Grand celebrations will be held on March 28 to mark Serfs Emancipation Day in Lhasa and Beijing, Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet regional government, said on Thursday.

The setting of Serfs Emancipation Day is welcomed in Tibet, where 95 percent of its population were slaves and serfs before the democratic reform annulled serfdom in 1959 in the Himalaya region, he told reporters on the sidelines of the parliament session that started Thursday morning.

"The Day is a really significant event for Tibetans, as well as for the whole Chinese nation and the rest of the world," he said.

He said the Lhasa riot last year caused huge impact on Tibet's tourism, although the industry is turning better at present.

"There will still be some time before a full recovery," he said.

Last year, only more than 2.2 million tourists visited Tibet, down 44 percent over the previous year.

He ruled out recent "instability" in Tibet, saying it is "a pure rumor."

He said the region will have no "big problems" of stability, and Tibetan people "have confidence in the Party and the government."

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2009)