World’s highest-altitude airport in 2012
Tibet to build world’s highest-altitude airport in 2012
Tibet will kick off construction on the world’s highest-atitude airport next year, according to a government work report at the ongoing regional economic work conference.
The airport, planned at an altitude of 4,436 meters in Nagqu prefecture, will be 102 meters higher than Bamda Airport in Tibet’s Qamdo prefecture, currently the world’shighest, the report said.The airport is designed to cover an area of up to 267 hectares.
The Tibetan Branch of the China Civil Aviation Administration has said the airport isexpected to cost 1.8 billion yuan (285 million U.S. dollars) with a three-year constructionperiod.
Regional aviation authorities will add more flights next year to connect major cities inTibet and also link the plateau region with other major cities nationwide, according tothe document.
The increase in flight services is expected to help Tibet’s airports handle 2.2 millionpassengers and 15,000 tonnes of cargo in 2012, it added.
Likewise, Tibet autonomous region received 8.43million tourists in the first 11 months of this year, a 27.7-percent increase from thesame period last year, the local government said Monday.
The figure breaks up into 8.18 million domestic travelers and about 250,000international tourists, according to a press release issued by the regional statisticsbureau.The region’s tourism revenue over the same period totaled 9.277 billion yuan (1.47billion U.S. dollars), up 39.4 percent year-on-year, it said.
Despite the plateau’s tough winter climate, local authorities have worked outpreferential policies in cooperation with travel services, airlines and hotels to wootourists in the slow season, including offering discounted air tickets, hotel rates andentrance fees to major destinations.
A “Winter Tour in Tibet” campaign, held from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, also brought moretourists to major landmarks, including the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon and MountQomolangma.
Tibet is expected to receive at least 8.5 million tourists this year, said Wang Songping,deputy chief of the regional tourism administration.Wang said the annual tourism income is expected to top 9.5 billion yuan.
An estimated 15 million tourists will visit Tibet annually by 2015, generating up to 18billion yuan in annual tourism revenue, according to the region’s 12th Five-Year Plan(2011-2015).
