Landlocked Tibet has seen remarkable rise in outbound tourism in recent years thanks to its implementation of an opening-up policy, an official with local tourism bureau has said.

More than 300 Tibetans went abroad for sightseeing in 2003, while the official figure was just 100 in 2002 and 20 before 1997, said the official.

Compared with its 56,000 annual visitors, Tibet's outbound tourist numbers seem very small. But it is a marvelous change for Tibet, said the official.

Tibet Autonomous Region was once the country's most impoverished area due to poor weather conditions and shabby communications facilities. Before 1997, only 20 Tibetans traveled abroad each year.

With the region's double-digit economic growth in recent years, locals' living standards have improved and their interest of seeing outside world has increased, said Wang Wenpei, deputy director of the local tourism bureau.

More than 70 percent of Tibet's outbound tourists travel to Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, in packages costing 6000 to 7000 yuan (720 to 840 US dollars).