Driving thousands of miles to reach Third Pole

Self-driven cars are making a beeline for China's Southwest Tibet autonomous region to take in its breathtaking landscape and unique cultures.

Tibet is a major attraction for tourists from around the world. According to the region's tourism development department, it received over 13 million visitors in the first half of this year, a rise of 20 percent over the same period last year. Another difference was in the manner in which many of these tourists arrived. Group and independent tours are popular among many middle-and high-income groups among young and middle-aged people. But a sampling survey by an independent travel monitoring point in Tibet's Bomi county found more than 643,400 self-driving tourists visited the county in the first half of the year, an increase of 54 percent year-on-year.

With the National Day holiday approaching, many more are expected to drive thousands of miles to Tibet, also known as the globe's Third Pole.