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BEIJING: China announced Thursday that foreign tourists will be
allowed to travel into Tibet again from May 1, after the Himalayan
region was sealed off following violent unrest there last month.
Independent travelers as well as those on group
tours will be welcomed back, the official Xinhua news agency said,
citing Tibet’s tourism bureau.
Chinese authorities began clearing Tibet of
foreign tourists after riots erupted in the region’s capital,
Lhasa, on March 14 amid protests by Tibetans against China’s
57-year rule of the remote region.
Foreign reporters were also banned from Tibet,
as China sent in a massive security force to quell the unrest, which
spread to other areas of western China with Tibetan populations.
China has said Tibetan rioters killed 18
civilians and two policemen in the unrest. Tibetan exiles have said
135 to 140 people were killed in the Chinese crackdown.
Unlike other parts of China, foreign travelers
require a special permit to enter Tibet.
Alongside the Great Wall and the famed
Terracotta Warriors in Xian, Tibet has become one of the most
popular destinations for foreign travelers in China.
Its spectacular landscape, Buddhist culture and
access to Mount Everest base camp are among Tibet’s top drawcards.
Xinhua had earlier reported massive increases in
the number of tourists, both foreign and domestic, to Tibet since
the opening of a controversial railway across the Tibetan plateau
and into Lhasa in 2006.
-- AFP
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