Namtso Lake Township, located in the north of Damxung County, was established in 1960 and was reinstated in 1984. Because it lies in the famous “Heaven Lake” area, Namtso is well known around the world.

In 2009, the “Sheep Guesthouse” located on Tashi Island at Namtso Lake was established, and it became the island’s most popular guesthouse. It is the largest guesthouse with the most number of beds, and it has a travel service center with the strongest capacity to accommodate guests.

Namtso Lake, said Gongje Tsetak, the 28-year-old owner of Sheep Guesthouse, has received more and more tourists since the 1990s, but the island only had one simply run monastery guesthouse. Gongje Tsetak’s mother saw an opportunity, so she put aside her sheep’s whip and left behind her family’s beloved herds. She borrowed two ox hair tents from family members, set up camp on Tashi Island, and began to operate a tourism service.

"The conditions at that time were very poor. On the ground of the tents we put beer bottles, cardboard, a Tibetan rug on top of that and called it a bed." Up to eight people could stay in the tents at a time.

However, fortune comes to those who are prepared in a timely fashion. With the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the surge in development to Tibet’s tourism industry, Gongje Tsetak’s family business grew bigger and bigger. In 2009, his mother boldly invested 800,000 yuan to build the more than 2,000-square-meter, 39-room, and 156-bed Sheep Guesthouse on the rock wasteland of Tashi Island.

With an increase in foreign visitors, Gongje Tsetak’s mother, who can’t speak Chinese, felt she was unable to do as much as she wanted to with the business. After much thought, she handed over the business duties to her son, who has a high school education.

Gongje Tsetak has not let his mother down. Finding that he possessed quite the business acumen after taking over the “Sheep Guesthouse”, he began his own business “trilogy”—enhancing the popularity of the “Sheep Guesthouse”, expanding the business scope, and aligning his business with the Tourism Bureau.

A scientific business philosophy has brought Gongje Tsetak a lot of wealth. He receives fifty to sixty telephone consultations every day during the tourist season.

"You can't compare the income made in tourism with that of herding. Going over the amount of money made in a year, right now it’s the peak tourism season, and every day I receive cash." With the increase in revenue, the scope of “Sheep Guesthouse” is constantly expanding.

"The guesthouse currently has 68 rooms, the restaurant can accommodate 200 diners at one time, and the big supermarket next door is about to open…" Gongje Tsetak said happily.