), and the retailing sector reported a 13-percent increase in sales volume.

The per capita income of local farmers and herdsmen topped 2,000 yuan (about 250 U.S. dollars) last year, posing double-digit growth for the third straight year.

In the meantime, the per capita disposable income of urban residents soared to reach 8,411 yuan (about 1038 US dollars) in 2005, up by 2.6% over the previous year.