Senior officials from Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China said on October 19 that the region will continue opening up in the future.

Tibet is a world-class tourist destination, receiving more than 300,000 overseas travelers last year, and the number will continue to grow, said Palbar Tashi, head of the regional publicity department and a delegate to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Tibet will continue to encourage exchanges with other provincial regions across the country, said Losang Jamcan, chairman of the standing committee of regional people's congress, also a CPC delegate.

There have been increasing interactions among different ethnic groups in Tibet and ethnic solidarity has been strengthened, he added.

There has been remarkable development in Tibet in the past five years and people's livelihoods have been greatly improved, said Qizhala, chairman of the regional government.

Tan Haiyu, a delegate from Nagqu Prefecture in northern Tibet, said that in the public hospital where she works infrastructure spending in the past five years was almost ten times of that during the previous 50 years.

"An even greater number of people will have access to quality medical services," said Tan.

(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2017)