FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

By Sanu Maiya Pradhan

TOURISM has become one of the dominant activities at the beginning of the 21st century. In 2001, 693 million visitors traveled from, one country to another. They spent some 462 billion dollars, making tourism one of the top categories of international trade. This figure does not even include expenditures on air transport on the activity generated by domestic travel in different countries.

Major Contributor

Tourism is a major growing contributor to jobs, wealth, investment and cultural understanding with unique potential across developing states. There is however, widespread recognition that its impacts must be balanced socially, ecologically and economically. For its sustainable development institutions, policies, people and effective partnership to carry out common effort are needed. At present we are focusing to strengthen the environmental institutions, promote balance between economic development and the environment and develop human resources so as to facilititate the people. We have also recently established a national commission on sustainable development.
Tourism is one of the most thriving industries in Nepal at present. It is largest foreign currency earner. The sector has provided employment opportunities to a large number of people. It is due to this reason tourism is considered the backbone of Nepal's national economy. In fact, Nepal's tourism is one of the success stories in the development of Nepal's tourism industry. Nepal is beautiful destination for international tourists. The snow-clad mountains, rich culture, scenic beauty rivers and lakes, different religious and historic monuments and hospitable people are the main attractions for the foreign visitors in Nepal. However, while income from this industry is a welcome factor for this country that is striving to uplift the economy, the negative impact on the environment is something which must be looked at with concern by every body, specially those people who inbolved in this business. They must make effort on how the natural environment can be saved so that the trade may flourish. The tourism entrepreneurs must realise that the arrival of so many people in a small and untouched area cannot only deplore the natural resources available there but also complete destroy the environment. Such a realisation among the people is essential efforts must be made to generate awareness among them.
Cropping pattern change and even new settlements have been established in the effort to provide services to the foreigners. Just to take the example of encroachments made on the forests there are regulations which stipulate that alternative fuel must be used for cooking in the remote tourist areas, but is alarming to note that a well watched area like the Everest region, 9.2 metric tons of firewood is used by the local lodges. What has to be understood is that those people are not only harming, the environment but also their own business in the long run. International clients now prefer to use ecofriendly services. The tourism entrepreneurs also must promote their business and protect the environment by taking measures to safeguard the natural environment.

Motivated by love for the beautiful mountains, 10 young French climbers arrived Kathmandu on mission to clean up the trash around Dhaulagiri base camp. Nepalese and French organisations have formed a partnership to carry out task and are expected to collect 1,700 kolos of waste materials. The cost of the mission is estimated at $45,000. Kathmandu Environmental Education Project (KEEP) is supporting the French Mission, which will also clean up the trekking sought to Dhaulagiri base camp. Dhaulagiri is the world's seventh tallest mountain and the route leading to it is one of the most difficult. This initiative has been taken to benefit Nepal's tourism and environment.

Tourism is the foundations of Nepal's economy and is at great risk due to various domestic reasons. It is the fundamental to improving the lives of the community in the remote mountains. The waste collected would be disposed off in the most environmental friendly way. The initiative has been taken at a time when UN announced 2002 as the international year of Mountains. This year is also being observed as Internal Year of ECO Tourism. The tourist industry and all stake holders will be working to balance the demands of tourists, and seek to care for the environment. For some communities and regions, sustainable tourism can be a first step towards sustainable development. The campaign is also aimed at generating awarness among the local and the people involved in the trekking profession.
On and 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.

Important Factor

Some important factors must be considered seriously, if one wants to see the growth as well as the sustainability of the tourism sector, one is the promotional aspect and the other is conservation of ecology and culture. First of all, in the fiercely competitive international tourism business, Nepal cannot remain isolated efforts must be made by both the government and the private sector to inform visitors about Nepal and the unique attractions that it has for the tourists. There is no doubt, that if tourism is to be made an ever lasting, venture much vision has to be shown in the preservation of both national assets and the cultural heritage of the country so that they will remain valuable assets of the country. It is not difficult to the concerned tourism authority of Nepal, to offer a wide verity of tourism related activities to the tourist.

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