2012 TIBET PERMIT SITUATION UPDATE

Does anyone know how the permit situation is affecting the big international tour groups such as Intrepid, GAP etc, who by definition will have travellers of multiple nationalities? Are they getting through? I'm booked on an Intrepid trip to Tibet in September, but am trying to get an idea of the chances of the trip getting in before I sort flights and my Chinese visa. I'll ask Intrepid direct, but it would be great if you guys could shed any light too.
I'm on a UK passport by the way.

Does anyone have a handle on the permit situation for going to TAR with reference to age (only)....

I have heard two diff assertions: that a permit is denied if you are OVER 65, which means 66 and older (65 would be ok to get permit)

AND

permit denied if 65 and over.......

does anyone have any source material on this or can provide some actual info regarding the '65 issue'. Thanks....Roger

#201, we probably dont get too many posting here who used them to go to Tibet. I suggest you contact them and ask how many of their tours have actually gone ahead with these new regulations.

#201
I was scheduled to fly to Tibet in september with G Adventures (GAP). They have already called and canceled my reservation as I was the only American in the group. They were trying to push for a different itinerary in October that there was a possibility of having enough people from the US, but even that was not guaranteed.

Hi all,

I've been following this thread religiously as a lurker because I'm booked on a trip in Tibet in late July. I hold dual US and Taiwanese citizenship, and unfortunately my group doesn't have enough people of either nationality to meet the 5-6 person minimum.

However, for some reason my travel agent seems to think it's possible to get me a permit on my Taiwanese papers anyway. They even said it might be easier for me than for other people in my group (mostly UK citizens).

I don't think they're deliberately lying to me to stop me from withdrawing from the tour, but I'm quite skeptical because I cannot fathom any particular reason why Taiwanese travelers would be treated differently from "foreigners". I don't want to get into a is-Taiwan-part-of-China debate here, but suffice it to say, Taiwanese travelers were subject to the same entry permit regulations as foreigners in the past. So why would that change now?

If anyone can shed light on this matter, I'd deeply appreciate it. Thank you!

Hi Everyone,
Our agent just e mailed us to tell us that our tour has been cancelled as China is no longer issuing the TAR, this is the e mail:

We are very sorry to inform you that: we could not get any pemrits from TTB office since this Monday ( 28th May),,, hence we think we not able to organize any Tibet tours this month of June,,, this bad situation may last till Oct, we will keep you updated.

We were supposed to leave on our tour on the 20th of June, does anyone know if this is the definitive answer or whether there might be a way to still go?

Thanks

We are in Nepal now and our tour was meant to depart
Tomorrow. There is no way they will let any tourists in now.
I think this will last a long time. Such a shame.

re 206 and 202 above..I just received over night, June 1st China time, two confirmations that permits are being issued and that there is no 65 or any age restriction...one confirmation from leading Tibet tour agency, one from big Chinese agency, both handling lots of foreigners.

Obviously things are fluid and rumors and 'facts' are flying. That being said things can change at any moment.

larabishop - It might help to know who your agent was. If it was a smaller agency, then perhaps larger agencies with better connections might be having some success but I suspect that this is not the case and that effectively Tibet will be closed until October.

Ruth

I am in Kathmandu and received my group visa today, and have heard from my agent that permits are not being issued until after Saga Dawa, but he is optimistic to receive the permit on Monday. It is certainly getting more difficult to get the necessary papers, but I don't think it is the case to assume that Tibet is now closed or will be closed until October...

Feel free to PM if you would like more info on which companies I am speaking with etc.