On The Occasion Of The World Tourism Day
Nepal’s Tourism Industry Rescuing It From Crisis

By Shirish B. Pradhan

"TOURISM: a tool for peace and dialogue among civilizations" is coined this year’s theme for the World Tourism Day. In fact, peace is the basic prerequisite for the survival of tourism, one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Tourism teaches human beings to be more friendly towards other people, animals and the nature itself. It does not only acquaint us with different places, people and cultures around the world but also facilitates interaction among different civilizations.

Tourism is one of the mainstays of the Nepalese economy and employs more people directly or indirectly than any other industry in the country. But the major foreign exchange earning industry of the country has suffered the worst set back in the year 2001 due to the internal and external reasons and the situation is unlikely to improve until the second half of the year 2002, predict tourism experts. The six year long Maoist insurgency has done a great damage to the tourism industry creating a feeling of insecurity among the tourists and tourism entrepreneurs. Now the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US cities has further worsened the situation. Many international groups, mainly Americans and Europeans have cancelled their hotel bookings, says. Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) President, adding the present situation is the worst in the history of Nepalese tourism industry. The cancellations will affect tourist business till the middle of the year 2002, say tourism entrepreneurs. This year’s tourist season saw as low as 20 percent average hotel occupancy in contrast with previous year’s 70 to 75 percent occupancy.

To compensate this Nepal needs to explore new possibilities and launch aggressive marketing strategy, suggest tourism experts. There is an urgent need to explore new markets in the wake of growing tension between the United States and Afghanistan as a result of the recent terrorist attack in the US cities. Nepal, sandwiched between two giant Asian neighbours with the combined population of more than 2 billion, one third of humanity, need not worry about the future of our tourism, if we know how to tackle the situation. The middle class population of India, which can afford traveling, is more than the total population of entire Europe. But due to our weak marketing strategy and publicity we are getting only a small portion of the Indian tourists. Similarly, we have not made efforts to exploit the Chinese market, a source of a large number of holiday makers.

The Indian tourists who used to occupy 50 per cent share of the international visitors, have declined in the aftermath of the hijacking of an Indian Airlines jetliner, which originated its flight from Kathmandu. But no special effort has been made to raise the confidence of the Indian tourists and incidents like the Rithik Roshan episode has only worsened the situation further. However, no serious effort has so far been made to boost our image in the Indian market. Neither the government nor the private sector seems serious in exploring the ever-growing Indian market.

China could be another major tourist market for Nepal, which may help compensate the loss caused by possible US strikes against Afghanistan in its anti-terrorist move. But Nepal does not have any tourism agreement with China, the world’s most populated country. The signing of a comprehensive tourism agreement between Nepal and China will definitely help in tourism growth. The agreement may lead to a breakthrough in opening up new areas for the tourism potentials. At present Nepal doesn’t have airlinks with the Chinese cities other than Shanghai. As such Nepal should extend air links with the Chinese cities like Beijing, Lhasa and Xian in order to promote Chinese tourists.

The Nepal Tourism Board, established with the objectives of developing professionalism in tourism and launching an aggressive marketing campaign in international tourism market has not been able to perform up to the expectations. The board lacks proper vision as well as aggressive marketing strategy. The government is also not making any serious effort to rescue tourism industry from the present catastrophe. In such a situation, the objectives of the proposed Destination Nepal Year 2002 cannot be achieved, point out tourism experts. The tourism sector is passing through a serious set back and without necessary preparation, the launching of the Destination Nepal Year will only be the wastage of time and money.

Nearly four years have passed since we observed Visit Nepal Year 1998, which to some extent, helped in exposing Nepal to the international tourism market. There is a need to keep up the momentum gained during the VNY if we are to boost our tourism industry.

The present scenario of tourism industry is not so encouraging. Tourist arrival upto August this year has decreased by 6.51 percent as compared to the tourist arrival last year in the corresponding period. According to the latest data, in total 200,208 tourists arrived by air during the first eight months in 2001 including 47,234 Indian tourists. If we look at the monthly tourist arrivals, there was an increase in number of tourists from January to March as compared to previous year. The number began declining from April to August, with the exception of slight increase in May. The month of June, when the Royal tragedy occurred, registered the lowest number of tourists in the year.

In fact, Nepal has tremendous potentiality to become one of the prime tourist destinations in the world. Our cultural and natural heritage, wildlife species, lofty mountains, scenic beauty, and a number of activities for tourists make the country one of the unique tourist destinations. What we lack are proper infrastructures, foreign and private investment in tourism, sound tourism policy, organized efforts and aggressive campaign. In today’s world tourists choice and their preferences are also changing. Thus, we must keep in touch with the latest travel trends and be equipped with all the modern facilities a tourist would seek in order to compete with the relatively new tourist destinations like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Hong Kong.

If Singapore can attract tourists double of its population and if a tiny island Hong Kong can lure some 8 to 9 million tourists a year why cannot Nepal treasured with unique natural gift benefit from the industry?

Nepal’s Tourism: In Choppy Waters

By Gyan Rai

EVEN as the US and its coalition partners, following the September 11 inhuman terrorists’ attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York and the Pentagon complex in Washington D.C, are gearing up militarily and diplomatically to give the terrorists’ group a fitting reply, the world’s tourism sector seems to be heading for choppy waters.

As all know by now, the terrorists identified as belonging to Saudi millionaire-turned-terrorist’s group, Al-Quida, hijacked four US passenger planes and rammed three of them in the World Trade Center’s twin buildings and the Pentagon complex. The fourth passenger plane went down in Pennsylvania.

The initial fear, terror and anger that pervaded among the Americans and the people around the world in the aftermath of the cruel and mindless terrorist attacks on US cities gave rise to many adverse ramifications. From amongst them, the various airlines witnessed a sudden drop in passenger loads. So much so that even as the United States gradually limped back to normalcy, the airlines continue to experience a sharp downward turn in their first and foremost business: carrying passengers to their diverse destinations. This, in turn, led to airlines to bear losses amounting to billions of dollars. To cut costs, these ailing airlines have started to lay off thousands of employees. Insurance companies, as if rubbing salt to airlines’ injury, developed cold feet in insuring American passenger planes. This phenomenon, unfortunately, was also witnessed in European countries, especially among Europe-based airlines flying to the US.

The only silver lining in the otherwise dark cloud currently enveloping the American and European airlines is the aid package promised by the American and European governments to these airlines to bail them out from their current problems. While the US government is preparing a relief package worth about 20 billion dollars, some European governments have provided insurance coverage to their airlines to ensure that they continue to keep on flying.

While the expected positive impacts of such relief packages to the airlines facing imminent bankruptcies have yet to be felt, the world’s tourism sector may have to wait for many more weeks to fully recover from the drastic drops in the airlines’ flight schedules. Cuts in flight schedules, especially in those outward-bound flights, could lead to less passenger seats. And less seats mean fewer passengers traveling abroad. Apart from the airlines, the hospitality industry is also feeling the pinch due to the reluctance on the part of the people to travel by air. Hotel occupancy rates are reported to have plummeted in US and some European nations. Similarly, the travel trade sectors in both continents are said to be having a hard time in getting businesses. If this continues for long, then they too, like the airlines, would be forced to retrench thousands of people working in the travel trade industry.

In other words, what is apparent by now is that the American and European travelers’ reluctance to travel by planes in the wake of the cowardly terrorists’ attacks on some US cities has triggered an adverse chain reaction in other vital components of the tourism industry and sector in their respective countries. As if all this is not enough, the looming confrontation between US and its coalition partners on one side and the Talibans of Afghanistan on the other could further dampen Americans and Europeans’ desire to go abroad as tourists. This would further dry out the already dwindled tourist outflows from the US and Europe.

All this, needless to say, is sure to affect the tourism industry and sector in other countries, including that of Nepal. For, it is an open secret that almost all of them are heavily dependent on tourist arrivals from the US and Europe to not only keep their tourism industry afloat but also to earn the much-needed foreign exchange to finance their development works. Tourism, as all know, is very volatile industry and sector in that it is very susceptible to any social, economic, political or sectarian problem, be it in the tourists’ country of origin or in the country where their destinations are located. Or, for that matter, in those countries and regions that the tourists have to pass through while heading for their destinations.

Since Nepal is not only heavily dependent on tourist arrivals from the US and Europe but is also located in a region where US and its coalition partners are about to carry out their military actions, what is certain is that the nation’s tourism sector is heading for a hard time. It was already reeling from the adverse impacts of the Maoists’ insurgency and had yet to recover from the shocks.

Undoubtedly, this latest problem faced by the nation’s tourism sector is part and parcel of a global problem brought about the recent inhuman terrorists’ attacks on some US cities. But still, this surely does not absolve the concerned tourism authorities from either the public or private sector in not doing enough to cushion the tourism industry and sector from adverse effects emanating from different directions. The inordinate dependence on tourist arrivals from only a few countries to keep the nation’s tourism industry’s wheels rolling is a case in point. Had the concerned tourism authorities from both the public and private sectors made it their responsibility to go all out to woo tourists from different nations and regions, the nation’s tourism industry and sector would not be facing such a stark and frightening scenario as it is witnessing now. Rather, it would have afforded the nation’s tourism industry and sector some opportunity to compensate the loss expected from less tourist arrivals from one region where trouble is brewing up by the gain garnered from sustained tourist arrivals from another region where there is no trouble.

But the very fact that local papers are carrying their not so rosy pronouncements concerning the nation’s tourism industry and sector in the aftermath of the dastardly terrorists’ attacks on some US cities and the subsequent military preparations by the US and its coalition partners to take the inhuman terrorists’ group, the Al-Queda, to task does prove that they had not thought of wooing tourist arrivals from different nations and regions.

This, in turn, could be due to the lack of short and long-term tourism promotion policies, plans and strategies on the part of the concerned officials from both the public and private sectors. However, the establishment of the Nepal Tourism Board and the levying of 10 per cent service charge on hotels and restaurants to give it the much-needed money do give the impression that they have such policies, plans and strategies up their sleeves. Yet, the general impression among those closely associated with tourism industry and sector is that the NTB, even with its about Rs.130 million budget per year, is lagging behind in gearing up its tourism promotion activities at home and abroad. Especially in bringing in more tourists from different countries and regions by carrying out publicity campaigns there.

If the nation’s tourism sector is to be spared from anxieties and uncertainties like those seen and witnessed currently, then it looks to reason for NTB to optimally utilise its resources to tap all available avenues to not only upgrade its tourism promotion activities abroad but also to boost tourist arrivals from more nations and regions.