FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

By Khilendra Basnyat

NEPAL’S economy, in reality began its quest for growth after 1950 when the country emerged from decades of isolation under the Rana regime. This effort coincided with the lifting of restrictions imposed on foreigners entering Nepal.

After 1950, although the number of visitors to the country continually increased, the initial prescriptions for economic success proved ineffective.

In the past, the foreign earning generated by natural resources could not meet the expectations. However, such earning derived from tourism surpassed initial predictions.

Nepalese industry provides employment to about 0.2 million directly. Over a million are indirectly involved in this sector, contributing about 9.8 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) it is considered as the largest foreign exchange earner in the national economy, except in recent times.

Since Nepal is a country with vast natural resources and cultural diversity, most of the tourists come here to enjoy them and to collect memorable moment of being with awe-inspiring wonders.

Nepal is also popular as Shangri-la where many tourists flock each year. Travelling and sight-seeing give visitors much satisfaction.

As Nepal has the vast potentiality for developing the tourism industry, both indigenous and foreigners have invested in tourism related companies. Consequently, hotels and other travel related companies have increased tremendously.

Trekking is a good case in point. There are about ninety trekking agencies in the country registered by the Trekking Agents’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) and another twenty or so non-registered agencies. They handle over twenty thousand trekkers per year, or one-third of the total number of trekkers in Nepal each year. The rest of the tourists come on pre-packaged tours without local representation or as an individual trekker who do not need the services of any trekking agency.

According to a reliable source, the total investment in trekking agencies increased from seven million rupees in 1983 to thirty million rupees by the early 1990s. This reflects the continued interest of the visitors in mountain trekking.

Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain, and hundreds of other snow peaks in the northern frontier have the charms for adventure trekking. Apart from this, the trekkers love the green mid-hills.

In fact, trekking continues to be an important tourism related activity in selected areas that contain popular climbing peaks. What is more, it contributed to early tourism development. The important regions for mountain tourism in Nepal are numerous.

Situated in some thirty-two kilometers north of Kathmandu, Langtang-Helambu is the most accessible mountain regions. Due to complex topography, numerous lakes and its diverse ethnic base this region has been one of the chief attractions for tourism. Its relatively low popularity among western trekkers can be attributed to its lack of tourist amenities, the relatively small size of its territory and inadequate publicity and promotion.

Khumbu, located in the vicinity of Mt. Everest, has been gaining popularity. However, the increase in trekkers to this region is still not satisfactory.

The Annapurna region is also a vast area comprising several districts, numerous watersheds and the national park with seven thousand square kilometer area. The main trekking route encircles the area, following the Marsyangdi and Kali Gandaki river valleys. Information centres have been established for tourists in Pokhara and at the regional headquarters in Ghandruk for the convenience of the visitors.

On an average, more than thirty-eight thousand tourists flock to Annapurna mountain region each year, making it Nepal’s most popular mountain tourism region.

The government, through the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, manages the region as the Integrated Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) rather than as a national park. The main reason is to elicit the full participation of the local people in resource conservation and ecosystem management.

Actually, the chief goal of ACAP is to blend tourism with traditional subsistence activities. ACAP considers such an approach essential to raise the local people’s standard of living and to enable the sustainable development of the Annapurna region.

The above-mentioned three regions combined accounted for over ninety-five per cent of all mountain trekking permits issued in the early 1990s. The remaining five per cent of trekkers visited Rara lake, National Park in the Far western Nepal and the newly opened regions in Dolpa, Humla, Makalu and Kanchanjunga.

Several other popular as well as less traveled regions contribute to Nepal’s mountain tourist system. Apart from this, the hills around the Kathmandu Valley are also famous day-hike regions.

A trekking route through the middle mountains connects Kathmandu and Pokhara Valleys, bypassing many mountain villages.

Khaptad National Park in Western Nepal occupies a middle land grassland plateau of cultural and natural historical importance. Such places are well off Nepal’s trekking paths.

Apart from numerous other tourists spots, places like Palpa and Gorkha are popular for their natural beauty and have become important centres for trekking to the foothills of the Annapurna range.

Despite the fact that three has been setback in the tourism sector in recent years, the trekking earnings increased by ten million US dollar by 1990. However, the potential earnings of Nepal’s trekking agencies are hindered by the fact that a strong adventure travel industry exists in the countries where most of the finances for western trekkers are managed. Without sufficient representatives in Nepal, the earnings will decreased due to the overseas operation.

As the trekkers approximately spend about twenty-six nights in Nepal and constitute about twenty-three per cent of visitors annually the trekking industry is significant for the development of tourism in the country. What is more, because trekking business contributes to the widespread dispersion of tourists in the country, it may be a key factor in the diffusion of foreign earnings in the remote areas.

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