Tibet banks on tourism to lift its economy

LHASA - It was four days away from the opening of the annual peach blossom festival and workers were busy setting up the steel stage structure. Yet hundreds of tourists were already bustling under the wild peach groves in the mountains of Kala village of Nyingchi in the Tibet autonomous region.

Undaunted by the effects of acute mountain sickness, Wang Xiaofang and her husband had driven from Hainan province, at sea level, to the high-altitude village.

"Hainan has all sorts of flowers, but no peach blossoms," said Wang, who posed for a selfie against the blue sky and distant snow-capped mountains. Tibet's exotic culture and stunning landscape, at altitudes averaging 4,000 meters, proved too hard to resist, and they planned a two-week holiday in the region.