Tibet estimated to have received 1.5 mln tourists in first half of 2009

16:11, July 05, 2009

Till June, Tibet is estimated to have received 1.5 million domestic and foreign tourists, according to statistics from Tibet Tourism Bureau.

Currently, long-queue can be seen in front of the Jokhang Temple and tickets to the Potala Palace are difficult to get as Tibet entered the tourism peak season.

With the operation of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in July 2006, Tibet tourism industry enters a fast developing period. In 2007, the region made a new record by receiving 4.02 million tourists, with the tourism revenue hitting 4.8 billion yuan.

However, the tourism industry was heavily influenced by the March 14 riots in Lhasa last year.

After Tibet resumed its social order, the region reopened to tourists on June 25, 2008 and received 2.06 million visitors that year.

In order to renew its tourism industry, Tibet launched large-scale promotion activities since the end of 2008.

This year, Tibet embraces its tourism peak again. Statistics show that from January to May, Tibet has welcomed over 22,264 inbound tourists with an increase of 2.8 times and embraced 697,973 inland tourists, up by 1.8 times.

The total tourism revenue came to 436.7 million yuan in the first five months of 2009, up 100 percent laste year.

"It is reasonable for us to believe that this year, Tibet's tourism industry will approach or even exceed the historical highest level in 2007," said Wang Songping, deputy director of Tibet Tourism Bureau.

Source: China Tibet Information Center