Tourism Development

Focus On Quality

By Prachanda Lal Joshi

TOURISM is not only the worldís leading service sector but also considered to be an important foreign exchange earner around the world. The net foreign exchange earnings from tourism are high, as import content is low. Tourism is considered as a socially useful and economically productive activity by almost all nations in the world. The growing importance of tourism industry and its ever increasing role in building national economy as a means of fostering goodwill and social understanding are well recognized throughout the world. All the countries in the world strive for economic benefits by developing tourism resorts for attracting the "global tourists".

Potentials

Nepal unlike other developing countries is lagging behind in the production and export of industrial products due to the cost competitiveness and WTO related factors. It is with this somber backdrop, and due to its own geographical, cultural and historical reasons Nepal has tremendous potentialities and possibilities of earning from the tourism sector. Tourism sector is only a viable sector after agricultural and hydropower sectors, which can contribute significantly to the national coffers.

While we are talking about the diversification of tourism products, Nepal is proud to have a wide range of Himalayas with scenic beauties to the hidden treasure of bio-diversity ancient history, traditional cultures and integrated ethnic groups,which make it a tourist destination country. But it needs to sell its tourism products through effective marketing strategy and promotional activities; by introducing new attractive programmes to attract tourists.

There is growing concern over the negative aspects of tourism in Nepal. The negative aspects hinder the spirit and purpose of tourism.

In the name of increasing accessibility to the region and to facilitate and encourage tourism, new roads have been constructed and many are under construction.

It has further created many hazardous activities including exploitation of mountain resources, mining, quarrying, felling of valuable timber, soil erosion, etc. The resulting massive deforestation can be seen along the trekking routes in all regions of Nepal.

Nepal has to pay the price for the degradation of the Himalayan watershed. The destruction in the alpine region of the country has led to frequent landslides, mud slides and silting of rivers. Deterioration of the environment creates obstacles for tourism development. Environmental degradation as well as increasing pollution and solid waste in the major tourist areas like Kathmandu valley is a matter of concern. Other problems include overuse of trekking trails, road congestion and the exploitation of local people. Both the private and public sectors are currently seeking to tackle these problems. The private sector is very active in investing, operating and promoting facilities for tourists.

Unless the tourism sites are free of pollution, tourists do not prefer to stay for a long time. The local bodies like ward committees and youth clubs can play an assertive role in conserving the tourism sites and can maintain it. The government should empower such committees, so that they can execute their programmes with consensus of local political parties and support of the local people and service establishments through co-ordination under community participation approach. In this way, such committees together with the process of local development in pro-poor tourism context can establish themselves as a strong sub-monitoring body and even may be a pressure group to alert the government for necessary implementation phase of conserving the respective tourism products. Subsequently, such committees will also help in providing employment opportunities to the local people. The tourism entrepreneurs involved in this industry also have equal responsibility to go for quality tourism through healthy competition rather than the cut throat competition as is seen nowadays.

If there is sincere commitment and mutual understanding among tourism entrepreneurs on quality service, then the prospects for right tourism development is bright. There should be a common goal of establishing Nepal as a major destination with the most professional approach. The government should give top priority to boost the morale of genuine tourism entrepreneurs by introducing effective guidelines and providing facilities and excellence awards together with close monitoring and evaluation, so that they can promote their business professionally through healthy competition and contribute to generating direct employment opportunities and revenue collection thereby help in the task of poverty alleviation.

All the related agencies like Nepal Tourism Board, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Nepal Television, diplomatic missions, electronic media, tourism related associations and NGOs and the government must have to move ahead more effectively and efficiently with frequent inter-action and close co-ordination among each other aimed at promoting quality tourism in the country. The resources whatever we have at present may suffice if we use them in proper and in an effective way. It is not a question how we sell our tourism products to the tourists how we can maintain our services. It must remembered that a tourist does not bother spending, if they are provided quality service. Nepal Television, moving to the satellite transmission, it can play a catalytic role in airing the tourism based programmes with top priority and can attract tourists across continents. Similarly, by introducing flights to different tourist generating countries can also play a major role.

His Majestyís Government of Nepal together with the private sector should develop a liberal policy for tourism, aiming at attracting a larger flow of tourists and lengthening their average stay. The year 1998 was declared a "Visit Nepal Year" and the objective behind "Visit Nepal Year 1998" was to revitalise the tourism industry of Nepal, promote its image in the international arena to enable to steer Nepal into the 21st century, enhance the quality of tourism related services and widen the domestic tourism market. The forthcoming ìDestination Nepal 2002î will definitely provide a new impetus in the promotion of tourism in Nepal.

Action

Before it is too late, this is high time to contemplate on the future of Nepalese tourism by all concerned sincerely and honestly and act accordingly with result oriented approach, since it is a fact that quality matters.

Random Notes

Doctors As Managers

By Bijay Aryal

MANAGing has been a special skill. It needs training, among others. In Nepal the concept of management has remained more or less, except in small pockets of private sector, within the province of a bureaucratic-hakim types of the old days. Our public corporations have been running on the same lines for the past four decades. And about the government departments, the least said, the better.

In some areas, the misconception still clings to those in power that technical experts can make best general managers or managing directors, and nobody else. For example, the managing director of the Nepal Electricity Corporation is virtually always an electrical engineer or the general manager of Nepal Telecommunication Corporation is always an engineer working in that very corporation. The director of Bir Hospital has always been a medical doctor. Similarly, the director of the Teaching Hospital has been a medical doctor. Such outdated notions rule our management thinking or rather show up our lack of any thinking.

It is not meant that an engineer should never be a manager or a doctor the head of a hospital. What is meant is that just being an engineer or a doctor should not qualify a person for the post. A major reason for the bad management of our corporations and hospitals is often the appointment of non-professional managers, in certain cases, only engineers and doctors. Not to speak of the West, even in India, in big private hospitals, professional managers have more or less dominated the management scene. There the focus is on doctors treating their patients in the best way possible, rather than involving them in general management tasks. According to C.V. Shukla, chief executive officer of renowned Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, "The moment a doctor is given a managerial task, he messes up and does not even remain a good doctor. So it is best to let a doctor simply remain one." The hospital has 90 managers at various levels and they are all non-medical people and they and they look after the effective running of the hospital.

In our health services where doctors are still short of the demand, involving them in managerial tasks of running the hospitals will be depriving the country of the needed medical expertise. Suppose a senior doctor is director of the hospital, he will not have enough time for treating patients. But doctors want to give some time to seeing their patients too. And in government hospitals they would be interested in seeing patients in their private clinics too. Under such circumstances, how will a doctor-manager be able to improve the functioning of his hospital, even if he had managerial skills, but which is lacking in most cases.

Bumper Crop Of Schools

If you read newspapers or watch television or listen to the radio, which industry does occupy the largest advertising space and the longest commercials? It is not the liquor industry or the tobacco companies. It is the private schools and colleges that have mushroomed in the country as the lowest-risk operation and as the most flourishing industry.

In the past quarter of century, private schools run on commercial principles but erroneously recognised as non-profit organisations have come to dominate the educational landscape in the country. Till four or five years ago, private schools used to be limited to up to SLC level. Now, with TU phasing out its Proficiency Certificate Level, the Ten Plus Two schools have become a new craze. Colleges at the Bachelor Level, too, have been rapidly increasing.

For SLC passes, it has become increasingly difficult as to which Ten Plus Two institute to choose. Which are the cream institutions? It is difficult to say.

They have just been appearing with hundred and one promises of a bright future. And in the fierce competitive market, they have resorted to massive advertising to attract their customers. In the days to come, competition looks set to be even tougher as the private sector takes an increasingly greater role.