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FM: No restrictions on foreigners' travel to Tibet

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-30 00:51

BEIJING: The reports of the Tibet Autonomous Region's imposing restrictions on foreigners' travel to Tibet during the upcoming National Day holiday season were untrue, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiang Yu said here on Tuesday.

Asked to comment on those reports, Jiang told the regular press conference Tuesday that the number of domestic and overseas tourists to Tibet will rise by a big margin during this year's National Day holiday season.

According to the recent report, tourist companies in Lhasa, the regional capital of Tibet, have accepted reservation requests from 36 travel groups for the holiday season, including 12 teams with 50 foreign tourists.

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Jiang said, the number of group reservations Lhasa-based travel agencies have received for the period this year exceeded record numbers achieved in 2007.

Some Tibetan travel agencies might have made adjustments to travel schedules of certain tourist groups, said Jiang, adding that it does not mean restricting foreigners from traveling to Tibet.

"We do not have special restrictions on foreign tourists' travel to Tibet," said She.

Tibet hosted more than 4.09 million domestic and overseas tourists in the first eight months of this year, up 248.1 percent.

This year's National Day holiday season, which starts on Oct. 1, includes the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival, which falls on Oct. 3. The holiday season will last eight days, the longest ever.