The launch of the first luxury train service from Beijing to Tibet has been postponed from April until next spring, the operator said Monday, amid China's economic slowdown and a security crackdown.
"Our official launch has been rescheduled to spring 2010," Erena Chan, sales and marketing director for Tangula Luxury Trains, said Monday in an emailed response to questions.
"The decision was taken by our management in light of the current business climate and all the financial indicators in the near term," she said.
Chan said that some trips would be available later this year, however, ahead of the train's official launch.
China's growth has slowed precipitously in recent months as exports have plunged, and the impact is reverberating through the world's third-largest economy.
The burgeoning market for luxury goods and services is suffering, with occupancy rates at topflight hotels plunging and brand-name boutiques void of customers, as consumers cut back on nonessential spending.
This latest delay, until the spring of 2010, resulted in the loss of about $2 million in advance bookings, Chan said. So far, about $100 million has been invested in the project.
Although Tangula characterizes the postponement as strictly a "business decision," tourism in Tibet has languished amid a security crackdown aimed at preventing unrest linked to several critical anniversaries this year of anti-Chinese riots in Tibet.
China banned travel to Tibet last March amid a revival of unrest, and although restrictions were gradually eased, the number of visitors dropped by nearly half in the first nine months of last year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Tourism revenues plunged 54 percent to 1.8 billion yuan ($264 million), it said.
"It's not a good time to visit Tibet now, and I think you know the reason," said Xiao Su, sales manager for the Tibet-China Travel Agency, based in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
"On the one hand, the most beautiful season is yet to come in a few months, and also, some stores are closed now since there are so few tourists," Xiao said.
Tangula plans to run luxury trains from Beijing to Tibet and southwest China's Yunnan province. The fares are $3,300-$5,000 per person, depending on the route.
Tangula, the first foreign-invested passenger train service in China, earlier postponed the launch of the train service from September 2008 until this April.
The company had been planning to offer routes about once-weekly from Beijing to Lhasa and about twice a month from Beijing to the scenic mountain town of Lijiang, in Yunnan.
Chan said the company was confident about the project's future, despite its setbacks.
"Tangula is a unique product and an attractive option for those discerning travelers seeking a one-of-a-kind travel experience," she said.
Hong Kong-based Wing On Travel owns a majority stake in Tangula Railtours, a joint venture between Tangula Group Ltd. and state-owned Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corp.
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Associated Press researcher Ji Chen contributed to this report.
