Tibet railway under scrutiny

BEIJING – Last month’s TravelMole story suggesting Tibetan people had celebrated the first year of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway by praising its economic benefits produced a sharp reaction from Mirjam Peternek, director of the UK’s LemonGrass Marketing,

“The railway will no doubt make the region more prosperous, however, the wealth is likely to go to the Han Chinese rather than the Tibetans,” she said.

“It will help to further dilute Tibetan culture – whole Tibetan villages have been destroyed in order to build this railway and amongst human rights activists the railway is seen as equally controversial as the Three Gorges Dam.”

In a follow-up, Mirjam says, “Few of us would deny that investing in the tourism industry of developing countries is beneficial, and that it can provide a real boom to their economies, but it needs to be carefully managed.

“Local communities, who are crucial stakeholders, must be at the heart of this investment. As well as being morally more equitable, it makes commercial sense because increasingly consumers want a more authentic experience.

“For instance, they want to see the local, indigenous communities, benefiting directly – better jobs – and indirectly – more resources being ploughed into the social infrastructure (schools, hospitals, and so on).

“What should not happen, and regrettably has on many occasions, is that local communities are simply sidelined by the developers and government agencies, given poor jobs and see no improvement in their overall living conditions.”

Lemongrass Marketing (www.lemongrassmarketing.com) is a UK based representation and marketing consultancy. The company specialises in promoting luxury hotels and destinations to UK consumers who are looking for a unique experience and who want to be enriched through travel.

In other news from Tibet, the management of the Qinghai-Tibet railway has been told to improve the railway’s safety and enhance environmental protection.

The railway stretches 1,956 kilometers from Xining, capital of Qinghai, to Lhasa, capital of Tibet. Since going into operation in July 2006, the railway has carried 2.6 million passengers.

Managing the railway is “more difficult and arduous” than building it, said Chinese vice premier Zeng Peiyan, adding that railway departments should improve safety measures and environmental protection work.

Every day, a total of eight passenger trains and two cargo trains run in both directions on the railway, with 960 kilometers of the track being 4,000m above sea level and 550km running over unstable permafrost.

Temperatures high on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau can drop to minus 45 degrees in the winter.