Lhasa prepares to build upmarket tourist center

Source: Xinhua  |   2009-8-13  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

LHASA, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, will build its first tourist information office and service center by the end of 2011, a city official said yesterday.

The 15.7-million-yuan (US$2.29-million) project will be at the railway station square in downtown Lhasa.

Travelers would be able to arrange accommodation, transport and guide services from 10 to 20 travel agencies in the center, said Wang Ping, chief of Lhasa's tourism administration.

They could also book agency services and bus tickets to tourist destinations by telephone or on the center's Website, Wang said.

The center would offer itineraries and routes for independent travelers. Tourists could also seek help in emergencies, Wang said.

Large screens would give detailed and updated travel data with pictures of tourist destinations, Wang said.

The administration would seek funding for the center from the central government, which is spending 350 million yuan on tourism development projects across China.

From January to July, Lhasa received more than 133 million travelers, a year-on-year growth of 191.5 percent, according to the local tourism administration.

Booming tourism has also driven up the development of the region's handicraft industry, which takes 26.9 percent of tourist spending in the region, said Badro, head of the administration.

The regional government aims to increase the market share of the handicraft industry to 30 percent by 2010 and to 40 percent by 2015.