LHASA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region has seen robust income growth among the region's rural residents, mainly due to growing employment among farmers and herders and booming tourism, according to local authorities.

In the first nine months of this year, the average per-capita disposable income among the region's rural residents reached 8,059 yuan (about 1,146 U.S. dollars), up 12.9 percent from the same period last year, according to the regional agriculture and rural affairs department.

From January to September, about 508,000 farmers and herders have found employment in urban areas, earning a total income of more than 3 billion yuan.

Tibet's booming tourism industry also played a part in raising the income of rural residents. During the first nine months of this year, Tibet received a total of over 37 million tourists from home and abroad, up 19.7 percent from the same period last year.