LOCAL NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

By Raj.k.c

With only four months left for the falling of curtains to the Destination Campaign Nepal-2002, the target of attracting 500, 000 tourists looks to be doomed.

The number of tourist arrival until August 31 this year was 131,359 well short of 200,208 during the same period last year (2001).

The number of tourists arrival during the period has declined by 34 per cent by 68,849 this year.
The major decline of 42 per cent is seen in the number of Western and American tourists.

This June, however, saw some improvement over the same month last year. According to the Nepal Tourism Board tourist arrival in June was recorded at 13,841, an increase of 35 per cent over the same period last year. A total of 10,238 tourists had come last June.

But July saw a negative growth of 11 per cent from 15,176 last year to to 13,458 this year.

Although the number of Indian tourists grew by 36. 6 per cent, from 4,443 last year to 6,071, the arrival from the Third Countries came down by 31 per cent from 10,733 to 7,387.

Tourism entrepreneurs hope that beginning September the number of arrival will start looking up.
This is mainly because the tourist season starts this month. But there is a big IF, meaning everything will depend on peace and security.

Officials at the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) said that the state of emergency that in the past nine month disseminated a negative message to potential visitors.

The arrival of tourists in June last year was badly affected by the incidence at the Royal Palace. The ailing tourism business Nepal was further affected by the September 11 incidence.

Navin Pokhrel, research officer at NTB, said that the number of tourist arriving Nepal would go up from September or October.

Pokhrel told The Rising Nepal, that the Destination Nepal campaign has elevated the image of the country.

After the BBC world Service enlisted Nepal as one of the world's 50 best place to visit, Nepal's image in the outside world has increased. He said that Nepal is still considered a safe place to visit.

But the BBC's ranking will come to nothing if the coming general election and the fear of the continuing insurgency continue to rouse fear among the vistors, especially from the West, which is the most important market for Nepal's tourism.

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