Lhasa to promote local tours ahead of Natinoal Day holiday

　　BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Lhasa‘s Tourism Bureau will focus on promoting local tours as the Natinonal Day holiday, starting from Oct. 1, is drawing near, according to Tibet Business.

　　On Sept. 29, the World Tourism Day, the bureau will promote the city‘s tourism resources in downtown Lhasa, with the emphasis placed on local tours.

　　Tourists attend the Thangka unfolding ceremony on the first day of the annual Shoton Festival at the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, capital of southwest China‘s Tibet Autonomous Region, in this picture taken on Aug. 20, 2009. (Xinhua/Gesang Dawa)

　　"Local tours serve as a basic form of travel and enjoy a great potential," said Qiangqiong, director of the Marketing Office of the Lhasa City Toursim Bureau. "We used to have a misunderstanding that only tourists from other countries or from other parts of China are real tourists. We ignored local residents who spent their holidays in parks and the suburbs."

　　As local tours are not very popular among Lhasa residents, they need to be further developed, said Qiangqiong.

　　Later this month the bureau will attend the Tourism and Cultural Festival to be held in east China‘s Zhejiang Province to draw on experience of its colleagues. The bureau is also planning to go to China‘s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan later this year to promote the city‘s tourism.

　　"We‘ll take various measures, make good use of the week-long National Day holiday and explore the market for local tours with the help of the local government," said Qiangqiong.

　　Tourists pick up souvenirs at the Barkhor Street in Lhasa, capital of southwest China‘s Tibet Autonomous Region, in this picture taken on Aug. 22, 2009. (Xinhua/Gesang Dawa)

　　From January to August, Tibet was visited by a record 4.09 million tourists from home and abroad, with Lhasa alone receiving 2.24 million visitors, up 261 percent year on year.