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Tibet receives first tour group since March 14 unrest

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-25 09:52

With the resumption of businesses and classes, Lhasa was recovering from the riot believed to have been organized, premeditated and masterminded by the Dalai clique.

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The unrest, involving violent crimes against people and property, led to the deaths of at least 18 civilians and one policeman.

It also left 382 civilians and 241 police officers injured, businesses looted, and residences, shops and vehicles torched.

The regional government stopped issuing tourist permits to overseas travelers and the tourism authorities suggested travel agencies postpone organizing tour groups in the wake of the riot. It cited safety concerns and the reconstruction of tourism facilities around scenic spots damaged in the unrest.

Independent domestic travelers have not been prohibited from entering the region.

The remote southwestern Chinese region has seen a tourism boom in the past few years, especially since the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway on July 1, 2006, which has linked Tibet with the rest of China for the first time by train.

Tibet received 4 million tourists from both home and abroad in 2007, up 60 percent from 2006. The tourism revenue reached 4.8 billion yuan ($687million), accounting for more than 14 percent of the region's gross domestic product.

In the first two months of the year, the tourism business grew robustly in the region, greeting 110,000 tourists, including 6,000 from overseas, up 60 percent year on year.

The March figure is not available for now, but March is usually not the tourism peak season for Tibet.

As signs of recovery from the riot, Tibet's architectural icon, the Potala Palace, re-opened to tourists on March 26, and religious activities were returning to order in Lhasa's monasteries.

Tubdain Cewang, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress, said the monasteries would re-open to tourists in the near future.

Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the regional government, told a meeting on Tuesday that local authorities must increase policy and financial support for the tourism industry and make greater efforts to promote Tibetan tourism in the country.

"As a next step, we must attract more people elsewhere in the country to come here for travel," he said.

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