ID needed for tourists to Potala Palace

　　BEIJING, July 20 -- Southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region will introduce a real-name system to tourists visiting the Potala Palace in an effort to control speculative ticket reselling.

　　Photo taken on July 2, 2009, shows beautiful flowers clustering around the Potala Palace, the symbolic architecture of Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua Photo)

　　Xinhua quoted an official from the local cultural relic bureau as saying that tickets for Potala Palace have been a hot commodity in the tourist boom since the Qinghai-Tibet Railway opened to traffic in 2006. The high demand for tickets facilitated illegal ticket sales.

　　The identification policy is expected to effectively crack down on illegal ticket dealing and safeguard the interests of tourists, the official explained.

　　The Potala Palace, known as an architectural wonder in the regional capital of Lhasa, is a popular tourist destination among visitors from home and aboard.

　　Visits to the palace kept increasing rapidly along with the fast development of tourism in the area, which challenged the accommodating capacity of the palace.

　　To lessen the load on the site, the administration of the Potala Palace restricted the number of daily visits to the Palace to 2,300.

　　Tickets to the Potala Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site, should be booked one day in advance during the peak season.