Shigatse tourism recovered after Nepal earthquake
A photo of Shigatse taken at sunset
According to the latest data disclosed by Shigatse Tourism Bureau in Tibet , tourism in Shigatse affected by the Nepal earthquake happening on 25, April is recovering. From January to October this year, tourists from home and abroad have made a total number of 2.465 million trips to Shigatse and total tourism revenue has reached 2.28 billion yuan, 9% and 6% down as compared with the same period of the last year respectively. Compared with a drop of 37% and 33% in the first half of this year, the data recovered. Tibet Autonomous Region also proposed that tourism here can be used to promote post-disaster reconstruction and resettlement work for quake-affected people engaged in tourism.
Shigatse tourism recovered after Nepal earthquake
Situated in the southwest of Tibet Autonomous Region, Shigatse has three National 4A Tourism Spots: Everest base camp, tashilhunpo monastery, sakya and borders Nepal, Bhutan and India.
In the"visiting Tsang in winter & exploring Mt.Everest" activity sponsored by Tourism Development Committee in TAR, Zhihua Yu, deputy director of Shigatse Tourism Bureau, told that nyalam county, jilong county and tingri county subordinate to Shigatse were heavily hit since the earthquake struck Nepal in April. Camphorwood port and Kuala Lumpur port, two China-Nepal border crossings located in the affected area, were forced to shut down. Everest base camp in Tingri county was also temporarily shut down due to traffic control.
"Due to the closure of border ports and Everest base camp, visitors to Shigatse had dropped sharply during the first half of this year." Mr.Yu said. Especially camphorwood port in the Nyalam county was the largest country-level trading port in Tibet, and also the most important road access for visitors to travel between Nepal and Tibet.The closure caused a great rise in traveling cost as visitors could only enter Nepal from Tibet by air.
With the accelerated renovation for damaged infrastructure, Shigatse has welcomed the new and old tourists in the second half of this year. Xinhua news agency reported that Everest base camp opened again on July 1. Kuala Lumpur port, connecting China and Nepal, and took the lead in restoring customs clearance on Oct. 13, which mainly exported goods and aid to Nepal and didn’t open to visitors before. On November 1st , the local "visiting Tibet in winter & enjoying Mt. Everest" activity was launched and visitors can pay for tickets at half price till March 31.
Travel boosted post-disaster reconstruction
Mr. Yu said that the number of tourists reception and tourism revenue in Shigatse have only completed sixty percent of the annual plan in the first ten months of this year. Considering that winter is the off-season for Tibet, Shigatse tourism scale in 2015 is hard to meet expectations.
From November 27,2015 to December 2,2015, Tourism Development Committee in TAR has held the "visiting Tsang in winter & exploring Mt.Everest" activity. It aims to develop characteristic tourist destination, realize the balanced development throughout the year and attract more visitors from all over the world. By integrating resources and implementing the overall marketing, tourism can promote post-disaster reconstruction and resettlement work.
Dawa,an excellent tour guide in our company, was born in 1976 in shigatse, where the home of Mt. Everest. Before being a guide, Dawa learnt Buddhism, Tibetan culture as well as English in a college for 10 years. After finished study, he became a tour guide in our company CITS, and had being a guide for more than 11years. His great knowledge about Tibet and its unique culture attracts tourists from all over the world. Would you like to come joining us with Dawa and take a unique experience in Tibet?
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