China reopened Tibet to foreign tourists yesterday, declaring the Himalayan region stable and safe as it lifted a ban imposed after a crackdown on anti-Chinese unrest three months ago.

The move came four days after China paraded the Beijing Olympic torch through Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, amid such tight security that most Tibetans and Chinese in the city were kept indoors.

Soldiers lining the streets almost every five metres dispersed about 30 minutes after the torch parade finished and were replaced by far smaller numbers of police on Saturday, according to witnesses.

“The success of the torch relay proved Tibet to be more stabilised and the time was right to reopen,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted Tanor, the deputy director of the regional tourism authority, as saying. “Tibet is safe. We welcome domestic and foreign tourists.” Local tourist officials said that two Swedish tourists had arrived in Lhasa and four more from Singapore were due on Sunday.

The reopening of Tibet appeared to be designed to restore a level of normality to the region less than seven weeks before tens of thousands of foreigners arrive in China for the Olympics. But it will also bring relief to the local tourist industry — a mainstay of Tibet’s economy — which has lost millions of pounds since Chinese and foreign tourists were ordered out on May 15.

“This time last year, my shop could sell 10,000 yuan (£750) of goods every day and very often more than 10,000,” said Li Anming, the Chinese owner of a souvenir shop near the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. “This year, sometimes I can’t sell anything in a day. If I can sell 2,000 yuan of goods, it’s a good day,” he said. “I just want to clear the shelf and recoup my costs.”

At the Kongliang Hotpot restaurant, near the Potala Palace, the head waiter said that business was down by two thirds. “It’s because there are few tourists, and the locals don’t like going out for fun as the atmosphere is tense,” she said. “All the restaurants and shops close before 8pm. Last year they closed at 10pm.”

About four million tourists visited Tibet last year, with the number of foreign visitors rising by 136 per cent to 365,000, according to the local tourism office. Officials had forecast that the number of visitors would hit five million in 2008 — an average of more than 400,000 a month — with tourist revenue soaring 24 per cent over the year.

But only 120,000 people have visited Tibet since the end of April, according to official figures. The Government reopened Tibet to domestic tourists on April 23 and to tourists from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan on May 1, according to Xinhua. But it had maintained the ban on foreigners, saying that Tibet was unsafe for them because of separatist forces loyal to the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader. Overseas pro-Tibet groups say that was a pretext for concealing a massive campaign of arrests and political re-education designed to crush support for the Dalai Lama.

Travel agents told The Times that foreigners would still have to obtain a special group permit to visit Tibet and would be allowed to visit most areas. However, they could face problems visiting areas under military control. “It’s still very complicated for everyone,” said one Shanghai-based travel agent specialising in travel to Tibet. “It’s just reopened, so this is not the right time to visit more sensitive places.”

On the roof of the world

— More than four million tourists visited Tibet in 2007, an increase of 64 per cent over 2006

— Revenue from tourism last year was 4.8 billion yuan (£322 million) in 2007, up 73 per cent

— There are four documents required for foreign tourists who want to travel in Tibet: the Chinese Visa, the Tibet Permit, the Travel Permit for those planning to travel to the closed areas in Tibet, and the Military Permit, which must be obtained by those who travel to military sensitive areas

— The best time to travel in Tibet is between April and October. Peak season is from May to September

— The world’s highest railway has been taking visitors to Tibet since July 2006. The special trains have their own oxygen supply to help passengers to cope with the thinner air on the “roof of the world”. There are doctors on board to deal with altitude sickness

— There are five highways linking Tibet with the outside world. The Qinghai-Tibet highway, one of the highest in the world, starts from Xining, in Qinghai Province, China, and covers 760 miles (1,160km)

Sources: BBC, tibettravel.info

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