Marketing department director of the Qinghai Tourism Bureau Fang Ming said when the Qinghai-Tibet Railway starts operation on July 1, the number of visitors to Qinghai Lake is expected to increase by 400,000 a year. In face of the huge tourist flow, the Qinghai Tourism Bureau will limit the number of visitors to the lake. Apart from a few tourist spots, most of the lake will be closed to visitors. Qinghai Lake, with an area of 4,400 square kilometers, is the biggest salt lake in China. In Tibetan language, it means the 鈥済reen sea鈥? As a national nature reserve, the lake is an ideal inhabitable place for a large variety of animals. About 37 types of birds and animals living here are listed as the first- or second-class national protection animals. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway passes by the lake and at the nearest point, the railway line is only 400 meters away from the lake. Mr. Jiang from the Qinghai Lake Management Office said that China would invest about 3.5 billion yuan to tackle the problems of the lake in a comprehensive way. Director of the Biological Department of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Science Gao Jixi points out that operation of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will boost the local tourism industry of Qinghai. In the past, due to inconvenient transportation, local tourism was not developed and local people had little management knowledge in this aspect. As the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will soon start operation, the number of visitors to Qinghai Lake will increase substantially and this will require of local tourism to be managed in a more effective way.