Correo del Orinoco:

What is the projected number of tourists and visitors to Xizang in 2024? Do you have specific plans to attract more visitors to Xizang? Thank you.

Xu Zhitao:

Thank you for your questions. Xizang boasts magnificent natural scenery and a unique, long-standing ethnic culture, particularly the harmonious coexistence of the Tibetan people with nature, which unsurprisingly attracts tourists. Visitors to Xizang can experience diverse landscapes, including mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, grasslands, deserts, and glaciers. You can also see majestic palaces, beautiful temples, and residences with unique architectural styles. In Xizang, you can hear the melodious sounds of the Zhanian, a unique Tibetan musical instrument, and the soulful pastoral songs that resonate throughout the region. These elements always surprise and delight tourists on their journeys. As a result, Xizang's tourism industry has witnessed remarkable growth in recent years. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, 158 million trips were made to Xizang, 2.3 times that of the 12th Five-Year Plan period. In 2023, 55.17 million trips by domestic and international tourists were made to Xizang, an increase of 83.7% compared to 2022. We are confident that we can still achieve double-digit growth in 2024. Of course, we also face certain challenges and bottlenecks in developing tourism, especially the lack of convenient tourism transportation infrastructure in Xizang. Because of the region's vastness, many tourists visiting Xizang face high transportation costs and significant time expenditures. Additionally, Xizang's tourism sector needs to better integrate culture and tourism, as many parts of the tourism economy still relies heavily on ticket sales at scenic areas. Another significant bottleneck lies in addressing the concerns of altitude sickness among domestic and international tourists, given Xizang's average altitude of over 4,000 meters. We need to do a significant amount of work to scientifically explain altitude sickness and alleviate the various problems it causes.

Going forward, we will focus on the following aspects to propel the development of tourism in Xizang:

First, we will strengthen top-level design. Following the recent National Tourism Development Conference, the autonomous region will soon implement the guiding principles of the conference and hold the Xizang Autonomous Region Cultural Tourism Industry Development Conference. Here, we plan to release the Xizang Cultural Tourism Industry Development Plan. Through several years of efforts, we aim to build several cultural tourism corridors and world-class tourist attractions that embody Chinese cultural identity and the national ecological civilization in the highland. We endeavor to establish and promote cultural and tourism brands nationwide and even worldwide.

Second, we will promote the integration of culture and tourism. We will create immersive ethnic cultural tourism experiences, establish the "Chinese Cuisine: Tibetan Flavors" food brand, promote unique Tibetan medicinal products for health preservation and weight loss, and systematically develop deep experiential tourism activities such as high-altitude hiking and study tours.

Third, we will accelerate the pace of opening-up to the outside world. On the one hand, we aim to enrich inbound tourism routes and products in Xizang, improve the efficiency of procedures for entering Xizang, and address issues such as language translation and payment convenience. This will attract more international tourists to visit Xizang. On the other hand, we are also developing outbound tourism products to enable the people of Xizang to conveniently travel and sightsee in various countries and regions worldwide.

Fourth, we will enhance the quality of services. We plan to open more direct routes to domestic cities and international destinations, attract more investment enterprises to enter the Xizang cultural tourism market, improve the high-altitude rescue linkage mechanism, strengthen supervision of the cultural tourism market, and provide tourists with a better overall experience. Thank you.