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An evaluation of human rights and tourism mobility: Should tourists continue their travels to Tibet?

An evaluation of human rights and tourism mobility: Should tourists continue their travels to Tibet?
Author: Riikka Sundell
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Abstract:
Tourism mobility has seen a considerable growth within the past decade. The freedom of movement is included in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of human rights. Still, the tourism patterns have remained asymmetrical as the freedom has been denied from many. Since China's invasion over Tibet in the 1950s, the Chinese government has restricted the lives of the Tibetans drastically. They have attacked the Tibetan culture on many occasions, but now use it as a commodity to attract tourists to the region. This paper aims to explain the situation in the Tibet region and evaluate the impacts the Chinese rule has brought with it. The paper further discusses whether or not the international tourists should continue their travels to Tibet.

Keywords: Tibet, human rights, tourism mobility

As a result to globalisation, tourism mobility has increased significantly within the past decade. Although embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the freedom of movement is still denied from many and the travelling patterns remain quite asymmetrical. The citizenship has an important role defining who is able to travel freely across international borders and who is not as fortunate. Tourism is the privilege of minority of the world’s population (Bianchi, 2009). UNWTO has conducted the Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code and Global Code of Ethics for Tourism in order to encourage free movement across the borders equally for all, but these, alongside with the Declaration of Human Rights, are widely regarded as “soft laws” which only carry a little weight regarding international laws. This explains the hardening of borders on some occasions (Coles & Hall, 2011). Tourism has the capability to contribute to the international economy. If addressed correctly, it can further help to eliminate the gap between developed and developing countries. According to Bianchi (2009), it has become evident that tour operators and tourists themselves are holding increasing power to address the inequalities within tourism. With their actions they can greatly affect the industry (Bianchi, 2009).

Since 1950, Tibet has been under the control of People’s Republic of China. From then on Tibet has become the place where some of the most visible human rights violations have occurred (Klein, 2011). Before China’s invasion, Tibet had been rather isolated and known as a peaceful, Buddhist nation, but all that changed with the new communist rule (Dhussa, 2009). Freedom of speech and religion were widely denied from the Tibetans. There have been peaceful demonstrations for free Tibet, but any outbreak is immediately put down by the police or the military. Many important monasteries have been destroyed and people can be jailed or tortured for speaking their minds (Klein, 2011).The Tibetan leader, Dalai Lama, was forced to flee from Tibet to Dharmasala, India. There he instituted the Tibetan Government-in-Exile (Klein, 2011). Dharmasala has since then become the centre of the displaced Tibetans. There they can continue practicing their religion in peace (Dhussa, 2009).

Within the last 20 years, the tourism numbers, both domestic and international, in Tibet have grown considerably (Wu & Pearce, 2011). Recent developments by Chinese authorities in the Tibetan region have enabled the increase. There has been investment towards new hotels, resorts and education. Now increasing numbers of Tibetans are able to speak Chinese and the language barriers are gradually disappearing. The accessibility to Tibet has also been improved (Kölbl, 2012). However, China sometimes closes the Tibetan borders from the visitors in order to prevent the Tibetans to speak out their issues. This is especially common during demonstrations. Some areas are more restricted than others and the military is always present (Free Tibet, 2014). In order to be able to cross the Tibetan borders, the tourist needs four documents approved by the Chinese authorities (Explore Tibet, 2014).

But should tourists continue their travels to China or should they decline the opportunity? There certainly is no definite answer to the question, but every person can decide themselves, what they see is the best. There are arguments both for and against travelling there. First of all, Dalai Lama himself encourages international tourists to venture Tibet and report their experiences upon their return (Free Tibet, 2014). In fact, in 1989 tourism became a true political tool when reporters were not allowed in Tibet and tourists formed a secret network. They gathered information about the issues and they would report everything they saw when they returned (Sönmez, 1998).

Nevertheless, most of the profits the tourism brings go straight to the Chinese enterprises. Very little stay in the Tibetans’ hands even though it is their culture that is being exploited. The Chinese have attacked the Tibetan culture on many occasions, but now use it as a commodity to attract tourists to the region. Also, travelling to Tibet always involves some levels of submission by the Tibetans part to the policies of Chinese Regime, as the terms are laid down by the Chinese instead of the Tibetans (Free Tibet, 2014).

Some people are also worried that the signs of repression are not visible to the tourists and they are left under false thoughts of the situation in Tibet. Chinese have such control over the Tibetans. When they are denied the freedom of speech, the signs can sometimes go unnoticed. It is left to every individual to decide what they see fit regarding the situation. To those reluctant to travel to Tibet, but want to have a similar experience, it is advised to travel to Tibetan regions within India, such as Dharmasala (Free Tibet, 2014).

References
Bianchi, R. (2009). Tourism and citizenship: a critical reflection on rights, freedoms and privileges in a mobile world. Tourism & the International: Conflict, Complicity & Power. New York.

Dhussa, R.C. (2009). Tibet: A Nation in Exile. American Geographical Society's Focus on Geography. 52 (2), pp.1-6.

Free Tibet. (2014). How to travel ethically in Tibet. Available: http://freetibet.org/about/travel-guide. Last accessed 28 Apr 2014.