Riot-scarred Tibet reopens to Chinese tour groups, no word on return of foreign visitors

BEIJING — China is welcoming domestic tour groups back to riot-hit Tibet, an official news report said Thursday, but there remains no word on when foreign tourists will be allowed to return.

Four groups of Chinese visitors are expected to arrive in the Himalayan region through Tuesday, the Xinhua News Agency said.

The report quoted Zhanor, the regional deputy tourism director, as saying he did not know when the region would reopen to foreign tourists, who have been banned since violent anti-government riots broke out in the capital, Lhasa, on March 14.

"Tourists needn't worry about their trip in Tibet, and we can ensure good services for them, such as catering, hotel and transport," Zhanor, who like many Tibetans uses just one name, was quoted as saying.

"Tibet will keep its image as a safe, healthy and civilized tourist destination," he said.

China earlier said it would allow foreigners back into Tibet starting May 1, but later reversed that decision, citing the need to secure safe passage for the Olympic torch relay to Mount Everest — expected in early May.

In a sign of continuing security issues, Tibet's hard-line regional government vowed Thursday to deal firmly with people spreading rumors, as part of a campaign against alleged separatists behind the protests in Lhasa and elsewhere that Beijing claims were supported by the exiled Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama.

"Since the March 14 incident in Lhasa some hostile forces both from home and abroad with secret motives have tried to spread rumors, create disturbances and deceive the public," a notice on the Tibetan government Web site said Thursday.

China says 22 people died in the Lhasa violence, while overseas Tibet supporters say many times that number have been killed in protests and the security crackdown across Tibetan regions of western China.

In the wake of the protests, Buddhist monasteries seen as incubators for anti-government sentiment have been surrounded by security forces and closed off to the outside as searches are conducted and monks forced to undergo intensified political indoctrination against the Dalai Lama.

The riot and resulting crackdown are believed to have taken a major toll on Lhasa's economy, which has grown increasingly reliant on booming tourism since the start of rail service two years ago. Tibet received 4 million visitors last year, up 60 percent from 2006.