SHANGHAI, Apr 24 -- TIBET'S pricing authority said today the cost of tickets for tours to scenic sites would be unchanged from last year, Xinhua news agency reported today.

Each entrance ticket to Potala Palace, a popular scenic spot in Tibet, will remain at 100 yuan (US$12.95) during the upcoming week-long May Day holiday and won't change over the rest of the year, according to Tibet's pricing watchdog.

It also said that a 2,300-tickets-per-day visitor quota to Potala Palace will stay during the holiday. Every day, there will be 1,600 tickets for tour groups and 700 for individuals.

The announcement came in response to earlier media reports saying that several scenic spots in Tibet would witness soaring ticket prices up to three times their current level.

Tourism to Tibet is booming with the operation of the 1,956-kilometer Qinghai-Tibet railway last July, which ended the region's history without a rail link.

About 2.45 million tourists visited Tibet last year, up 40 percent from 2005, and more than 90 percent were domestic travelers. The region reported total tourism revenue of 2.6 billion yuan, accounting for 9.5 percent of local gross domestic product last year.