There is a tram system if some of the long boulevards of the New Town prove onerous. Find an excursion from Latvia Tours (lt .latviatours.lv) or get a taxi.Getting thereBaltic Air and SAS (tel: 01293 596684; www.airbaltic ) offer return flights to Riga via Copenhagen or Stockholm from £175 this summer.Where to stayThe Grand Palace, Pils iela 12, LV 1050,is where I stayed (00 371 704 4000, email: hotel grandpalace.lv). A weekend package, from Friday to Monday, with a minimum stay of two nights, costs US$172, including breakfast and use of sauna and health club. Independent on Sunday readers can get 20 per cent off the Grand Palace rate until the end of August.Further information Latvian Embassy, 45 Nottingham Place, London W1 (tel: 0207-312 0040). Latvia tourist board (email: ltboard com.latnet.lv).. Tibet is about to open wide the doors of tourism.
The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, has announced that Tibet is set to receive about 5.6 million tourists over the next five years, representing a vast increase in numbers Tibet is about to open wide the doors of tourism. The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, has announced that Tibet is set to receive about 5.6 million tourists over the next five years, representing a vast increase in numbers. According to the official Tibet Tourism Bureau (TTB), some 136,100 foreign tourists visited Tibet last year an increase of 37.1 per cent on 1999. TTB also promised last week to turn the Tibetan Auto- nomous Region the term that the Chinese use to refer to Tibet into a "tourism paradise" by improving infrastructure and simplifying proc- edures for trekkers.Currently, independent travel is forbidden in Tibet, and all foreign tourists, including residents of Taiwan and Hong Kong, must apply to the TTB for an alien's travel permit. "There has certainly been an increase in domestic and international tourism into Tibet," said Jane Caple of the Tibet Information Network, an independent news service.
"It is something the [Chinese] government wants to push forward and it believes that tourism should become a pillar industry in the region. The common perception among the Chinese used to be that Tibet was a backward, inhospitable, dirty region, but it is now being seen as an interesting and spiritual holiday destination."A major construction project, the building of the world's highest railway from Qinghai province to Lhasa due to be completed in about six years' time is, however, causing consternation among Tibetans.China's People's Daily newspaper has reported the official view that "tourists at home and abroad, while inspired by Tibet's natural beauty, are daunted by the inconvenient commute". The 693-mile railway line is intended to cross the Himalayas, with most of the track at an altitude of more than 13,000 feet.Ms Caple believes that the rail link will have a massive impact on Tibet. "The region would be linked to the Chinese economy," she said. "Already Tibetans are concerned about increased immigration of ethnic Han Chinese and the exploitation of natural resources, both of which will be facilitated by the railway." Tibetans are already a minority in their homeland.TTB's website says: "Tibetan people are very kind and hospitable, you can feel free to talk to them But there are some rules you should go by. Don't talk the sensitive topics like the political and religious matters."According to Ms Caple, the Dalai Lama does not believe that tourism to Tibet should be discouraged. "He says it would lead to a greater understanding of Tibet and the current issues," she said "But it is a double-edged sword.
