High-altitude five-star hotel to develop Tibet tourism

By Wen Ya Source:Global Times Published: 2011-5-30 15:06:00

The highest five-star hotel in the world reportedly opened in Lhasa on Saturday.

The Tibet Autonomous Region's first five-star hotel, the St. Regis Lhasa Resort, is one of five planned to be built by 2015 under the region's five-year plan, Wang Songping, deputy chief of the tourism bureau of Tibet, told the Xinhua News Agency.

Since 1978 when China's reform and opening-up policy began, about 30 million tourists have visited Tibet. Tourism accounted for 14.1 percent of all gross national products in Tibet in 2010, Xinhua reported.

Visitors to Tibet increased 40 percent in April, and numbers are expected to exceed 300,000 this year.

Investment will be strengthened in the hotel, Guo Yan, chairman of hotel investor Lhasa Yungao International Hotel, said to Xinhua.

About 50 percent of the hotel's 2,300 to 57,000 yuan ($354 to $8,800) rooms were occupied on Sunday, an employee of the hotel's service department, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Sunday. "Foreign guests mainly come from Europe and the US," she said.

"The hotel is typical Tibetan style in its decoration. For example, we decorated the lobby with satin scrolls."

Luxury hotels the Shangri-La and InterContinental will be built in the city this year, Wang Songping told Xinhua.

"Building luxury hotels is a significant step for Tibet to improve its economy and explore its cultural resources," Wang Ping, chairman of the Chamber of Tourism, All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Presidium in Beijing, told the Global Times.

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