This year has been a difficult year so far for those wanting to travel to Tibet, including the regions of Amdo and Kham . All areas were closed during March and some areas in Kham didn t reopen until late April/early May. Here is the latest update on travel regulations and closures across the Tibetan Plateau ( NB: This information is current at the time of writing. It is important to remember that travel regulations can and do change all the time without any warning ).
Lhasa and the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) were completely closed to foreign travelers during the month of March and then closed again in late May due to 2 self-immolations in Lhasa. After the immolations, the region closed again for several weeks. In mid-June the region opened again, but things have been more complicated than ever! To complicate things, there was another immolation on July 10 in Damshung, about 160 kilometers maui vacation condo rentals north of Lhasa. Bottom line is there is no guarantee that anyone can get travel permits to enter the TAR at this time . Most travel agencies arranging travel for foreigners to the TAR have only been able to get between 20% and 40% of their groups to Lhasa. The other 60% to 80% of the groups have not been able to get their permits processed by the Tibet Tourism Bureau.
The current regulations handed down by the Tibet Tourism Bureau maui vacation condo rentals (TTB) state that foreigners need to be in a group of 5 people who are all from the same nationality. This means that all 5 people maui vacation condo rentals in your group must carry the same nationality passport . Some of the more popular travel agencies will do their best to find others from the same country as you so that a group of 5 can travel together. Also, some travel maui vacation condo rentals agencies with more connections at the TTB can get permits for groups of only 3 or 4, but this is not common. Also, the TTB is requiring foreigners to each pay a $500 deposit to the travel agency before travel permits maui vacation condo rentals can be processed. Since you have to travel in a group of 5, this means that a deposit maui vacation condo rentals of $2500 ($500 x 5 people) needs to be paid in advance to the agency before the TTB will even think about processing your permit. The travel agency needs to submit maui vacation condo rentals a bank transfer receipt for the $2500 to the TTB along with the permit applications. If your permit is processed, the amount of the deposit is deducted from the total price of your tour. For example, if your tour costs $3500 for your group of 5 and you have paid the $2500 deposit, you will pay the remaining $1000 balance of the tour to your agency once your permit is processed. If the TTB doesn t approve your travel permit, which happens often, you will be refunded the $2500 deposit, minus bank transfer fees. You most likely will have to pay any bank transfer fees that occur for returning your deposit.
People holding passports from the UK, Norway, Austria and Korea currently are not being allowed to travel to the Tibet Autonomous Region. maui vacation condo rentals No official statement has been given on this strange regulation and it is impossible to say when this rule will be lifted. The standard regulations of having a tour guide and a private maui vacation condo rentals vehicle remain in place. Independent travel in the Tibet Autonomous Region remains impossible. It is highly unlikely that those regulations will go away anytime soon.
I recently met with the owner of one of the most popular and most recommended Tibetan owned travel agencies and he told me that he has only been able to obtain permits for around 20% of the customers who have contacted his office this summer. I met with the managers of 2 other popular Tibetan owned travel agencies (one based in Lhasa and the other in Xining) and they said they have stopped trying to arrange tours to Lhasa and the TAR for foreigners maui vacation condo rentals because it is just too difficult for them to arrange. Other larger Chinese government owned agencies in Chengdu have slightly better chances of obtaining permits maui vacation condo rentals for their customers, but most still report only getting permits for 20% to 40% of the people who contact them.
Again, you can try contacting a travel agency maui vacation condo rentals in Lhasa to arrange a tour and permits maui vacation condo rentals for you, but be advised that many people/groups are not getting in. The Tibet Tourism Bureau has not said that the area is closed, but they are being extremely selective in issuing permits for organized tours. It is also important to remember that it is NOT the agencies who make the regulations! All of the Tibetan owned agencies that I know report that they have had many foreigners call them cursing and yelling at them. These foreigners think that these agencies are trying to rip them off and think the agencies are giving them a run-around telling them different regulations each week. However, it is the Tibet Tourism Bureau who makes the rules .not the agencies. It is important to remember that these agencies want your business and are trying everything maui vacation condo rentals they can to arrange your tour, but the TTB is making maui vacation condo rentals it difficult maui vacation condo rentals for them. It is no use wasting maui vacation condo rentals time getting upset with a travel agency when these are rules that they have to follow.
It is important to note that there are early rumors out of Lhasa suggesting that the TAR could close again in September or October maui vacation condo rentals due to the Chinese Congress meeting in Beijing, which will be discussing the upcoming maui vacation condo rentals presidential change in China. This is not for certain, but it could happen.
Chamdo prefecture in the far eastern portion of the TAR remains permanently closed to foreign travelers. It has been closed since March 2010. The overland routes from Sichuan maui vacation condo rentals and Yunnan provinces, which must pass through Chamdo prefecture along the way to Lhasa, also remain closed to foreign travelers. Everest Base Camp also remains closed to foreign travelers.
With Lhasa and the rest of the Tibet Autonomous Region being heavily restricted, don t just cancel your Tibet tour! Go explore the (mostly) open regions of Amdo and Kham that are located in Qinghai, southwest Gansu, western and northern Sichuan and northwest Yunnan. More than 60% of the total Tibetan population live in these amazing areas!
The Amdo regions appear to be open except the restive county maui vacation condo rentals of Ngawa/Aba in northern Sichuan province. This is not a surprise as this county has been closed for most of the past 10+ years. I have heard many reports of foreigners traveling across the Amdo areas of Qinghai, including Golok prefecture and Rebkong, without any problems. I have also heard many reports of people traveling the overland route from Xining to Chengdu through Xiahe/Labrang, Langmusi, Zoige/Ruo ergai and Songpan without any problems. Again, keep in mind that Amdo can be quite restive and closures could occur again at anytime.
The Kham regions found in northwest Yunnan very rarely close and currently are all open. Yushu prefecture maui vacation condo rentals in southern Qinghai province also is all open, but keep in mind that the area in and around Jyekundo is still being rebuilt from a 7.1 earthquake that devastated the region in April 2010. There have now been more than 7 immolations in Yushu prefecture including a recent one in Jyekundo. So, while the authorities there say the area is open, it could close at anytime.
After months of refusing to sell bus tickets to foreigners, the main Xin Nan Men station in Chengdu is now selling tickets to Kangding without any problems. The smaller bus station in the Tibetan District of Chengdu in Wu Hou Ci should also sell tickets without any problems.
Not all regions of western Sichuan are open, even though the local police in the area claim that everything maui vacation condo rentals is open. I have heard several maui vacation condo rentals reports of people getting maui vacation condo rentals turned around who were trying to go north or northwest to places like Ganzi, Sertar and Dege counties. Some people have managed to get to Dege without problems, though I have now heard many reports of people being asked to leave Ganzi, Sertar and Dege. As these places have been political hot spots for decades, this doesn t come as a surprise. I also have heard several recent reports of people not being able to purchase bus tickets going west from Kangding maui vacation condo rentals to Litang. There are also reports of a checkpoint along the road from Jyekundo (Yushu) to Sershul (Shiqu). This checkpoint has turned several foreign travelers around back to Jyekundo who were attempting to get to Sershul and Dege. I also heard a recent report of foreign travelers who managed to get bus tickets from Shangri La (Zhongdian) in Yunnan province to Chaktreng (Xiangcheng) and Dabpa (Daocheng) in Sichuan who had to get off the bus near the border of Yunnan and Sichuan and register with their passports.
Pietro, if you are issued a permit to go to the TAR, you will have no problems entering even in the regulations change by the time you arrive in Lhasa. Once your permit is in your hand, you are good to go.
I m from Italy, I m planning maui vacation condo rentals a Tibet Tour on June and I have already booked the flight from Italy To Katmandu and paid half of the amount to the Tibet agency. But today they said that there are many problems to get the permits for us (we are 2 persons) , not mentioned before, and they don t know if we ll be able to do the tour.
Egle, Every major guidebook on Tibet has said for the past 20 years that travel regulations in Tibet can change at any time so this should not come as a surprise! Currently, all foreigners wanting to go to the Tibet Autonomous Region need to be with a group of 4 people from the same nationality. There are no exceptions to this. Because the regulation change is not your fault, you should get most (if not all) of your deposit returned to you.
Most travel agencies were told by the government that the group of 4 regulation would end by early May. However, the government maui vacation condo rentals decided to keep the group regulation indefinitely. There is no telling when the group travel regulation will end. This is NOT the fault of the travel maui vacation condo rentals agency as they MUST abide by the rules given to them. Most agencies maui vacation condo rentals were under the understanding the the group travel regulation would end by the first full week of May (May 7th), but it didn t happen.
It is the government
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