The railway line that connects the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with the rest of China has brought "a deluge" of tourists to the region, it has been reported.
Kate Saunders, spokesperson for the International Campaign for Tibet, tells the Associated Press: "There's been a dramatic increase in tourism generally since the opening of the railway. It's been particularly acute at the major sacred sites."
Government statistics suggest that 3.2 million tourists travelled to Tibet in the nine-month period ending in September, a 67 per cent rise on the same period in 2006.
The figure means that 710,000 more people have visited during this period than the total number for all of last year.
Director of the Jokhang Temple management committee Ngawang Choedra states that as a Tibetan monk, he is "especially happy" to see so many people take an interest in his culture.
The China Tibet Information Centre recently reported that in the first ten months of this year, Lhasa's revenue hit 500 million yuan (£32 million).
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