WING On Travel Holdings Ltd, Hong Kong's second-largest travel-service company, said it will pay US$52.9 million for a stake in a luxury train operator to take advantage of rising travel demand to Tibet.

The company will take 72 percent of the enlarged shares in Tangula Group Ltd, which operates luxury tourist trains from Beijing to Tibet's capital Lhasa, via Qinghai Province. It also operates services from China's capital to Lijiang, Yunnan Province, Wing On said in a statement filed with Hong Kong's stock exchange yesterday.

Tangula Group is a venture set up with a Chinese state-owned rail operator that has exclusive approval to run luxury trains from Qinghai to Tibet for 16 years, Bloomberg News reported.