Tibet tourism 'hits record high'

The increase is partly due to the new high-altitude railway from China

The number of tourists travelling to Tibet has hit a record high, Chinese state media has reported.

Just over four million tourists will have visited Tibet in 2007, an official said, an increase of 64% year on year.

The official put the increase down to better marketing and improved transport links, including the controversial high-speed rail service to China.

Critics say China is using the link to increase control over Tibet and further erode its traditional culture.

Local Communist Party secretary Zhang Qingli said that Tibet was entering a "golden era" of tourism.

Revenue from tourism was expected to hit 4.8bn yuan ($650m, £322m) in 2007, up 73.3% on the previous year, he said.

Both the rail link and a new airport had contributed to the rise, he said.

'Deep concern'

In the past, Lhasa could be reached only by plane or after a long, arduous road journey.

Since the rail link opened 17 months ago, Chinese tourism and trade to Tibet has surged. But the new train service is a source of concern to many Tibetans.

They argue that it has facilitated an influx of Chinese settlers, who are increasingly dominating business and making Tibetans a minority in some towns and regions.

In a statement in March, the Dalai Lama warned that both the number of settlers and environmental degradation in Tibet had increased since the train line became operational, describing it as a source of "deep concern".

Earlier this month, the train line was used to carry Chinese troops to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, fuelling concerns that China is using the train to cement its hold on Tibet.

China invaded Tibet in 1950. A Tibetan government-in-exile led by the Dalai Lama is based in Dharamsala, northern India.