 |
Kathmandu Tuesday January 23, 2001 Magh 10, 2057.
|
Capitalise DNY
The government and tourism entrepreneurs are preparing for Destination Nepal
Year (DNY) 2002 with an aim of attracting over one million tourists. This is an
appropriate step to at least arrest, if not reverse, the declining trend in the tourism
industry witnessed after the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 in December 1999.
However, it is too early to say whether the target set by the government can be achieved.
The reason for this is that the country has witnessed a number of disturbances that hit
the tourism sector very hard. Poor infrastructure and frequent tussles between hotel
owners and employees are other factors that are unlikely to be helpful in attaining the
one million mark. In any case, the target set seems to be much too ambitious considering
that just two years ago, Visit Nepal Year had set the rather modest target of attracting
some 500 thousand tourists into the country. Even that target was not met. So the one
million target seems a bit far fetched.
The government does not really seem to know what it wants. It formed the
Nepal Tourism Board (NTB). It subsequently outlined ambitious plans and submitted a draft
to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. However, the government rejected
the draft and sent it back to the NTB for necessary revision. NTB has since then neither
revised the draft, nor sent it back to the ministry for re-consideration. Revising the
draft would not have taken more than a year, had there not been sheer laxity on the part
of the government as well as the NTB. The government has also neither launched any
ministerial level committee to disclose concrete plans nor has it been able to come up
with effective marketing schemes.
The draft prepared by NTB had proposed 20 months of
preparatory work for DNY-2002. Unfortunately, the government has yet to introduce
necessary steps to strengthen the infrastructure, diversify tourist destinations within
the country and inject quality tourism related services. But it has not made cultural
heritage sites more attractive nor has it provided training to improve the quality of
services. The tourism industry in Nepal has indeed been in the doldrums following a spate
of unpleasant incidents and exaggerated, and sometimes false, media coverage in some
countries. The suspension of Indian Airlines flights for almost six months has no doubt
brought Indian tourist arrivals down to one of its lowest ebbs ever. The tourism industry
in Nepal, which had been growing for decades, suddenly experienced a sudden decline (by
over 11 percent) after the Indian Airlines hijacking. This apart, frequent countrywide
strikes organized by different political parties, especially during the tourist season,
have also affected the industry. The government and tourism related agencies must realize
that there is hardly a year left to prepare for DNY-2002. It is time the authorities
either discarded the year 2002 as DNY or came up with effective programmes to meet that
target.
Other Stories
|
