Tibet's first five-star hotel opens in Lhasa

A tourist is silhouetted in Lhasa St. Regis Hotel in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 28, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region opened its first five-star hotel on Saturday, a move targeting the region's tourism industry.

Lhasa St. Regis Hotel, opening in the region's capital Lhasa, is a high-end property in the tourism market, said Guo Yan, chairman of Yungao International Hotel, the hotel's investor.

Wang Songping, deputy chief of the tourism bureau of Tibet, said construction of the Shangri-La Hotel and InterContinental Hotel would start this year.

According to the region's five-year plan, there will be five five-star hotels in the region by 2015, Wang said.

Wang said Tibet has abundant tourism resources but is short of elite tourism facilities, but the international hotels coming to Tibet will help promote tourism in the region.

Tibet envisions 15 million tourists arriving per year by 2015, generating a total tourism income of up to 18 billion yuan, according to the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) of the region.