China's Tibet sees tourism boom during May Day holiday

LHASA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region received over 1.16 million tourist arrivals during the May Day holiday, 2.37 times that in 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the regional bureau of culture and tourism Friday.

The region raked in 848 million yuan (about 122 million U.S. dollars) in tourist revenue during the five-day holiday that ended on Wednesday. The figure represented a surge of 42.3 percent over the income during the same holiday of 2019, signaling a solid recovery of the tourism industry following the epidemic.

The Potala Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Tibet, received a total of 27,701 visits, while the Basum Lake and the Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon are also among the most-visited scenic attractions in Tibet during the holiday.

The average occupancy rate for Tibet's star-rated hotels reached 74 percent during the holiday, according to the bureau's data.

In addition to welcoming tourists, the bureau also launched six staycation tour routes for locals, promoting rural tourism and villages with features such as intangible cultural heritage.

"Spending the holiday in the countryside was refreshing. Our children loved activities such as traditional cowhide boating, kayaking, camping and dinners with a bonfire," said Tenzin Drolkar, a resident of Lhasa, Tibet's capital city.