URUMQI, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Tertiary industries led by tourism and the service sector played a vital role in boosting economic growth in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region last year.

Tertiary industries in Xinjiang achieved 420 billion yuan (64.12 billion U.S. dollars) of added value in 2015, up 12.7 percent year-on-year and contributing 51 percent to the regional economic growth, according to Xinjiang's statistical bureau.

"Tertiary industries have replaced the secondary industry to become the prime driver of Xinjiang's economic development," said Xu Bin, deputy secretary-general of the regional government and chief of the regional statistical bureau.

At Monday's press conference on Xinjiang's economic development, Xu said the region maintained stable growth last year thanks to the government's timely policy adjustment to foster tourism and the service sector.

In the first 11 months alone, Xinjiang's 1,200 major service providers, ranging from auto repair to restaurants and entertainment services, reported 88.9 billion yuan of revenue, up 3.5 percent from the same period of 2014, he said.

Meanwhile, Xinjiang's major tourist destinations received 23 million sightseers, including 49,000 international tourists.

Last year, Xinjiang's gross domestic product totaled 932.5 billion yuan, up 8.8 percent from 2014, Xu said.

The growth rate ranked the eighth among all provincial regions across China.

The secondary industry achieved 356.5 billion yuan of added value, up 6.9 percent and contributing 38 percent to the regional economic growth, said Xu.

He said Xinjiang will speed up its industrial restructuring this year by encouraging mergers and acquisitions to improve the traditional industry's risk resistance capacity, sharpen businesses' competitive edge and foster promising new industries.

Meanwhile, he said the region would foster environmentally-friendly industries and combine its overall economic growth with the government's poverty reduction goals.