Lakeside entrepreneurs wake up to domestic tourists

By Satyendra Timilsina

POKHARA, Sept 26 – If anything has changed on the streets of Lakeside in Pokhara in the past two years, then it is the attitude of the locals towards domestic tourists.

And the credit for the shift in attitude goes to the series of turbulence in the tourism industry in the past year and a half that began with the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight from the Tribhuvan International Airport.

Devoid of ample foreign tourists lately, the tourism business in Pokhara has continued to sustain itself primarily from domestic tourists, whom most entrepreneurs here once disregarded.

Nepalis have now become the major customers for the hotels, bars and cafes that were once thronged only by the foreigners.

"These days the inflow of tourists from abroad is at its lowest. Our dependence on Nepalis has increased for sustenance," says Sunder Shrestha, the regional president of Hotel Association, Nepal (HAN). "We have realised the significance of our saying Atithi Deva Bhawa (Guest is God). Guests, may it be Nepalis or foreigners should get the same respect."

For the local tourism entrepreneurs here, their changed attitude may be forced upon by circumstances, but for those who receive a warm and hospitable welcome with a smile, the change is most welcome.

Says Dil Kaji Shakya of Bedhasingh in Kathmandu, "In contrast to my Pokhara visit some two year ago, the experience that I gained this time was really interesting." Hoteliers who used to look upon a Nepali guest with scorn has now changed for the better."

The changed circumstances are only natural since Pokhara, this city of Phewa Lake and Mt. Machhapuchre has over 300 hotels with than 8500 rooms – almost all of them aimed at attracting dollar-paying foreign tourists. In the boom years of the mid to late 1990s, most of the hotels did good business. But since the Indian Airlines hijacking, the rising Maoist violence and the royal masacre in June, revenues plummetted as more and more tourists stayed away.

The harsh economic reality forced local entrepreunneurs to turn to the once-reviled domestic tourist, thousands of whom flock to Pokhara from all over the country each year. Today, most of the hotel and restaurant businesses are sustained by them. So is the case with boats that dot the scenic Phewa Lake.

"We were hostile towards domestic tourists, but from now we have resolved to entertain them," says Hari Shyam Shrestha, a hotel manager.

Entrepreunneurs say, part of the problem was the low training of hotel staff. According to Sunder Shrestha, the local HAN chief, many hotel staff were simply unprofessional in attitude and did not know how to deal with local tourists. But now such staff are being trained in proper hospitality, he added. Also, hoteliers are beginning to introduce new packages aimed at local tourists.

But not every tourism-dependant business here is having an attitude change. Some still hold out against domestic tourists, mainly for fear of diluting their reputation among high paying foreign tourists.

"We are happy to have low room occupancy rather than entertain Nepali tourists," said one of the hotel entrepreneur at Lakeside seeking anonymity. "Most Nepali youths bring women from outside, drink more than their limit and quarrel."

SEBO set to introduce incentive packages

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Sept 26 - The Securities Board (SEBO), the regulatory body overseeing the stock market, is mulling to introduce packages that would motivate the various participants of the Nepalese stock market.

The latest decision comes at a time when the performance of the stock market is on a downturn. "Awarding the participants of the stock markets would motivate them to render better quality services and to introduce cost effective measures during stock transactions," said Damber Dhungel, Chairman of the SEBO, talking to pressmen here today.

The aim of the package is to uplift corporate governance in Nepal, which includes easy and efficient dissemination of relevant information not just by the stock issuing companies, but also by other market participants such as issue and sales managers.

The awards would be given after analyzing the extent to which the stock market participants would comply to the various norms set by the SEBO for better and efficient functioning of the market.

Furthermore, the thrust of the awards would also be to reduce the high costs that incur during public offerings and transactions. "High initial costs have deterred many potential companies from getting their shares listed with the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse)," said Dhungel.

Though the scheme is yet to be operationalised, officials at the Securities Board are confident that it would attract many unlisted companies to come forward to enlist their shares for transaction in the secondary market.

Recognising the achievements of the stock market participants would encourage them to make prudent decisions in compliance with the norms set for the effective working of the secondary markets, opined officials.

"The package is being worked upon and will be introduced especially with a focus to enhancing information dissemination relating to financial matters," said Dhungel.

Computer use still not impressive despite decreasing price

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Sept 26 - Despite increasing utility and decreasing prices of computers, its penetration into the Nepalese market is still not impressive. Both buyers and sellers of personal computers (PCs) say that lack of affordability is the chief reason behind the meagre number of the equipment.

Though dealers in branded computers say that prices of branded PCs dips by 30 per cent annually and a good number of companies that assemble PCs are emerging, majority of people still cannot afford buying even cloned computers.

Cloned computers are 100 per cent cheaper compared to branded ones, yet they are not affordable to larger chunk of the population. While a branded 15" colour monitored Pentium II PC with 1GHZ processor costs around Rs 80,000, an assembled PC of similar configuration costs around Rs 40,000 in the local market.

Suresh Pokhrel, who has been visiting different computer outlets in the capital to buy a PC, says, "Though assembled computers are more than hundred times cheaper than branded ones, it is still difficult to buy them for us who have limited earnings".

Despite lower prices, it is risky to buy assembled computers as parts are not genuine and there are cases of assemblers over-clocking the processors of cloned computers, which later turns out to be inefficient. Moreover, the most worrying part of buying assembled computers is warranty, which in most cases is non-existent, says Pokhrel.

Dealers too privately say that the processors of cloned computers are over-clocked and buyers are being cheated. Branded PC sellers also say that buyers of assembled computers are cheated in warranty too.

Though some users are happy with assembled computers, some others are skeptic about the quality of cloned PCs. Branded PCs come with two to three years’ unlimited warranty, which ensures replacement of parts and repair, assembled computer dealers do not provide such security upon their sales.

However, Navin Joshi, Chairman of World Distribution Nepal Pvt Ltd, which deals in branded PCs of Dell and Toshiba companies, says that the trend of buying PCs is upward and the general public’s access to telephone is a major booster to increased use of computers.

But Kabindra Jonchhe of Mercantile Office System, a dealer in Acer and IBM branded PCs and other branded accessories, says there has been a sharp decline in PC sales and their peripherals this year.

He attributes lack of affordability and availability of assembled PCs as the main reasons behind the low sale this year compounded with frequent general strikes.

However, Biplav Man Singh, vice president of Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) says that the use of computers is growing by 20 per cent annually, thanks to rising number of schools that have information technology (IT) related courses and growing number of higher middle class people especially in the capital.

He also suggests banks and finance companies to invest in computers. This will push up the sale of computers incredibly within a short period of time. Though Pradyuma Adhikari of Nepal Finance and Savings Company (NEFINSCO) says that they have invested in computer purchase, the number is quite small.

It is estimated that over 2,000 units of branded PCs and around 8,000 pieces of cloned computers are sold in Nepal and the sale grows by an estimated 20 per cent annually.