LHASA, July 16 -- Air China began direct flights on Thursday connecting Beijing with Nyingchi, a popular tourist destination in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

An Airbus A319 aircraft will make the return flight every day, with a journey time of about four hours, two hours less if passengers make a stop in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, according to Wangdui, mayor of Nyingchi city.

Nyingchi is famous for its forests, mountains, valleys and rivers. with some of the lowest altitude in Tibet and a warm and temperate climate.

In 2011, the local government decided develop Nyingchi into an international tourist destination. Last year, it received 2.8 million tourists and generating revenue of 2.8 billion yuan (458 million U.S. dollars), compared with 1.5 million tourists and 1.1 billion yuan in 2010.

In 2014, Tibet saw its number of tourists climb 20 percent to 15.5 million and revenue rose 23 percent to 20.4 billion yuan.