SHANGHAI, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai will send 1.1 million tourists to Tibet in the next three years as part of an action plan to aid the development of the remote southwestern region.

The plan was signed by the Shanghai and Tibet tourism authorities on Friday. Shanghai has been supporting Tibet's Xigaze prefecture to improve tourism facilities over the past years, according to Xu Weiwan, head of the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration. The cooperation will be further deepened this year, Xu added.

The Shanghai-Tibet partnership is part of a nationwide plan launched by the National Tourism Administration last December, which plans to send more than 20 million tourists to Tibet from 2018 to 2020.

The Yangtze River Delta cities including Shanghai have been a major source of tourists for Tibet, said Wang Songping, head of the Tibet Tourism Development Committee.

According to data from China's major telecom operators, over 5 million tourists from the Yangtze River Delta region visited Tibet every year on average, and the figure is projected to reach 7 million in 2018.