Peach blossoms usher in spring for Tibetan tourism

Last year, the event welcomed far fewer visitors due to COVID-19 prevention and control measures. Nyingchi saw its number of incoming tourists drop about 70 percent in the first half of 2020.

This year, however, the tourists are back.

The opening ceremony was held on Saturday, and Nyingchi received 97,200 visitors, up 35.75 percent from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Its tourism revenue has surged 32.6 percent from 2019 to 19.26 million yuan (about $2.9 million), according to the city's tourism development bureau.

In the first three days of the festival, the number of tourists rose 32.59 percent from 2019, while tourism revenue soared 96.83 percent from the same year, the bureau said.

Zhang Rundong, the bureau's deputy Party chief, said the city has held a series of online and offline promotional activities to make the peach blossom festival "a highlight of tourism in Nyingchi and Xizang."

Nyingchi is about 400 km away from Lhasa, the capital of Xizang. Translated from Tibetan, it means "the throne of the sun." It is about 3,100 meters above sea level.

That may sound high, but Nyingchi is one of Xizang's lowest areas. An upside of this is that visitors rarely suffer altitude sickness, so it is a great entry location for those looking to explore Xizang.