(TibetanReview.net, Oct02’21) – With international tourism severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, more Chinese have travelled to occupied Tibet than ever before this year as well. The Tibet Autonomous Region received 33.27 million Chinese and overseas tourists in the first eight months of this year, up 20.8% year-on-year, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Oct 2, citing local authorities.
It cited the regional tourism department as saying the region’s tourism revenue surged 35.7% from a year earlier to 41.49 billion yuan (about 6.4 billion US dollars) in the same period.
The report said the growth in both the number of tourists and tourism revenue was partly due to effective epidemic control in China.
The report also said the opening on Jun 25 of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway, Tibet’s first electrified railway and bullet train, had brought convenience to tourists and new opportunities to the region’s tourism development.
The region was stated to have set a target of receiving 42 million tourists and generating annual tourism revenue of 44 billion yuan this year.
