The tourism administration of the Tibet Autonomous Region has lifted some restrictions on visitors to the southwest China region in a bid to attract more tourists.
At the end of last year, the regional tourism administration abolished the requirement that tourists from China's Hong Kong and Macao have "identity confirmation letters" when traveling in Tibet,and that foreigners must travel in a group of five or more, local tourism sources said.
Tibet has enhanced its efforts to exploit its tourism potential.Last year, the region sent tourism promotion delegations to some European countries, Japan and the Republic of Korea, all of which are major tourist source markets of Tibet, and to some Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, with the aim of absorbing more tourists.
The region has also launched a web site to promote tourism and invited overseas tourists and officials to conduct on-the-spot investigations of tourism resources in Tibet.
More than 130,000 overseas visitors came to Tibet last year, up 2.4 percent from the previous year. The region earned 51 million US dollars in foreign exchange, a rise of 10.8 percent on a yearlybasis, according to statistics from the regional tourism administration.
(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2003)
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