travel in tibet
The Tibet Autonomous Region, covering an area of 1.22 million square kilometres, is situated on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the south-western border area of China. It enjoys unique plateau environment. Averaging more than 4,000 meters in elevation, it is always regarded as the highest region in the world and is known as “the roof of the world”. Tibet abuts on Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan province. It has 3,842 km borders with China’s neighbouring countries of Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal as well as Kashmir in the south and west (Zhang & Zheng 2004).
Tourism is playing an increasingly crucial role in Tibet’s tertiary industry. Even though these is unique natural and culture tourism resources, tourism were developed in Tibet very late. Prior China’s reform and opening-up policies in 1978, there was almost no tourism in Tibet. After about 30 years, tourism in Tibet has become much more developed, especially after the Qinghai-Tibet railway has been completed and operated. In 2008, there were 2,246,400 tourists visiting Tibet, which bigger than the total number of tourists who went to Tibet between 1980 and 1997(China Tibetology Research Centre 2009).
