Agreement for Chinese tourists in limbo?

BY NAVIN SINGH KHADKA

It still is a mission unaccomplished. That is why you don’t get to see Chinese tourists roaming the streets in the Capital Valley yet. This despite the Nepal-China agreement last April that declared the country an outbound destinaton for the immediate northern neighbour.

Good five months after the accord to allow Chinese tourists to visit the country was signed, the idea is yet to materialize. Government officials had told this daily that a technical level meet between the two nations would be held in June earlier this year to make things happen.

"That is when we will be discussing the detailed modalities of the three agreement that is so far in a framework shape now," Shankar Prasad Koirala, Joint Secretary who heads the Industry Division at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation had told The Rising Nepal.

Such a meeting, however, is yet to take place. Why the delay? "This is something that needs to be done at government to government level," said Koirala this time. "We are all set on our part. All that we need to do now is sit with the Chinese side and get things done."

But the Chinese side was supposed to be here some two months ago. What happened? "The shut down strikes and other reasons like the Royal Palace incident delayed the entire process," Koirala explained. "But since we have already prepared all the modalities, the meeting will take place very soon and this will be done."

What the government did last time was sign an umbrella agreement - Tourism Cooperation Agreement - that also includes designating Nepal as China’s one of outbound destinations. But to actually bring the Chinese tourists, the government will have to sign a second MoU with the northern neighbour. "We have been doing whatever follow-ups required but there has to be high level meeting for the final decision," Koirala said.

The bilateral talks for allowing Chinese tourists to visit Nepal had so much "progressed" that the officialdom had even started working on criterion to pick up certain number of travel agents to handle the visitors from China.

The officials took to desks to short-list the number of Chinese tourists-handling travel agents in line with the demand of the Chinese Government, said MOCTCA officials. Since China has 65 travel agents authorised to handle outbound Chinese tourists, the Chinese authority expectes reciprocation from Nepal in case of limiting the number of travel agents catering to Chinese tourists.

This was pronounced more clearly during the agreement — declaring Nepal as an outbound destination — signed by Nepal and China on April 16 this year. It was when the authorities in the immediate southern neighbour had informally denied accepting all travel agents in the country to cater to Chinese tourists, officials present during the bilateral talks said.

Well aware of the fact that the Chinese officials would formalise this particular demand in the next meeting with their Nepalese counterpart, the officialdom was already at work to initiate the selection process. "After we agree on the number of travel agents we should have here for Chinese tourists, we will begin the selection progress," Koirala had said.

Travel agents’ track records, their foreign exchange earnings, manpower, infrastructure, among others, were supposed to be considered before they are short-listed to serve the Chinese tourists.

As of now, nothing seems to be moving. That is because the real issue — getting Chinese tourists here — itself is at stand still. And that is a real sad news for the nation as it is reeling under the low arrival of tourists in recent months. In July last month, for instance, a little above 15,000 tourists were here while the figure for the same month last year stood at almost 22,000.

Similarly, this year’s June saw only around 10,000 tourists while the last year had recorded around 24,000. In both the cases, the decreased number of Indian tourists had played the crucial role. In July amost half the Indians visited the country compared to last year’s figure - around 8,000.

The June picture was worse with only around 4,000 Indian tourists in the country while almost 15,000 of them were here during the same month last year.

At such troubled times, the travel trade could have used the Chinese market as a safety valve - had the Nepal-China bilateral agreement materialised. For the country, China is a huge and promising market that saw 12 million outbound visitors last year.

It is an even better news is that Chinese tourists are allowed to visit only certain countries recognised by the Chinese Government as outbound destinations — Nepal being the 15th one.

Giving a wrong impression

BY B. M. DAHAL

Many travel trade related associations often plead for keeping the sightseeing spots and heritage sites free of beggars and hawkers to make a clean impression on the visiting tourists. With this in place the visitors will convey a positive message about Nepal in their respective countries and to friends. The positive can only be communicated by word of mouth if the tourists in Nepal are not harassed during their stay.

But the situation of most of the sightseeing spots of the Kathmandu Valley in this regard is not favourable. The places of tourist interest including heritage sites look as if they are the popular venue for hawkers and beggars. With the irritating behaviour of such groups of people, most of the visitors often get fed up during their trips. This type of harassment on the part of such persons cannot add to the image of Nepal as a tourist destination in the international tourism market.

Once famed as the land of smiling and friendly people along with cultural and topographical diversity, Nepal may lose the favourable image due to the activities of the beggars and hawkers. It’s sure that Nepal will be known as the country of beggars and hawkers if the problem is not addressed soon in an effective manner.

In a bid to remove such individuals from the heritage sites and streets, the Social Welfare Council has decided to rehabilitate them to the homes developed for giving shelter to them. It has plans to rebabilitate about 200 beggars and disabled people from the various heritage sites of the Kathmandu Valley.

But an estimated 100 beggars and hawkers are found in each of the heritage sites and sightseeing spots of Kathmandu.

"As many of the beggars are professional, they do not want to be confined to any shelter homes. Some of them are said to earn anything from Rs. 500 to Rs. 700 daily," says Vishnu Gyawali, President of Tourist Guide Association of Nepal (TURGAN).

Gyawali further says that some of the beggars, who are suffering from leprosy and other diseases, compel the tourists to give them money as they try to touch them. "When the visitors think that the diseases may be transmitted to them from the beggars, they are bound to give them some money and move ahead," he says.

The beggars and hawkers are organised groups and force the visitors to give them something. In Patan Durbar Square, it is the hawkers, who work as tourist guides.

"Despite their keen interest to visit the heritage sites and monuments, they feel dissatisfied after visiting the sites due to the harassment they receive from the beggars and hawkers," he observes.

The problem of hawkers and beggars is most acute in Patan Durbar Square, Kathmandu Durbar Square, Pashupatinath, Bauddhanath, Kirtipur and Dakshinkali. Comparatively, their harassement is less in magnitude in Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Changunarayan, Swayambhunath and some other historic and religious sites.

Madhav Man Rajbhandari, General Secretary of TURGAN, says that the presence of beggars, hawkers and street children in the sightseeing spots is an eye sore for the visitors.

"Due to this tendency, pickpockets are also active in Dakshinkali and some other touristic sites," Rajbhandari says.

The frequent harassment by the beggars, hawkers and unauthorised guides can create a bad impression on the mind of the visitors. So, keeping this in view, the government must work according to a definite plan to remove such people from places of tourist interest and then only the visitors can a take a sigh of relief.

The tourism related associations have also to bring out programmes to keep the sites clear of such people.

"Once we are able to remove such people from the tourist sites, it will not only help enhance the country’s image among visitors but also increase their level of satisfaction considerably," he says.