Tibet tourism 'hits record high' (BBC) {thanks to their Chinese overlords}

***
Revenue from tourism was expected to hit 4.8bn yuan ($650m, £322m) in 2007, up 73.3% on the previous year, he said.
***
Since the rail link opened 17 months ago, Chinese tourism and trade to Tibet has surged. But the new train service is a source of concern to many Tibetans.

They argue that it has facilitated an influx of Chinese settlers, who are increasingly dominating business and making Tibetans a minority in some towns and regions.

In a statement in March, the Dalai Lama warned that both the number of settlers and environmental degradation in Tibet had increased since the train line became operational, describing it as a source of "deep concern".

Earlier this month, the train line was used to carry Chinese troops to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, fuelling concerns that China is using the train to cement its hold on Tibet.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7147366.stm

I know people find Tibet fascinating, but who would want to take a tour where the tour guides were agents of an occupying power?

The Chinese have pursued a policy of "Chinafication" in Tibet for thirty years, and this new railroad is the latest, and possibly the most damaging, attack yet on Tibetan life. By bringing tourists, settlers, goods, and services in from China, Beijing is hoping to dilute Tibetan culture under an onslaught of "Chineseness." The ultimate goal is to homogenize life in Tibet so that it is indistinguishable from any other Chinese province.

Of course, this is all done in the name of "progress" and "modernization," and is something that countless other imperial powers have done elsewhere, so who can possibly complain?

I heard a report on NPR a few years ago that reported on the youth in Tibet and it sounds like the damage might be irreversible.

Tibet has already lost two generations to "Chinafication." :(

the areas of China that are home to other ethnic minorities, who refer to these outposts as "Han farms".