Tibet offers discounts to draw in more tourists
Preferential policy unveiled at international expo attended by delegates from across globe. Chen Meiling and Daqiong report.
Since more people flow into Tibet every year, protection of the precious and fragile ecology becomes an important task.” GAN LU
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE CHINA INSTITUTE FOR REFORM AND DEVELOPMENT’S RESEARCH CENTRE
Starry nights, sacred lakes, towering mountains and a distinct culture — all treasures that have defined Tibetan life for centuries, but are only now becoming vehicles to further open up the autonomous region to the outside world.
Located in Southwest China and sometimes referred to as the “world’s third pole” because it contains the biggest ice fields outside of the Arctic and Antarctic, Tibet is accelerating tourism promotion to boost economic development and enhance cultural exchanges, officials said.
According to the preferential policies released during the fourth China Tibet Tourism and Culture Expo held last month, tourists will be able to visit all the region’s attractions of a 3A category and above for free from Nov 1 to March 5. The price of hotels will be reduced to less than 50 per cent compared with peak season, while airline tickets will also be discounted by more than 50 per cent.
More than 11.1 million tourists visited Tibet from January to June, up 29.6 per cent year-on-year.
In 2017, revenue from tourism reached about 38 billion yuan ($5.53 billion), which accounted for nearly 30 per cent of local GDP, according to data from the region’s government.
Tuladhar Dhruba Ratna, general manager of Nepal Yingyang International Travel and Tours, has been a regular visitor to Tibet since 1992.
At a tourism and culture-related summit during the expo, he said that his company has sent many foreign tourists to the region.
“I can’t explain how the (local) growth has been achieved. This is beyond my imagination. It’s a very good thing for Tibet and for us too, as we can promote Tibet better. It has become very modern,” he said.
Pradeep Bikram Shah, general manager of Yeti Holidays, also from Nepal, said he was glad that more people in Tibet have begun to speak English.
“It (the language) used to be a big problem, if we didn’t have a translator around,” he said.
“It’s amazing that everything is kept so clean. Every time I come here, there is always some development going on. ”
Shah further said that many people don’t understand how easy it is to actually visit Tibet.
“We always get queries. We tell them there are many options. You can drive to Tibet from Kathmandu while seeing all the things on the way. If you drive with no stops, it takes only three nights,” he said.
Over the past five years, income from the tourism and culture industries in Tibet has surpassed 130 billion yuan.
Lu Mai, secretary-general of the China Development Research Foundation and a speaker at a summit at the event, said that during a previous expo, 311 agreements were signed to boost industrial development.
He suggested Tibet focus on its strengths in natural resources and ethnic culture by introducing more skilled professionals — such as travel guides, landscape designers, branding strategists and hotel managers — to improve tourists’ experiences.
Important destination
Fan Siyuan, vice-president of China Cyts Tours, said Tibet is one of the most important destinations for the company and the number of visitors to the region has grown steadily in recent years.
“It has rich resources and infrastructure construction has been improved, which laid a solid foundation for investment,” he said, adding that more efforts should be made to balance industrial growth, protection of the local environment, connectivity and the tourist experience.
Winter is the slack season for travel in Tibet, so Fan suggested travel agencies could integrate tourism beyond merely sightseeing with Buddhist cultural experiences to boost visitor numbers.
Kazi Ghulam Umer, an official in the international department of the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority, said he only stayed in Tibet for two days and had already fallen in love with it.
“Today we visited the temples, and I really love that culture. We have a similar culture. The city is good. I want to come again,” he said.
Javier Garcia F. Tapias, China bureau chief of Agencia EFE, a Spanish international news agency, said he planned to report on the tourism and agriculture of Tibet during his five-day trip.
“Tibet has wonderful landscapes. It’s a very important treasury for the whole world,” he said, adding that tourism will help improve people’s lives in Tibet, but related construction work shouldn’t affect the beauty of the place.
“This forum is very good with what you can do to attain sustainability,” Tapias added.
Gan Lu, deputy director of the China Institute for Reform and Development’s research centre, said, “Since more people flow into Tibet every year, protection of the precious and fragile ecology becomes an important task.”
She suggested that some of the tourism income be used for environmental protection, and that regulations concerning environmental damage be tightened.