Responsible Tourism Development


Many people question whether they should travel to Tibet. Tibet Wind Horse Adventure has the philosophy that positive change will only occur if Tibetans are empowered to make a positive impact in their community. Much of this empowerment comes from visitors sharing their skills, views and experiences from the rest of the world.

We demonstrate our commitment to responsible tourism development in a number of ways:

  1. We are committed to staff training and education. This involves subjects as diverse as client service, wilderness first aid, cooking, camp hygiene, language skills and environmental awareness and minimal impact back country travel.
  2. We are creating working relationships with developmental and educational institutions to train Tibetans in skills that can be used in their local communities.
  3. Our business ownership and company structure is 100% Tibetan so as to maximize the return to the local community. Of course we do contract international guides and staff to ensure a high level of safety and service but also to provide role models for our young Tibetan staff to learn from.

We invite your contributions and feedback on ways we can further improve our approach to sustainable development and responsible tourism while ensuring the future protection of the Tibetan environment and culture. If you have done a trip with us please fill in one of our online feedback forms or simply email us your ideas.

Educational Collaboration

In 2005, Wind Horse began working with University of Virginia on a collaborative project to improve the quality of tourism training at Tibet University. Tourism training in Tibet is in its infancy. Wind Horse provides a wealth of practical experience that complements an academic approach to tourism education. Wind Horse staff along with international tourism experts are working directly to develop and improve the curriculum delivered at Tibet University.

In January 2008, a pilot course in Responsible Tourism was delivered to Tibet University teachers in the USA. Two of these teachers then went on to study tourism at Thompson Rivers University in BC, Canada. These two teachers bring back to Tibet a wealth of new ideas and experiences.

In July 2008, Tibet University announced that it would be introducing our new "Responsible Tourism" course into its mainstream curriculum and the first course would be taught to Tibetan and Chinese students in the next semester. This is exciting news for our project!

Tibet Wind Horse Adventure was first established in 1996 by a group of Tibetan guides and managers under GT Sonam, the pioneer of commercial adventure travel in Tibet. We offer: kayaking Tibet, rafting Tibet, Tibet rafting, Tibet kayaking, Tibet tours, Tibet travel, trekking Tibet, climbing Tibet, paddling Tibet, Infatable kayaks, Tibet travel information, Tibet tours, Travel to Tibet, Tibet tour, Tibet travel permit, tibet travel guide, Tours in Tibet, Tibet hotel, Tibet ticket, Tibet visa, Tibet map, Tibet maps, tibet vacation, Tibet tour packages, Lhasa tour. Please contact us directly for more information on our products and services. Tibet Wind Horse Adventure is locally owned business based in Lhasa and runs trips all over the Tibet Autonomous Region. Wind Horse is now a co-op with a board of directors including, Jampa, Jigme, Phudon, and Pemba Tashi. We run cultural tours, educational trips, adventure tours, rafting, kayaking, trekking and horse trekking. We have been at the forefront of adventure travel in Tibet for many years and are the local leader in the tourism industry in Tibet. We often run trips to Kailash, Everest Base Camp, Shigatse, Gyantse, Lhatse, Tingri, Tsedang (Tsetang), also major monasteries such as Samye, Drepung, Sera, Ganden, Drigung, Reting, Tashilumpo, Sayka, Mindroling etc. We specialize in customized trips. Our custom trips are tailormade to suit the expectations of each individual group. We often facilitate school groups, research projects and other special projects. We also cater to independent travellers through our local office in Lhasa, just around the corner from the Jokhang Temple (on Mentsikung Lu). Here we sell rafting and horse trekking trips that anyone can join. You don't need special permits for these trips and can book on arrival in Lhasa. We are the first and only company to get offical permission to run rafting and kayaking trips in Tibet and we run trips on many rivers including; Tolung, Drigung, Reting, Yarlung Tsangpo, Kongpo, Sutlej, Indus, Po Tsangpo, Parlung Tsangpo. There are many first descents still to be done in Tibet. If you book an international trip with us we organise all permits including Tibet entry permit, TTB, Alien Travel Permit, ATP, Military Permit and even restricted area permits. Tibet Wind Horse Adventure uses Tibetan guides on all trips but also works with international guides to ensure a high quality of service, safety and experience. Wind Horse or Lung-ta (in Tibetan) is a common name and becuase of this and our reputation in Tibet a number of other businesses have used similar names to us. We respect others rights to operate fair competition but a number of companies have set up in Kathmandu and Chengdu (China) that have blatantly copied our name and much of our website content. We apologise for any confusion this may cause and request that guests and clients be sure of which company they are booking with. It's simple....just ask if the company you are booking with is called Tibet Wind Horse Adventure and is based in Lhasa. (you can double check by asking if GT Sonam is the company founder) We sometimes get called Wind Horse Travel, Wind Horse Tour, Windhorsetour or Windhorsetours, Windhorse adventure or Tibet Wind Horse. or simply Windhorse. There is a Chinese company based in Chengdu that calls itself windhorsetour and uses the website www.windhorsetour.com Please don't confuse this company with us. This company is nothing to do with Tibet Wind Horse Adventure and is actually called CYTS. (China Youth Travel Service)