By Kate Saunders
There has been a slow start to the resumption of tourism to Tibet following the lifting of restrictions on 1 July that were imposed in order to prevent the spread of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), and tighter controls appear to be being imposed on tourists entering Tibet from Nepal. The first group of 22 foreign visitors after the restrictions arrived in Tibet from Kathmandu on 1 July. The different restrictions on travellers entering Tibet from Kathmandu are out of step with the trend in China to simplify procedures for tourists and at borders in line with China’s commitments under the World Trade Organisation.
In April, travellers from Nepal who had previously only been allowed to travel in as part of a tour group were allowed to apply for individual visas to go to Tibet. Since the resumption of tourism from Kathmandu, some Nepalese tour agencies report that they are still allowed to send just one individual, but as a ‘group’ of one, while other tour operators in Nepal have been told that individual travel is now not permitted. Some individual travellers have been fined on arrival in Lhasa. Permits to travel to Kailash are reportedly more difficult to obtain. According to tour operators in Kathmandu, the increased levels of control may be linked to continuing pressure on Tibetan travel agencies in Lhasa from the Tibet Tourism Bureau, which oversees all activities relating to foreign tourists travelling to Tibet. According to some Nepalese tour operators, the tourism trade between Kathmandu and Tibet is also bedevilled by apparent differences between the Tibet Tourism Board and the immigration authorities; a Nepalese travel agent said: ‘Tibet Tourism Board was set up to help us promote tourism in Tibet, instead they hinder us. We never know what new rule they are going to come up with next and now we never know what immigration is going to do next.’
The ban on foreign tourism to Tibet from Nepal from 27 May to 1 July led to significant losses in revenue for both the Nepalese and Tibetan travel industry; according to the Kathmandu Post on 7 July, almost 10,000 – 15,000 tourists travel to Tibet via Nepal each year, with some 5000 travelling during the summer months. At least 2000 people in Nepal are employed in the Tibet tourism industry, with many more dependent on tours to Tibet for their livelihood during the summer season, and turnover from tourism to Tibet during a two-month summer season is at least Rs 40 million ($533,000) according to the Kathmandu Post. A Xinhua report on 10 June stated that since April, 233 tourist groups had been cancelled, resulting in a direct loss to the trade of more than 10m yuan (about $1.2m). The same report stated that while the ban was in place, efforts had been made to begin to attract tourists again to the region, including the production of ‘new kinds of souvenirs and making traditional Tibetan foods more palatable for foreigners.’
As part of its commitment to membership of the World Trade Organisation, China is aiming to make a wide-ranging assessment of border controls – the authorities are aiming to make travelling within and beyond China easier for certain categories of travellers, such as businesspeople and tourists. A People’s Daily report on 23 July stated that procedures for Taiwanese tourists to enter Tibet had been simplified: ‘Previously, compatriots from Taiwan who intended to travel in Tibet were required to first undergo a series of procedures in the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Tibet Autonomous Region and then they had to apply for a tourism confirmation letter from the autonomous regional tourism bureau. Beginning 1 July…Taiwanese tourists need only to contact the local Taiwan Affairs Office before entering the autonomous region.’
A report on the official website Xinhuanet states that Chinese tourists ‘were more active than their overseas counterparts in arranging tours’ to the plateau. ‘ The report states that 74 international and 144 domestic tourist groups had registered to visit Tibet in July. The increasing numbers of Chinese tour guides in Tibet reflect this increase in domestic tourism, as well as the authorities’ suspicions of Tibetan tour guides who studied English in exile communities in India. According to a source in Tibet, there are currently at least 80 Chinese guides working on tours in Lhasa, Shigatse and Gyantse, while more than 150 Tibetan guides have lost their jobs over the past few years for being educated in India, or if they are not considered to be politically reliable.
This is one in a series of independent reports by Kate Saunders commissioned by the Australia Tibet Council, Free Tibet Campaign and the International Campaign for Tibet.
