A new railway that began operations last month in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region linking regional capital Lhasa with the city of Nyingchi is expected to contribute to strong tourism development as it brings convenience to visitors.

In June, Nyingchi received 1.24 million tourists, up 15.33% from 2019, the year before the COVID-19 epidemic, according to figures released Thursday by the city's tourism development bureau.

In the first half of this year, the city received 5.03 million domestic and foreign tourists, up 10.89% from the same period in 2019, while tourism revenue went up 7.06% from 2019 to RMB 3.93 billion (USD 608 million).

The opening of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway, Tibet's first electrified railway, will bring new opportunities to tourism development, the bureau said.

Tibet has set a target of receiving 61 million tourists annually and generating yearly tourism revenue of RMB 64 billion by 2025.

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