China Begins High-End Tibet Tourism Plan with Swiss Motif

Jun 30, 2012 by Scott Adam    Comments Off    Posted under: China Travel, News & Headlines

Xinhua News Agency has reported that Guangdong Province is planning to invest $63 million U.S. dollars, or around 400 million Chinese yuan, to fund high-end tourism development in the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the southeast region of Tibet, a prefecture called Nyingchi – bordering Myanmar and India – should be expecting a serious tourism spike in the near future.

Photo Credit: TNT News

Xinhua reported, ““Through cultivating the high-end travel industry, [the plan] will turn southeast Tibet into a new ‘business card’ of Tibetan tourism.”  The new villages are scheduled to be completed in the next 3 years. Construction in Lulang Town (鲁朗) of Nyingchi County began in March.

The first of 22 planned villages is reported to have a “Swiss” theme.

Yodeling, chalets, giant horns, fancy cheese, lots of chocolate and fondue? Yeah, something like that.

An official mentioned to CNNGo that Nyingchi County had two main goals for the project. First, they would like to make the new “swiss-style” villages Tibet’s second landmark. Lhasa the capital of Tibet, along with the Potala Palace, would be considered the regions current main attraction. In addition, they would like to get the Nyingchi villages on the cover of National Geographic.

Potala Palace in Lhasa

It will be interesting to see how China develops this relatively unknown region in the next three or four years. These are ambitious plans but they could prove to be a real boost for the economy and high-end tourism in Southeast Tibet.

For more information on Tibet, please visit the links below:

“China plans “Swiss Makeover” for tourism in southeast Tibet” – CNNGo

Lhasa Attractions from U China Travel

Lhasa Private Tours from U China Travel