WEALTHY TOURISTS will soon be able to gaze out at the Roof of the World as a waiter expertly pours a glass of imported wine in the intimate, club-style setting of the Decanter bar at Tibet’s first luxury hotel – the St Regis Lhasa Resort.
For hundreds of years an isolated, mystical and poor enclave ruled by red-robed Tibetan Buddhist monks, Lhasa has changed profoundly since Chinese troops entered in 1950, and started to impose the dominant Han Chinese culture on the territory.
The introduction of regular flights, as well as the building of the high-tech train service from Qinghai to Tibet – the first rail link between Tibet and the rest of China – have seen tourists arrive in droves at the city which historically neither foreigners nor Chinese dared enter.
In March 2008, violent protests focused on Han Chinese settlers left 22 dead, according to the government, although Tibetan rights groups say the figure was far higher.
Officials blamed protest activity across the plateau on separatists loyal to the Dalai Lama.
There is a heavy police presence on the streets of Lhasa, and tough measures have been put in place to control religion and maintain political stability.
Still, newly wealthy Chinese want luxury accommodation, and this is where the St Regis hotel, opening on November 15th according to the website, will come in.
“The St Regis Lhasa Resort offers refined luxury and superlative service in a storied city. Discover Potala Palace and Norbulingka, Unesco World Heritage Sites, and Jokhang Temple, all minutes from our resort,” runs the breathless blurb on the hotel’s site.
A room for a night at the St Regis Lhasa will set you back about €235.
This surge of tourism into Tibet means the number of people visiting the Himalayan region during the first three quarters of 2010 has hit 5.8 million, up nearly 23 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
“The opening of St Regis ends Tibet’s history of no luxury hotels.High-end hotels will help boost Tibet’s tourism,” Wang Songping, deputy chief of the Tibetan Tourism Administration, told the Xinhua news agency.
Beijing says the People’s Liberation Army rescued Tibetans from a feudal system run by Buddhist monks, and insists that the remote Himalayan territory has been part of Chinese territory for centuries.
It accuses the Dalai Lama, who left Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959 and has not returned since, of being a dangerous “splittist”, agitating for independence.
The Chinese government says it is bringing prosperity to a traditionally impoverished area. It has engaged in a huge building programme and says it has done much to lift the enclave out of isolation.
Tibetan activists have warned that tourism and migration by Han Chinese could swamp Tibet’s distinctive culture, with Tibetan people receiving less than their share of new jobs and income.
The hotel covers nearly 32,000 square metres and is claimed to have excellent “green” sustainable development credentials.