The First Luxury Hotel in Tibet Opens by Starwood Hotels

Tibet local tourism authorities are expecting boom of top-end tourism in Tibet as the region’s first luxury hotel opened Monday(Nov. 1st) in Lhasa.

The St. Regis Lhasa Resort, the first international luxury hotel in Lhasa covers nearly 32,000 square meters and is a green hotel.

By utilizing solar energy and geothermal energy, the St. Regis Lhasa Resort can save on diesel energy consumption every year by 93,000 kg,’ said Phil McAveety, chief brand official of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. which owns the hotel.

‘The opening of St. Regis ends the history of no luxury hotels in Tibet. Shangri-La Hotel and InterContinental Hotel will be built in Lhasa in 2010. High-end hotels will help boost Tibet’s tourism,’ said Wang Songping, deputy chief of the region’s Tourism Administration.

During the first three quarters of 2010, tourist arrivals in Tibet hit 5.8 million, up by 22.6 percent over the same period last year.

The remote southwestern region witnessed a tourism boom in the past few years, especially since the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway on July 1, 2006 – the first rail link between Tibet and the rest of China.