LHASA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The volume of online retail sales in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region grew by 29.22 percent year on year in 2017, the regional commerce department said on Tuesday.

Online retail sales totalled 2.28 billion yuan (about 345 million U.S. dollars) last year, the department said.

According to Zhou Hui, deputy director of the department, Tibet has continued to promote the development of e-commerce in areas such as agricultural products, handicrafts, and Tibetan medicine last year, which has significantly helped drive economic growth.

Better networks and courier service coverage as well as the establishment of e-commerce industrial parks and trade associations also provided advantages for the expansion of e-commerce in the region.

Official data showed that Tibet reported the 25th straight year of double-digit growth last year, with regional GDP reaching 131.06 billion yuan (around 20.5 billion U.S. dollars).