China Travel Forum

[karr johne]

I am getting conflicting information concering travel to Tibet. I want to go from Chengdu, to Lhasa. Stay in Lhasa a few days and return to Chengdu on my way back home!So, do I need a "Permit". Is it easy to get a plane ticket to Lhasa without buying an expensive tour?Anyone with some experience here?

[Daniyar]

Yes, you need to get travel permit.
If you do not show the travel permit you cannot purchase the airticket.
Until now, only organized tours are allowed to Tibet.

[jane]

Yes, Tibet Permit is needed if the foreigners want to visit Tibet and it's obtained only through travel agencies. With the Tibet Permit, travel agencies can issue the ticket to Lhasa.

[jahan]

Our family just returned from a visit to Lhasa. The situation with the "permit" remains a mystery to us. After much hassle and confusion, my impression is that the whole permit thing looks like a very complicated scam. At the airport in Chengdu, we asked at Air China (CAAC) to buy a ticket to Lhasa. They first said that the next available flight was not for several days, then they asked if we had a permit. We said that we did not, and they said that we would have to buy the ticket from a travel agent in town. At a hotel in Xian, the people at the business office were happy to arrange to buy tickets for us at the posted price, but they didn't know anything about the need for a permit, nor how to obtain one. So, we were afraid to pursue that option.Travel agents we spoke to in Xian would not sell a ticket for less than almost double the posted price, in order to include the "permit", plus dorm lodgings that we did not want. Eventually we bought tickets through a travel agent in Chengdu for 500RMB per ticket over the regular price in order to be safe about the "permit". For this overcharge, the "tour" consisted of being driven to the airport in Chengdu and handed plane tickets to Lhasa that looked every bit the same as all other plane tickets that we had purchased ourselves between other destinations in China. We never saw any permit, nor were we ever asked for any permit at any time by anyone (except for the person at the Air China desk, when we wanted to buy the ticket at the airport).We had also inquired about buying tickets to Lhasa at a "bucket shop" in Chengdu, and they were willing to sell them to us at the posted prices, except that they said the flight we wanted was sold out, and only First Class was available. We were uncomfortable about this response, but in the end it turned out that they were telling the truth, and we probably could have saved a lot of money by just buying the tickets from them, instead of from the travel agent. Our situation was complicated by the fact that none of us speaks a single word of Chinese, which made communication difficult, and also by our suspicion of everything, borne of several other experiences in China where unscrupulous folks (mostly taxi drivers) tried, sometimes successfully, to swindle us. Lhasa was great, though - we had no problems getting around - and buying the return ticket was also straightforward, except that theywould not give us any discount. Tickets were 1280RMB before June 15th and 1500RMB after June 15th one way; 1/2 price for kids under 12.

[aynor]

The Tibet Travel Permits are needed if foreigners want to visit Tibet, and also foreigners are not allowed to walk around in Tibet without guide's accompany, these are the regulations of Chinese Tourism Bureau, no one can be more clear about this than me as I'm a tour operator in China. I don't know how can someone sell the tickets to Lhasa without a permit. It's surely illegal. The permit is a sheet of paper given to the visitors, and only can be applied by travel agents. Even the travel agent can not get any discount of the air tickets to Lhasa, it is an exception in Chna.