First five-star hotel opens in Tibet

The St. Regis Hotel opened Saturday in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, confirmed Guo Yan, chairman of the hotel's investor, Yungao International Hotel.

Wang Songping, deputy chief of the tourism bureau of Tibet, said construction of two other hotels - the Shangri-La and the Intercontinental -ould start later this year, Xinhua reported.
There will be five five-star hotels in the region by 2015, Wang said.

Tibet has abundant tourism resources but is short of facilities. The international hotels coming to Tibet would help promote tourism in the region, he said.

Tibet expects 15 million tourists per year by 2015, which would generate income up to 18 billion yuan ($2.7 billion).