As the Qinghai-Tibet Railway launched in 2016, the number of tourists to Lhasa has continued to grow. In 2017, Lhasa has had a total of 16.07 million tourists from within China and abroad, with a total tourism income of 22.74 billion yuan. The tourism industry has also gradually become a critical impetus for boosting the whole city’s economic development. 

 

Shigatse is Tibet’s second largest prefecture and the main site for poverty-reduction in Tibet Autonomous Region. The area has 38.5 thousand households, or 169.6 thousand residents who are impoverished. In the past few years, local government made lots of efforts to help support the development of countryside tourism, encouraged local farmers and herders to join inso as to increase their incomeh. In 2017, the number of farmers and herders who participated as tourism operators has reached 9313 households, achieving an income of almost 200 million yuan, an average household income of more than 20 thousand yuan, and an income growth of 3784 yuan/person.