From: zzuo@iastate.edu (Zhiqi Zuo)
Subject: Tibet move toward opening to foreign tourists
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 20:20:34 GMT

Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 21:27:50 PST
From: psycho@makalu.Stanford.EDU (Mr. Knotty Sycho)
To: NEPAL@mp.cs.niu.edu
Subject: Tibet move toward opening to foreign tourists


	BEIJING (UPI) -- Cloaked in mystery and shrouded by clouds in the
oxygen-parched Himalayas, Tibet is preparing to make it easier for
foreign tourists to ascend to the ``Roof of the World.''
	The mountainous region has remained largely cut off from the tourist
boom sweeping other parts of China because of years of strife between
the communist-ruled government and Tibetans seeking independence and
because of woefully inadequate tourist services.
	But tourism officials say this is set to change.
	``The whole world is open now,'' explains Cao Xiaoyu, director of the
Tibet Tourism Bureau's new Beijing office, which opened this summer to
deal with what officials hope will be a flood of tourists into the
region. ``No area can be kept closed up.''
	Her optimism stems from a recent government announcement that Tibet
will undergo ``an all-round opening to the outside world,'' sparking
visions of one of the world's last frontiers unfurling like the
embroidered tapestries Tibetan monks unroll on the hills around Lhasa,
the Tibetan capital, at New Year.
	But fears remain the Chinese government's motives behind an ``open''
Tibet may not be pure.
	Tibetans in exile say the new development drive, including opening to
more tourists, is aimed at diluting Tibetan culture and protecting ``the
unity of the motherland'' -- Chinese codewords for defeating Tibetan
attempts to break free of Chinese rule.
	Even before the announcement, which offered investment, freer travel
and greater access in the region, tourist numbers had been creeping up,
from 10,000 in 1990 to 14,000 in 1991.
	This year the increase has continued with 6,000 tourists visiting
from January to June, a 40 percent jump over the same period last year.
This has led tourism officials to predict some 75,000 tourists a year
will flood Tibet by 1996.
	Opening up, however, will be strictly controlled. All travelers must
have special permits and join officially organized groups for travel
into Tibet.
	Some do forego permits, hitch-hiking and dodging police on an
overland route from Golmud in Qinghai Province bordering Tibet into
Lhasa, but risk fines and expulsion from China if caught.
	One traveler who recently risked the route said that in the Golmud
Hotel, an earlier traveler carved a map in the wood of a toilet door
marking police checkpoints and showing where travelers without permits
are turned back.
	At present, legal tourists are limited to essentially fixed
itineraries in and around Lhasa, including three-day tours to Shigatse
and Gyantse -- some 225 miles from Lhasa.
	But Tibet authorities expect Beijing's approval for a string of new,
open areas ``probably this year,'' says Cao Xiaoyu, who has a large map
of Tibet with areas set to open on her cramped office walls.
	New areas will include Yadong, Tibet's oldest frontier post bordering
Sikkim and Bhutan, as well as the heavily forested areas around Nyingchi
and Mainling, about 185 miles east of Lhasa.
	Plans also are under way to open Burang, bordering Nepal in west
Tibet. Burang, a crossing point for Indian pilgrims traveling to sacred
Mount Kailash, has been open since 1986, but has remained largely
inaccessible because of poor roads.
	As elsewhere in China, poor infrastructure and lack of airplanes
remain the biggest obstacles to tourist growth.
	Tibet's boom-bust tourist cycle, which leaves Lhasa hotels overbooked
in summer but deserted in winter, also has dissuaded Chinese airlines
from carrying out promises to increase air links into the region,
including routes linking Lhasa and Hong Kong.
	``They think that if they open up the route, there won't be enough
customers and they'll lose money,'' Cao explained.
	Foreign travel agents also accuse Chinese tourism agencies, which
have a monopoly on permits and organizing groups to Tibet, of
restricting growth by charging exorbitant prices -- as much as $1,142 per
person for a high-season tour, airfare extra.
	But Chinese officials say China's recent switch toward the market
system will force down prices by opening competition among the dozen or
so Chinese agencies operating tours to Tibet.
	``Tourism used to be part of the planned economy, but I think that as
from next year we'll also move toward the market,'' said Cao. ``This
should help resolve the problems of high expense.''
	Foreign travel agents, however, say changes are likely to be slow.