17 August 2008
Tourism suffers from Spring 2008 unrest
(AFP; Tibet Daily) The number of tourists visiting the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in the first half of 2008 fell 70 percent from the previous year, the Tibet Daily reported, following unrest in the region that began in March. More than 340,000 travellers went to the TAR between January and June 2008, the state-run newspaper said, a dramatic drop from the same period in 2007 when over 1.1 million people visited, according to official statistics. When the spring 2008 protests began, Beijing barred all tourists from going to the TAR and other areas of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with Tibetan populations. Chinese tour groups were allowed back in at the end of April, and visitors from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were subsequently allowed in early May. Foreign visitors were only allowed back in at the end of June. In March, the number of tourists dropped nearly 49 percent, compared to 14,200 at the same time in 2007, the Tibet Daily said. Deng Xiaogang, vice chairman of TAR is quoted in the report as saying: "The March 14 incident had the biggest impact on the service sector in Tibet, and the tourism industry was significantly impacted". The newspaper said, tourism was now improving, and 370,000 travellers went to Tibet in July alone, more than in the whole of the first half of the year.