The effect of tourism on Tibet

The newly-opened Gormo-Lhasa Railway has unleashed a huge increase in tourism into Tibet. The official China news agency, Xinhua, recently reported that total visitors to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in 2007 were expected to be four million, an increase of 62% over the same period for 2006 and a number well in excess of the total population of the TAR. Of those arrivals, 1.6 million are expected to arrive on the train, according to Xinhua.

Rapid development of tourist infrastructure such as the railway is turning “the roof of the world” into a must-visit destination. China undoubtedly sees tourism as the “pillar industry” that it has long sought to guarantee the economic growth and the employment of the ever-increasing numbers of Han Chinese which China is encouraging to migrate to the area. According to Xinhua, 2.5 million tourist arrivals in Tibet in 2006 generated 2.77 billion Yuan in tourism revenue, accounting for a staggering 9.6% of the GDP of the TAR in that year. Xinhua confidently predicts that the number of tourists visiting the TAR in 2007 will be 4.2 million. But the mass-package model of tourism which China is promoting so assiduously has potentially ruinous consequences for the fragile environment of the Tibetan Plateau.

According to the Tibetan Government in Exile’s “Human Development and Environment Report, 2007, China has shown little interest in co-operating with NGOs experienced in implementing low-impact tourism. Instead it is rapidly developing the infrastructure that will allow the transportation of ever-increasing numbers of tourists in a short space of time to the most popular destinations. This model of tourism impacts heavily on the environment, not only due to the quantity of people, but by repeatedly transporting huge numbers over the same routes with the inevitable consequences of erosion, pollution and waste. Roads are being built into previously inaccessible areas leading to deforestation and soil instability. Environmentally sensitive areas are increasingly exposed to traffic and air pollution, garbage, human waste and other side-effects of mass tourism.

Mass tourism has also impacted on the economy with Tibetans largely unable to benefit. Tourism hospitality work are available in urban areas where Tibetans are increasingly becoming a minority. Positions require training and Chinese language skills, making it difficult for most Tibetans – the majority of whom lack even primary level education – to obtain jobs in tourism.

The money generated by tourism rarely stays in the Tibetan economy. Tourism is generally operated by out of province Chinese companies, often with high levels of government involvement. Tour packages, accommodation and transport booked by the millions of Chinese travelling to Tibet is booked through companies located in Chinese cities outside Tibet. Paid through such channels, much tourism revenue rarely reaches Tibetans. Tibetan restaurateurs and shopkeepers similarly miss out on tourist revenue as the many Chinese and foreign tourists often demand imported goods and food.

Mass tourism is also allowing the Chinese government to promote its own approved and sanitised image of Tibet. In 2003 The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights And Democracy (TCHRD) reported that 100 Chinese tour guides had been brought into Tibet to promote Tibet in a way the government considered acceptable. Meanwhile, Tibetan tour guides encountered problems in finding work.

The Tibetan Government in Exile in its 2007 report has advocated various steps which could be taken to promote a form of lower-impact tourism, more sympathetic to the environment and the benefits of which could be more equitably shared by Tibetans themselves. This includes limiting the number of tourists to popular destinations such as the Potala Palace, developing public education programmes about tourism and spreading tourism more widely throughout Tibet, thereby limiting its impact on the most popular areas.

For more information about the pros and cons of travelling to Tibet, please read our alternative travel guide.