Two "tent inns" opened to tourists Monday in the quake-hit Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

Taiyangbuluo Inn and Yushuzhou (Yushu Prefecture) Inn, which were in fact two giant circles of tents, were the first accommodation opened to tourists in the prefecture since the quake, said Liu Lizhi, head of Yushu's tourism bureau.

Each of the 15-square-meter tents has two beds, a TV and other facilities of a standard hotel room, except the customers have to use a public toilet.

In the center of the two circles are larger tents housing restaurants and entertainment halls. The restaurants can hold more than 300 people.

The two inns consist of more than 100 tents and 180 beds. Three more "tent inns" would be built in the near future, Liu said.

A group of 60 visitors invited by the provincial tourism bureau came to stay in the tents on a vast stretch of grassland in the worst-hit Gyegu Township.

Heather Datrice, from the United States, was amazed by the resilience of Yushu's tourism. The inns were "natural five-star hotels" with the magnificent scenery, she said.

A hotel made of prefabs was expected to be completed by July 1. By then, Yushu would be able to accommodate more than 400 tourists, according to Liu.

The magnitude-7.1 quake that hit Yushu on April 14 left at least 2,220 people dead.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2010)