Tibet tour prices

#7 So sorry for my sour grapes, but for me Tibet is just not be worth the high cost considering it might be companied with a commission-seeking Chinese guide breathing down my neck.

Totally agree.

We came back only a week ago from Tibet with SnowLion tours. We had a very good Tibetan guide. And he told us that most of the guides that are travelling through Tibet are Tibetan because Chinese don't speak Tibetan and it is almost impossible to travel through the country side. Because the Tibetan don't help the Chinese.
But it is thrue that the prices are quit high. But I always think you forget the money but not the experience.

I just saw this post and thought I would add my thoughts to it. In case you don't know anything about me, I have lived on the Tibetan Plateau for going on 9 years. Four of those years were spent working with an NGO on the northern Tibetan Plateau, while 4 more years have been spent working in tourism. For 3 years I owned and managed a company that arranged budget and mid-range tours all across Tibet. For the past year, I have worked doing high-end, photography tours in Tibet. So my opinion on this post comes from first-hand experience....

I always tell people that Tibet is one of the most expensive tourist destinations in Asia. Since all foreign travelers have to travel by private vehicle and must have a guide, travel in Tibet is going to be far more expensive than most other areas of Asia. It pretty much is true that Tibet is the second most expensive travel destination in Asia behind Bhutan in terms of travel expense within the country.

So who is cashing in on the price of the tours? A lot of people firmly believe that it is the Chinese government. Well, that is not entirely true. If you use a local Tibetan owned agency rather than a large Chinese government owned agency, very little of your tourism money will go to the government Only the price of the travel permits will go to the government and these are actually quite inexpensive. Tour guides in Tibet are paid between Y200 and Y300 per day (some higher end tours may charge more because the guide has more knowledge of the area and about Buddhism, history, etc). So if you book a 10 day tour of Tibet, between $300 and $400 of your tour will go to the guide.

Train tickets to Lhasa from Xining are around Y523 for a hard sleeper (more from Chengdu, Beijing, Shanghai, etc). During the summer, getting train tickets are extremely difficult to get so travel agencies have to pay a surcharge to large government travel agencies or to the black market vendors who have illegal inside access to train tickets. Travel agencies have no option but to pay a surcharge of Y200 to Y400 per ticket. Flights to Lhasa from Chengdu are rarely discounted and normally are around $215 one-way. The cost of transportation to Lhasa is usually included in the overall tour price.

Food prices in Tibet are considerably more than in other regions of China. I always recommend people to get their meals on their own while in Tibet. You almost always will save money if you do your meals on your own rather than have a travel agency include them in your tour price.

Most of the travel agencies that I know charge a reasonable amount of "booking fees" to customers. These booking fees are the price you pay for the agency to arrange everything for you. This includes answering all of your emails or phone calls, filling out your permit application, sending your permit application to the Tibet Tourism Bureau, helping you build an itinerary, researching your route (especially if it is an off-the-beaten-path itinerary), arranging drivers and guides and making hotel reservations. Plenty of times I would only make Y1500 on a booking fee for spending weeks on a single group and answering dozens of phone calls and emails. For only a little over $200, this was barely worth my time to arrange the tour! A lot of work can go into arranging a tour in Tibet!

Transportation costs are the bulk of a tour price. This has always been the case in places where you have to take private vehicles rather than using public buses. The vehicles typically used in Tibet for tours are full-size Toyota Land Cruisers. In Asia, particularly in China, cars hold a high resale value. I have looked into buying used Land Cruisers in decent condition that are 10 years old and they still sell for $16,000 to $19,000. This is a huge sum of money for most Tibetans, and really most people in China. The cost of the vehicle, gasoline and the driver is why tours in Tibet are not cheap. Most drivers don't even make all that much money. A typical salary for a Tibetan driver is between Y1800 and Y2500 per month. Toyota Land Cruisers have 8 cylinder engines that go through a lot of gasoline. Just the gasoline charges on a trip to Kailash can be between Y4800 and Y6000, depending on the exact route you are taking. The road conditions in much of centra Tibet are improving making it possible to use vans that can seat 6 or 8 passengers rather than Land Cruisers which can only really hold 4 passengers. However, it will still be a while unti road conditions are good everywhere in Tibet so that more economical vehicles can be used.

So who is cashing in on tours? For the most part, no one is. I know many Tibetans who own their own travel agencies and very, very few of them are what I would consider rich. It is just that travel in Tibet is expensive...permits, tickets to Lhasa, food, guide, booking fee, vehicle charges, gasoline, driver, etc...this all adds up.

I can give you the personal email of my tibetan guide in 2009 or the contact info of the travel agency I contracted. You can ask them for prices. It might be cheaper, I don't really now. But at least I trust both of them ;)

You can write me here: alfonsopara@ gmail. com

I agree with you, Losang.

Hey guys!! how are you? just wondering if you can help me out here.
I will be in Tibet in spring 2012 , and it will just be my Fiance and I. i don't mind pairing up with others, but was just wondering how much a 4WD & driver & tour guide would cost a day?? if anyone knows???
let me know!!
thanks!!!

Chouden, I would suggest you to read here: http://www.cafespinn.com/en/tibet/ I have put a referenced cost of some typical itineraries, with a break down of the cost of each item.