Tourism Boom in Tibet

Tibet is expected to receive a record-high 4.02 million tourists in 2007 with a year-on-year increase of 64 percent, said Zhang Qingli, Party chief of the Tibet Autonomous Region. He said it is estimated that the region's tourism revenue will hit 4.8 billion yuan ($649 million) this year, up 73.3 percent from last year.

Zhang attributed the rapid tourism growth to overseas promotional drives, as well as the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway and the third civilian airport in Nyingchi. Tibet now has 88 star-level hotels and 56 travel agencies.