Tibetannet

Local transportation and energy infrastructure in Tibet has improved significantly in recent years. The mystery that surrounds the snow-capped Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is being unveiled as sightseeing tourists come to visit the land in tens of millions. In 2014, Tibet received a total of 15.53 million tourists from home and abroad and earned 20.4 billion yuan (3.19 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue. The local tourism industry is at a stage where focus is placed on improved quality and profitability.

Breaking transportation bottleneck to pave way for Tibet tourism

Ngari Prefecture in Tibet has long been known as the top of the "roof of the world" and "the source of rivers". In particular, Sengye Tsangpo Township, where the administration office of Ngari Prefecture is located, maintains strong appeal to travelers with its crystal-clear starry night sky though access to it remains a big problem.

"Traffic is the number one bottleneck that keeps brakes on the development of the local tourism industry," said Nyima Thashi, Chairman of Tibet’s Chamber of Commerce for Tourism. The opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, airports in Nyingchi, Ngari and Shigatse, a highway in Metok, and the Lhasa- Shigatse Railway, together with improved transport facilities, has brought Tibet closer to other parts of China. This is followed by a rapid boom of Tibet’s tourism industry.

Statistics showed that the number of tourists to Tibet rose by nearly 1,800-fold from 8,624 in 1981 to 15.53 million in 2014. Now the tourism industry has become an important window for the world to better know new Tibet.

Metok County in southeast Tibet is famously known as "a paradise for hikers". Yet access to it was extremely difficult in the past due to climate and geological reasons. It is known that a narrow winding trail used to be the only link between the county and the world outside of it and that even the only path might remain closed for the better part of a year. Therefore, few tourists could travel to it in a year.

It was not until 2013, in which Metok’s first highway was put into use, that Metok got rid of its nickname of "lonely island on the plateau". Since then, local tourism has seen explosive growth: only in 2014, about 100,000 tourists traveled to Metok, doubling from a year earlier.

The opening of the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway, an extension line of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, further drives tourism to make inroads into the hinterland of Tibet. The Lhasa-Shigatse Railway can not only attract more tourists to Shigatse, but also link the places of interest like Qinghai Lake, Hoh Xil, the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Palace, representing a big step forward toward the conception of "greater scenic area across the Himalayas", said Wang Songping, Deputy Director of the Tourism Bureau of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Green tourism leads to prosperity

Tibet is home to a wealth of unique landscapes and sightseeing corridors, including Mt. Qomolangma, the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, sacred mountains and lakes, Namtso Lake, Shangshung culture, Yarlung culture, the Tea-Horse Road and the Changtang wildlife sightseeing corridor. Today, the tourism industry is replacing agriculture and animal husbandry to become a green engine for Tibet’s economy.

At the foot of Yumbu Lhakhang, the first palace ever built in Tibet, 61-year-old Kalsang’s daily routine is to ride tourists up the mountain on his white horse. "Now there are so many more tourists that I can earn at least 300 yuan (about 47 U.S. dollars) a day in the busy season, much better than my income from farming," he said.

Tibetan farmers and herdsmen, who have been confined to farmland and pastureland for generations, now have their share of the cake by engaging in services relevant to the rapidly growing tourism industry. More and more Tibetans join Kalsang to be an active part of the industry – herdsmen on northern Tibet prairie who entertain tourists with authentic local food in tents or farmers in the Lhasa River Valley who help tourists on their outings are good examples.

Some 80 kilometers away from the Bayi District of Nyingchi is the "Little Switzerland in Tibet" – Lulang Forest. While not busy on farmland, Palbar, a farmer from Tashigang Village at Lulang Town, run a sideline business by renting out tents and selling local specialty products to tourists in the vicinity of the scenic spot. He can earn 20,000 yuan (about 3,130 U.S. dollars) per year from the sideline. "It is small compared with the income of those who run agritainment farms. Some of them can earn as much as 900,000 yuan (about 140,000 U.S. dollars) a year,” he said. “These are all benefits that come with the boom of tourism."

According to statistics from the Tourism Development Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet received 15.53 million domestic and overseas tourists and earned 20.4 billion yuan (about 3.19 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue from the tourism industry in 2014. Particularly, rural tourism also saw rapid development, with 58,000 farmers or herdsmen from 14,000 households engaged in tourism-related services. On average, each household earned 25,000 yuan (about 3912 U.S. dollars) per year or 6,000 yuan (about 939 U.S. dollars) per person.

Building Tibet into a major world travel destination

Beginning in May each year, tourists come and go in endless streams at hot scenic spots in Tibet like the Potala Palace, Namtso Lake and the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon; also at this time of the year, train, flight or admission tickets are simply hard to get. From this and others, one can gain a glimpse of how booming the tourism market is in Tibet.

Insiders of the industry argued that despite some initial success achieved, Tibet is still in the early stages of building itself into a major world travel destination due to limitations in infrastructure, with many exceptional natural and cultural resources not yet converted into economic advantages. Therefore, Tibet’s tourism industry still has broad prospects and large room. Future focus should be on preserving the authenticity of the snow-covered plateau and religious culture without over-exploitation. In fact, the idea of "development in protection" has always been followed in the development of Tibet’s tourism industry and strict protective measures are taken to protect key cultural relics and heritages. To change the situation that there are too many visitors in summer, Tibet’s tourism authorities shifted from a "busy season" - focused strategy to a "four seasons" strategy by launching the “Visiting Tibet to Enjoy Sunshine in Winter” campaign to attract tourists to come in traditionally light seasons; at the same time, daily admission to the Potala Palace is limited to 5,000 people per time to reduce human damage to wood constructions within the site.

Dai Bin, head of China Tourism Academy and, Thubten Khedrup, dean of the School of Economics and Management of Tibet University believed that Tibet’s tourism industry now faces an important opportunity as it has become a pillar industry that is driving the progress of Tibet by leaps and bounds. In the future, Tibet should strive to enhance the levels of tourism development, service management and tourism market positioning, and strike a balance between tourism, culture and ecological conservation so as to upgrade Tibet’s tourism industry and build Tibet into a major world tourist destination.