Tibet tourism increase pressures historic websites

LHASA, China (AP) – Tourism is booming in Tibet as more Chinese travel to the country due to the coronavirus pandemic, putting the region’s fragile environment and historic sites at risk.

In the Potala Palace, the former residence of the Dalai Lamas, the number of visitors is limited to 5,000 per day. Balancing tourist demand with the need to minimize the wear and tear on the massive hill structure is an ongoing challenge, said Gonggar Tashi, the chief administrator.

“The biggest challenge for us is the contradiction between the protection and use of the cultural relics,” Tashi told journalists in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

He spoke during a government-organized tour that gave foreign journalists infrequent access to Tibet, but under the watchful eye of officials who set the agenda.

The growing numbers of tourists seem unaffected by the political controversies that have long encircled Tibet. China’s communist forces invaded the region in 1951 and the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s traditional spiritual and political leader, fled to India in 1959 during a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Millions of visitors come to Tibet every year, and 2020 was up 12.6% year over year, said Ge Lei, deputy director of China Tourism Marketing Association. He expects the number of visitors to roughly double by 2026.

The flood of visitors, which far exceeds Tibet’s population of 3.5 million, calls for caution to protect the environment and culture, he said.

Tourists are drawn to the “mystique and myth of Tibet as a remote, snow-capped land,” said Travis Klingberg, cultural geographer at NYU Shanghai. “But Tibet has become a place of beautiful natural landscapes that is important to the Chinese nation.”

Tibet has shifted its focus from international to domestic visitors as China’s middle class has grown, said Emily Yeh, a professor of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Tibetans have sometimes complained about Chinese tourists disregarding cultural traditions, including stepping on prayer flags, she said.

The tourism sector is intensifying government propaganda, Yeh said. The ruling Communist Party says it freed hundreds of thousands of serfs when the theocracy was overthrown in 1951 and has since brought economic development to the high plateau bordering the Himalayas.

“Rewriting history is an integral part of the tourism landscape,” said Yeh.

One of the most popular natural spots is Lake Namtso, which is surrounded by snow-capped peaks and Buddhist shrines and you can see herds of yaks and migratory birds on the horizon. The development of the website must be done carefully to avoid the damage that makes it attractive, Ge said.

“It will be difficult to protect the ecology and culture of Tibet … if we don’t have a long-term plan,” he said. “That is why it is very important to establish a number of values ​​and rules of conduct for traveling in Tibet when building the facilities.”