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Potala Palace
© AFP/file Mark Ralston

Now a new menace -- tourism -- threatens the jewel of Tibetan Buddhism, which has come to be the symbol of Tibet.

"The big number of visitors is my biggest headache," palace director Qiangba Gesang told journalists on a government-organized reporting trip to the region.

"Our goal is not to make money -- my major task is to protect the palace."

The difficult task of safeguarding the palace is likely to become even harder, with the opening on July 1 of a new railway linking Tibet, the so-called "roof of the world", to 1.3 billion people in China proper.

Under restoration since 2002, the red and white palace -- which sits at an altitude of 3,700 meters (12,210 feet) -- is already full of religious pilgrims who compete with tourists for visitation rights.

In some places, the masses are urged by both monks and soldiers not to linger in the elaborate rooms of the palace, but to hurry along to the next site in the ancient edifice.

Potala Palace
© AFP/file Mark Ralston

The palace, first built in the seventh century and used as a winter residence of the Dalai Lamas, was mostly rebuilt in 1645 and is now a state museum.

"This is the first time that I have visited Tibet. I really like travelling, but the airplane is far too expensive," said Zhang Haoran, a university student from Beijing who took the train to the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

"It's great," said the 20-year-old, who was visiting the palace with a Tibetan friend from university.

For Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims, the price of admission is a symbolic one yuan (12 cents), but for tourists, the entry price is much more steep at 100 yuan (12.6 dollars).

To accommodate the rising interest in the site, the authorities have agreed to lift the daily limit on the number of visitors from 1,500 to 2,300.

"To receive 2,300 people a day is the absolute ceiling for the Potala Palace, this cannot be increased," the Beijing News quoted Nimaciren, director of the bureau of cultural relics in Tibet, as saying.

Tour guides have also been told not to allow tourists to linger in the palace rooms because of the tremendous pressure placed on the wooden structure, Qiangba Gesang said.

"We have asked the guides to shorten their times in the palace," he said.

Most have complied with the request, despite the difficulty of convincing travellers, many of whom have come a long way to visit the magnificent building, to end their stay quickly.

"Every day there are so many visitors, so it is necessary to speak quickly and not allow them the time to stop," said tour guide Ci Wang.

In a further effort to stem the rising tide of visitors, local authorities are toying with the idea of raising the entry price to 300 yuan during the high season and reverting to the 100-yuan fee for the low season.

Qiangba Gesang said no final decision had been made, but he urged visitors to come during the slower tourist months.

"Foreign tourists should come in the winter. Tibet is not as cold as many imagine," he said.

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