2002 For Tourism

Nepal’s tourism is not doing too well, on account of a series of events that have scared off tourists. Tourism is a sensitive business, and it takes very little for potential visitors to avoid a destination when there are scores of alternatives. The negative publicity over past some years because of some domestic events have affected the country’s tourism. It is reported that there has been a 15 per cent decline on tourists inflow in the last eleven months. Given the kind of national and international events that have all the potentials to discourage vacationers from flying, it is a surprise that there has been only a 15 per cent decline. It could have been worse. The September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States had put a dampener on world tourism in general and thereby affecting arrivals in Nepal too.

It is against this background that this news is good: next year, starting in less than one month, is being celebrated in two ways internationally and that they have the potentials of having salubrious effects on the country’s tourism. The first celebration is that of mountains, the year being killed as International Year of the Mountains. The second celebration is that of eco-tourism, with United Nations having declared 2002 as Eco-Tourism Year. It is patently clear how the year promises to have implications on tourism in Nepal, whose mountains are famous all over the world and which is interspersed with national parks and wildlife reserves. More than 30 per cent of the annual inbound tourists in recent years have been either trekkers or mountaineers. Similarly, there are 16 different projected areas covering around 20 per cent of the nation’s area. Celebration of International Year of the Mountains is bound to give Nepal some publicity mileage while Nepal’s eco-tourism success will not go ignored either. If Nepalese tourism officials and travel trade entrepreneurs play it right, the twin events can be roped in for giving a much-needed shot-in-the-arm to the country’s tourism. With Nepal’s own Destination Nepal Campaign set to be launched in the middle of next year, the themes of mountains and eco-tourism would fit in nicely. Needless to say, preparations are crucial. Both the government and the private sector must begin to strategise how best to benefit from the international events by incorporating it in the Destination Nepal Campaign.

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