Tibet unrest dents Shangri-la tourism, but temporarily

By John Ruwitch

SHANGRI-LA, China (Reuters) - Excusing himself from the banquet table, Liao Chunlei stood up, wine glass in hand, and belted out a traditional folk song with colleagues as his face turned red with drink.

"In these parts," said Liao, head of the tourism bureau in this ethnic Tibetan mountain town in southwestern China, "if you can talk you can sing and if you can walk you can dance."

The singing and countless toasts of two dozen tourism officials celebrating a deal to develop a remote mountain park seemed to belie the fact that 2008 was likely to be a write-off for tourism in Shangri-la and other Tibetan areas.

Tours were halted across the Himalayan region after anti-Beijing protests rippled across Tibetan-populated parts of China and devolved into rioting in Lhasa on March 14, just as the peak travel season should have been starting.

Even when tourism eventually picks up -- and almost everyone here believes that is inevitable -- the tensions that some say led to the unrest may continue to go un-addressed.

Since the rioting, most Tibetan areas have re-opened, although security remains tight and many travelers remain wary -- even of Shangri-la, where there were no protests or violence.

On a narrow cobblestone street in the old part of town, Nepalese chef Bhaskar Diyali stood outside with his hands in his pockets one evening during what should have been the dinner rush.

"I never had free time like this last year," he said. "Many shops, they close. Even many restaurants close."