The tourism zone in Qonggyai County, Lhoka of SW China's Tibet Autonomous Region was completed and open to public on Sept.5, People's Daily reported.

The responsible person says it will take three to five years to build the tourism zone into a national 5A Class Scenic Spot and a national famous scenic area, and make it one key site of the "large loop of Tibetan culture tourism" and take Lhasa, Lhoka, Shigatse and Nyingchi into a line.  

Qonggyai County, in the southeastern part of Tibet and south bank of mid-Yarlung Zangbo River, is the important birthplace of Tibetan culture. Here can not only be found the key national heritage conservation unit, the tomb of the Tibetan king, but also Chingwa Tagtse Castle, Riwo Dechen Monastery, the 5th Dalai Lama's former residence and other historical and cultural relics in Qonggyai County regarded as the ancestors of Tibetans and source of the Tibetan culture.  

Since construction, the Qonggyai tourism zone has created directly and indirectly over 300 job opportunities for farmers and herdsmen annually, it has paid taxes over 1.64 million yuan, and has pulled and driven the local farmers and herdsmen to increase incomes and help to realize the added value of the tertiary industry which reached more than 50 million yuan on average per year.