INTERVIEW
'US incident may dampen our hopes'

By Sunil K.C.

After more than two years of despair and gloominess, the tourism industry is looking at the coming autumn season with much hope and optimism. As the First Vice President of the Nepal Association of Travel Agents (NATA), how do you the view the current situation?

Lately, the political instability, which had resulted in incidents like strikes, rallies, agitation, closures and disruption of vehicular movements seem to be on the decline. There were some good signs of the recovery of the tourism industry, the arrivals had started to pick-up and it was natural for all those involved in the tourism business were enthused about the good days coming back again. But the recent incident of terrorist attack in the United States and there are fears that the tourism industry of Nepal and that of the whole world will be severely affected. Furthermore, the recent developments in the aftermath of those attacks have dampened that hope of the revival of tourism industry in Nepal. There again are symptoms that the coming season will not be as good as we had hoped. The optimism is slowly waning again. We have started receiving cancellations from the United States. In the context that the NATO and other countries also saying that they would support US in its fight against terrorism, visitors from those countries also may think that it would not be appropriate to travel abroad, especially this region. And we are skeptical that the visitors from those countries also might cancel their visits. This incident may affect the visitors from not only the US but also from other countries as well.

Earlier you said that the situation in the country now has improved since the last two years, but how have you conveyed the message to our markets that things have come back to normal?

The problem we are facing that the messages we have been sending abroad to the clinets and prospective visitors are not uniform. Some tell their clients that things have improved a lot and you can come, but other say it is not so. So, it will be better if an authorized body evaluates the situation and makes a judgement and if all others follow suit, it would help in a great deal to avoid the confusion. NATA had suggested to the Nepal Tourism Board collect all the messages and they are doing it. Many travel agencies are following the NTB’s direction while giving out the situation analysis.

But the enigma is, when there was cease-fire and the beginning of talks between the government and the Maoists, we thinking that peace would prevail sent the message. But now it seems, things are back to the square one with the recurrence of strikes, rallies and even the fear of the resumption of violence. This relapse of the situation has created more confusion and what have not been able to tell the visitors who want to come to Nepal how the situation will unfold in the days to come. So, if the Foreign Ministry, in coordination with the Tourism Minister, can disseminate clear and correct messages through our embassies and consulates abroad it make things so much easier.

After two consecutive bad years, tourism enterpreneurs are saying if this situation continues for another season or another years, the industry would collapse altogether. Do you think the country’s tourism has reached to the edge?

It would be an overstatement to say the tourism industry will collapse altogether if things fail to improve in a season or two. I don’t think the image Nepal has built in the international tourism scenario will be erased out in such a short time. But it is true once there is negative image on the visitors, it will take considerable time to wipe that image and regain the name and confidence.

But with the situation that we are facing now the tourism industry is certainly heading for a very difficult times. If that happens, the all the sectors of the country – economy, employment, social and the country’s image as a whole will be affected. So, we must take all precautionary measures to avert that situation.

Talking about tourism policy and programmes pursued by the country in terms of marketing, diversifying products and destinations and also in boosting the image, where have we succeeded and where have we failed?

The concepts of the politics and programmes in black and white are good but what is lacking is putting them into practice. But several policies and plans of government’s policies and the plans taken up by the government and also the private sector are not based on facts and also they are not technically viable. There is a Tourism Promotion Council, headed by the Prime Minister. This council supposed to be responsible for formulating and implementing the tourism policies and programmes. But this council has failed to be active and effective. I think it has only met only three or four times in the last 10 years or so. We have suggested that the Council should be revamped and restructured with the inclusion representatives of different ministries related to the tourism industry and the private sector to make it more effective.

Is it only the fault of the government for not being able to implement the policies or the private sector has not cooperated with the government properly?

I think in many cases the situation has gone out of the government’s control. For example the local bodies and also the local people are taking decisions such as the collecting entrance fees at tourist sites. And the government says it cannot do anything about it. If you calculate the taxes paid by the tourists at different places, it comes out more than they have spent in Nepal. These taxes have prevented the tourists from freely visiting the places they want. So, as I said all these rules and regulations, no matter who makes them should be approved by the government.

One thing all the tourism entrepreneurs are saying is that we have failed to revive the positive image of the country in the Indian tourists. The NTB says it has been doing something, still we have failed to attract the Indian tourists, why?

Several incidents since December 1999 have created a bad image of Nepal among the Indian tourists. So, they are unwilling to visit the country. Again, the issues of ID cards and the rather not to liberal attitude of the immigration at the airport have made it not so easy as before for Indian tourists to come to Nepal. Furthermore, the Indian tourists found that other markets such as that of South East Asian nations offer more attractive packages. For Indian tourists, Nepal no longer remains an attractive shopping destination. But still, Nepal is very attractive destination because there is no currency problem, no visa restriction and also Nepal has the nearest casino from the Indian market. More importantly, Indian tourists can get a good price in hotels in summer when they are most likely to travel. So, by giving a sense of security and stability we can still tap the Indian market.

China has come out as a very booming outbound market for tourists. Recently, China nominated Nepal as one of the outbound destinations for Chinese tourists. How can we get more Chinese tourists?

One advantage we have is that majority of the Chinese are Buddhists. So, the main attraction for Chinese tourists in Nepal could be Lumbini. Another attraction for the Chinese tourists could be the casinos. But only by making Nepal one of the destination will not make Chinese flooding to Nepal. For that we have to make Nepal accessibility for Chinese tourists. This can be done either by making RNAC or by giving permission to Chinese airlines to come to Nepal.

But the most important thing while exploring and developing new markets is that we must not repeat the mistakes we committed when we developed our existing markets.

NATA is having its election for its executive committee and you are also one of the candidates. What are your agenda in the election to make NATA and the whole travel agency business more dynamic?

I have worked in the NATA’s Executive Committee for two terms as the First Vice President, so I have a lot of experience on the problems faced by the travel agencies and I have watched from closed quarters what the government should do to deal with those problems. So far as my initial priorities are concerned the first agenda is to complete the steps taken by the incumbent Executive Committee. My another agenda is to discourage the infringement on other’s working areas within the tourism industry. For example, if a hotel develops a package programme and that includes everything from receiving the tourists from the airport to sight-seeing, transport, rafting and even trekking. This will affecting the whole business. It means the hotel is trying to step over others working areas. Transportation and sightseeing generally falls under the working area of the travel agencies, rafting comes under the rafting agencies and trekking comes under the trekking agencies. To avoid such impingement into others business, the government should clearly demarcate the working areas of the hotels, travel agencies, trekking agencies and rafting agencies. This will ensure the business for all. However, the most important is to improve the dwindling image of the country in the international tourism scene. For this, all including the government, Nepal Tourism Board and all related to tourism business must work together. Again, the role of RNAC is very important if we have to sustain and promote the country’s tourism industry. For this if the government cannot carry on with RNAC in a sustainable manner, I think the government has to make a quick decision. It cannot on running like this. NATA has been saying that the government should either private the airline or if this cannot be done within a short time the management of the Airline could be given to a reputed airline. This can be done either by giving only the management of RNAC or by making an arrangement where the commercial interests of both the parties are addressed. To boost up the country’s image, what I think is, we need to give more incentives to foreign airlines so they are encouraged to come here. We will also raise voices to amend the government’s policies and programmes to make them better to cater to the changing needs of the tourism industry. One problem the tourism industry is facing is that the different associations and sectors involved in the tourism industry often demands and make suggestions to the government things which contract with one another. This either confuses the government while making the policies and programmes or in implementing them. So, there needs to be coordination among the different associations related to the tourism industry so that the whole industry can make a single and unified voice for the benefit of the industry. NATA hopes to take the lead in this regard. There is also a need to make a time-bound strategic planning by the tourism industry itself to revive the industry.