A: In 2000, Tibet started to organize its tourist resources into one center, five
areas, five arteries and three ring routes. At the center are the cultural and
sightseeing tours around Lhasa. The five areas refer to the mountaineering and
trekking area of western Tibet, the ecological tourist area of eastern Tibet,
the sightseeing area around the Yalong River Valley, and the wildlife and prairie
tourist area in northern Tibet. The five arteries include the Sichuan-Tibet route
through Chengdu, Qamdo, Nyingchi and Lhasa, the Yunnnan Tibet route through Xiaguan,
Mangkam and Qamdo, the Qinghai-Tibet route through Xining, Golmud, Nagqu and Lhasa,
theSino-Nepalese route through Lhasa, Xigaze, Zham and Nepal, and the Xinjiang-
Tibet route through Urumqi, Yecheng and Shiquanhe. The three ring routes refer
to Lhasa-Nyingchi-Shannan-Lhasa, Lhasa-Xigaze-Ngari-Nagqu-Lhasa, and Lhasa-Nagqu-Qamdo-Nyingchi-Lhasa
toure. All these programs, are open to tourists. Some are being expanded.
Today, Tibet has more than 30 travel agencies of different categories and over
50 tourist hotels, including seven star-rated hotels. It has more than 400 tourist
vehicles, and 3,000 or sp people working in the tourist industry.
Tibet has
affiliated hotels in Beijing, Chengdu and Xi'an and has set up travel agencies
and offices in Hong Kong, Nepal, Beijing and Chengdu. Before 1978, there was no
tourism in Tibet, but by the first half of 2000 a total of 185,000 domestic and
international travelers had been to Tibet. |
