29 February 2008
Record tourist figures in Lhasa
(Xinhua) Tibet's Potala Palace and the Norbu Lingka Palace, traditionally the winter and summer palaces of the Dalai Lamas, received more than 1.63 million in 2007, a 53.7 percent increase year-on-year, according to Chinese statistics. "The Potala Palace has taken measures to improve its reception capability so as to meet the needs of increasing number of visitors from home and abroad", said Yu Dawa, director of the region's cultural relics bureau. In 2008, officials expect at least five million tourists to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR); the region received 4.02 million tourists in 2007. The huge number of tourists has been attributed mainly to the operation of the Golmud-Lhasa Railway completed in July 2006.