The Kham Community-Based Tourism Project

The explosive growth of tourism, the largest industry in the world today and with direct interest in local cultural a ecological diversity, in Tibetan areas of China will have increasingly dramatic effects on the strength of local cultures and the integrity of the land and environment in which they have traditionally flourished. This proposal builds on the 2005 and 2007 Kham Geotourism Project's focus on Tibetan cultural preservation, ecological conservation and economic self- sufficiency through the development of innovative models of geotourism. We propose to expand and deepen the programs already developed and underway with the goal of rendering them into ongoing permanent exchanges between Tibetans and Americans, and to strengthen the aims and objectives of the project as a whole through related supplemental programming. At the center of the expanded project is establishment of an annual Institute for Tibetan Geotourism to be held in the US or China with representatives from the commercial, educational, development, and government sectors to provide training, explore new practices, build cross-sector partnerships, and develop our online portal for facilitating geotourism. The proposal will fund an Institute in Tibet itself in the summer of 2008 with visiting American experts. We will also invite prominent experts from Tibet to be in residence at UVa for collaborative work-training and development of Website and Institute materials. The Institute, and ongoing community work, will fuel the expansion and establishment of the Tibetan Geotourism Portal, powered by the technology of the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library, which will provide a cultural resource, communication hub, and multimedia documentation for all relevant stakeholders. The proposed renewal will expand the scope and depth of the Portal, as well as establish the Institute model in Tibet, both of which will increase the number and diversity of participating Tibetans, the depth of coverage, and the range of participating US individuals and institutions. We will also expand our community research program involving participatory video film making and other activities, so that there is a sustainable model of community self-analysis and self-documentation extending directly into the tourism portal. We will expand our partnerships on associated tourism projects, including outreach to Tibetan language educators and schools through the Kham Cultural Library in Ba Lhagang, tourism training at the Provincial Tibetan Institute, and National Geographic Society. We will systematically contact and offer support to engagement by the main US tourist companies working in Tibet, and do the same for a select range of Tibet- focused Chinese tourist agencies in China. At the same time, we will further integrate the UVa Kham Undergraduate Study Abroad program into the work, while also reaching out to other US study abroad programs in Tibet.