COVER STORY (Spotlight Weekly)

A Milching Cow?

Even with negative publicity about law and order situation, garbage crisis and other inhibitions, Nepal remains one of the safest place and thus a good option for tourists. Compared to other countries, number of burglaries and physical attacks against tourists is negligible. Nepal has many comparative advantages to lure large number of tourists. But lack of developing new destinations, non-committal policy makers and rampant municipal taxes, however, are threatening the very existence of tourism industry - one of the biggest foreign exchange earner

By KESHAB POUDEL

Bhaktapur Municipality has decided to increase the entry fee into the city from USD 5 to USD 10 beginning 1st January 2001 for all foreign visitors. Following the path taken by Bhaktapur, Lalitpur sub-metropolis is also considering to increase the entry fee.

Within Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Swayambhu Development Committee and Bauddha Development and Conservation Committee have already announced to levy entry fee on visiting tourists. If things remain unchanged, a tourist will end up paying varying fees to five municipalities of the valley along with the and four development committees.

While the Maoist problem has not affected the arrival of tourists, such decisions by municipalities could have advise impact on their arrival.

Following the hijacking drama of Indian Airlines and subsequent suspension of Indian Airlines flight, there was a marked dip in the number of tourists arrival.

Tourists enjoying at Thamel : Will they come back ?

Although the beginning of new tourist season (from October) has shown some positive trends as the twelve airlines operating in Nepal already have their reservation full, one cannot heave a sigh of relief just yet.

"As long as we do not develop reliable national flag carrier and increase its capacity, the bubbles of tourism industry can burst any time," said Udaya Gurung, managing director of Group 4 Securitas and former General Manager of Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC).

At a time when number of other factors like garbage problem and limited destinations are discouraging tourists to visit Nepal, the decision by municipalities (to levy additional charges) has further worsened the situation.

The occupancy of the international airlines is satisfactory as Singapore Airlines, Gulf Air, Lauda and Transavia have already decided to add one more flight a week to Kathmandu. Thai Airways is bringing its wide-body aircraft to Nepal. Eyeing the increasing number of tourists, the local authorities, however, have begun to add taxes after taxes. Their decision could prove counterproductive as the flow of tourists could dwindle in the coming days.

Qatar air and Air Lauda hadve linked Nepal with Doha and Europe respectively. From reservation point of view, there is every possibility for an increase in the number of tourists this year but the question is : how can Nepal retain the flow of tourists at a time when every one is bent on extracting as much money from the tourists as they can.

"We needed to have developed a long term vision. Unfortunately, every one is concerned just with the short term benefit," said Tek Chandra Pokharel, former president of Nepal Association of Travel Agents (NATA).

Comparatively, Nepal is still one of the safest places to visit. "Only a tiny minority of tourists end up in trouble. Except the few cases of stolen goods, like anywhere in the world, the theft is still extremely rare. From camp sites and on rare occasions lone trekkers have been mugged and robbed," says the Lonely Planet Visitors, an international Publication in its fourth edition of 1999.

Nepal Tourism Police also recorded very few numbers of cases related to burglary, theft and intimidation in the tourist areas. In the last eight months of 2000, among the total arrival of around 215,000 tourists only three cases of robbery and two cases of murder were reported. Two months back a group in Manasalu region was forced to pay some amount of money. Otherwise, no major harm has been done to the visiting tourists and travellers.

But tourism entrepreneurs are concerned over the rising practice of increasing hassles for the tourists."Why should anybody come if he\she has to pay taxes at every steps. Government has to collect money from one single point. There is no justification in taxing tourists at each point. If so, what is the reason for tourists to visit Nepal?" said Shakya.

Nepal earned more than 11 billion rupees from tourism industry in 1999 compared to over 10 billion rupees in 1998. According to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal earned USD 152,500,000 in 1998 and USD 168,100,000 in 1999 which shows 10.23 percent increase.

The growth of Nepal's tourist arrival continues to be in two digit figure since 1974. In 1999, it increased by 12.28 percent and reached 491,504 compared to 463,684 in 1998.

Number of tourists arrival in the first seven months of 2000, however, is discouraging. Till August 2000, only 215,153 tourists arrived in the country against 249,286 during the corresponding period in 1999.

Since 1962 when Nepal started keeping the tourists record, the number has already increased by many folds. In 1962, the total number of tourists was 6,179. In 1966, it was 12,567. It was in 1978 when the tourists arrival touched the six figure reaching 156,123. In 1990, the number was 254,885.

"We don't have to chart an ambitious program to double the arrival of tourists. We must maintain two digit growth in tourist arrival," said Pokharel.

The recent decision of Chinese government to include Nepal as the destination for Chinese traveler is also expected to increase the annual growth and expansion of Nepalese tourism market.

"We are very much tax minded now as we are forcing the tourists to pay wherever he\she puts his feet. From government to municipality and to VDCs all are treating tourists like the milching cow," said Yogendra Shakya, former President of Hotel Association of Nepal and President of Nepal Incentive and Convention Association (NICA).

In the name of local autonomy, municipalities and Village Development Committees (VDCs) are adding more burden to tourists. As municipalities stand to gain more indirect benefits from attracting more tourists than by imposing direct toll at the entry point, their decision seems myopic. "This is the reflection of renting culture of the citizens of Kathmandu Valley. The local leaders cannot imagine any other way rather than to levy tax at the gate," said Rajendra Dahal, Editor of Himal fortnightly newsmagazine.

It is not that the municipalities are not doing anything through the collection of taxes but it has its limitation. What is the limitation of taxes in Bhaktapur Municipality? "Bhaktapur Municipality has been doing a commendable job in preserving the ancient temples through collection of taxes but there is no justification now for the tourist to pay such a large amount of entry fee to go to Bhaktapur," said Bhola Bikram Thapa, President of Nepal Association of Travel Agents (NATA).

One may tax reasonable fee on tourists in the name of service charge. But what will happen to the budget of Bhaktapur Municipality, if large number of tourists decline to visit the city.

Nepal's tourism volume continues to expand but the number of high quality tourists is yet to rise. Most of the five star hotels had less than 20 percent occupancy in the month of July and August. In Nepal, tourism is the biggest private investment sector. Over tens of billions of rupees have been invested in the hotels and travel trade by the private sector. "Any negative impact on this sector, will tremendously affect the national economy," said Gurung.

Unfortunately, despite such heavy investment, the authorities have not given adequate attention to promote and protect the sector. The increasing number of hassles imposed on tourism is but one example.

"Even a tourist bus has to pay taxes at three places en route to Nagarkot - a hill station 20 km to the north-east of Kathmandu. In such a situation, Nepal is getting expensive for the tourists," said Shakya who is also the Executive Chairman of Hotel Himalaya and Ambassador Hotel.

There is also charge that the tourism entrepreneurs themselves seem nonchalant to the issue. "The travel and tourism industry must take some bold steps and boycott such places for the time being," said journalist Dahal.

Tourism entrepreneurs, however, take the situation as a natural result of political instability. "In the culture of looting the nation, the local municipal authorities are also taking their chances," said Tek Chandra Pokharel who is also the Managing Director of Shangrila Travel and Tours.

Along with the municipalities, others, too, are charging entry fees on tourist buses and cars. A bus owner has to pay unauthorized toll to go to Pokhara. "There is a total anarchy on the road. Many groups are collecting taxes in the name of road maintenance," said a tourism entrepreneur.

The officials of municipalities do not bother to clean the city. Except Bhaktapur all other municipalities have problems of garbage management. As soon as the tourist season begins, the heap of uncollected garbage is left in different parts of the city.

That apart, another problem facing the Nepalese tourism industry is the lack of development of new tourist destinations. "The time has now come to open new tourist destinations as Nepal has not developed new places for the second time visitor," said Tek Bahadur Dangi, Director-Marketing and Promotion at the Nepal Tourism Board.

As tourism sector becomes more competitive, the country like Nepal needs to show more attractive places without any kind of hassles.

In the trekking areas, Annapurna, Manasalu, Langtang and Khumbu region still are the main packages. Royal Chitawan National Park (RCNP) and Pokhara are becoming a bit crowded for nature-chasing tourists.

Nepal needs to establish other destinations if it aims to elongate the stay of tourists in the country. The haphazard planning has also turned some of the very interesting and fascinating places like Nagarkot and Dhulikhel into a dumping ground.

Even after five decades long experience in tourism sector, Nepal is yet to have the off-season packages. "One of the aims of our organization is to lure the Meeting Incentive Convention and Events (MICE) tourists," said Shakya.

As long as country's only state flag carrier RNAC does not have adequate number of aircrafts, Nepal's tourism sector will always be in a vulnerable condition.

Although 13 foreign airlines are now currently fetching tourists to the country, RNAC's capacity and strength will determine the future flow of tourists.

Hijacking drama of Indian Airlines plane and its suspension of flight for nearly six months have taught lesson the Nepalese people — how wise it is to depend upon foreign airlines.

From January to August, Nepalese tourism sector faced a severe crisis thanks to the suspension of Indian airlines. Had RNAC had more aircrafts, the situation would not have been so severe.

From January 2000 to August, Nepal witnessed the decline of Indian tourists significantly. The reduction in Indian tourists visiting Nepal compared to corresponding months last year was 54.20 percent in January, 32.25 in February, 25.85 in March, 35.63 in April, 52.42 in May, 18.65 in June, 26.59 in July and 17.55 in August. In total, nearly 37 thousands less tourists visited the country during the period.

"Despite the drastic reduction on the arrival of tourists in the first six months, the second six months seem to be encouraging as the booking is good," said Yogendra Shakya.

As competition in international tourism market is growing, Nepal needs to develop a long term strategy to attract more tourists. At a time when various countries are marketing their destination with bargaining prices, levying more taxes on tourists could distract the visitors. The authorities should ponder whether they are killing the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg.

TOURISM MARKETING FOR NEPAL -

Yanja Raj Satyal

Nepal has a very viable tourism product as yet not exploited fully. She has a cultural heritage centered in the Kathmandu Valley. She is the cultural museum where art treasures and monuments of historical interest are preserved. The arts and crafts of Nepal, enriched by Hindu and Buddhist culture are of an astonishing opulence, especially in the Valley of Kathmandu. Kathmandu with Patan and Bhaktapur, second and third cities in prominent forms of exceptional embodiments of architecture of great originality and quality. Innumerable temples in both stupas and pagoda style and many other interesting monuments and even private houses with carved doors, windows, balconies are within easy reach of the oval Kathmandu Valley. Some of these places such as Hanuman Dhoka- the old palace square of Kathmandu, palace squares of Patan and Bhaktapur, the Buddhist Stupas of Boudhanath and Swayambhunath are well known and other places of interests like ancient townships Sankhu, Changhunaraen, Pharping, Kirtipur and Thimi deserve attention. The combination of religious shrines, the artistic creations of man and nature in the form of Himalayan snowy peaks in the distant horizon invest on Kathmandu a charm and individuality, which is unique in the world. Kathmandu Valley's ancient cities and townships, temples and arts in stone, wood, brass and bronze, standing as they have been for thousands of years, are invaluable legacies of centuries past. These are the spiritual and cultural treasures impossible to come across anywhere else.

Nepal has much to offer to the visitors from its rich cultural treasures to great and starting unparalleled natural beauties of the Himalayas, which line across northern Nepal topped by Mount Everest (8,848m), the highest peak in the world together with peaks some eight peaks over 8579m and about two hundred more than 4877m. high. The Himalayan Region lies at an altitude 4877m to 8,848m above the sea level with the snow line running at 4,877m.

The topography of the country is a continuity of assemblages going along the east-west axis. The Himalayan ranges like the Kumbhakurna, the Jugal and the Annapurna fan out from the east to west. In this region, the world's famous peaks of Mount Everest (8,848 m) Kanchanjaugha (8,586m) Makalu (8,463), Dhaulagiri (8,167m) and Annapurna (8,091m) are located. From the Terai, the southern part of the country, bordering India, the land ascends steeply to the Mahabharat Lekh mountain range with peaks of up to 3050m. This is followed by the wide bank of the central hills, rows of mountain area which makes up the snow covered Great Nepal Himalayan Range whose summits build the northern boundary of Nepal. Towards the west, Nepal extends beyond the Himalayan Range to the Trans-Himalayan area which is part of the barren Tibetan plateau. This dramatic infusion or mix and varied topography forms the bases of the second tourism product of Nepal. The mighty Himalayan peaks tower over Nepal form end to end, seen from many favorite view-points of sight seeing places.

The marketing products after the culture and the Great Nepal Himalayas, the appeal is based on Wildlife in a jungle setting. Terai Region of Nepal is situated at an altitude of maximum 305m, occupies 17 percent of the total area of the country. It is a fertile plain stretching from east to west in the southern part of the country. The length of the Terai is about 880 Kms. This region is densely populated and is the food basin of the country. This region has rich and varied species of flora and fauna. The vegetation is covered by sal (sorea Robusta), Sissau, Aculia and tall grasses and bamboo. It is long tropical zone, richest area for Nepal's wildlife with gaurs, wild buffaloes, four species of deer, Royal Bengal tigers, leopards, one-horned rhinoceros, swamp deer, two kinds of crocodiles and the Giangetic dolphin inhabiting the rives. This region is also full of bird life like black partridge, peacock, pigeon, vulture, kites, snipe duck and parrots. Adventure in the heart of the Terai jungle in Royal Chitwan National Park is getting popular among the international visitors at present with rustic comfort in isolated tree top lodge and simple tented camp, canoe trips, nature walks, jungle treks, landsover traps, elephant back jungle excursion viewing rhino, sloth bear, deer, leopard, tiger and birds.

Nepal has established eight National Parks extending from tropical zone in the Terai to Sub-Himalayan region. These parks and wildlife areas are greatly influenced by the topography of the country and the flora and fauna with the difference in the climatic conditions and the ranges of altitudes. So Nepal can be called zoologically and botanically one of Asia's richest areas. These areas where the visitors may see all kind of wildlife in the dense forests of the Terai and glacial valleys grizzly bear, mountain blue sheep, red panda wild Yak, snow leopard and many kinds of birds galore. There are lots of opportunities to experience wildlife adventure or relax in the jungle settings of Nepal's National Parks and Wildlife Reserves. Royal Chitwan National Park and Sagarmatha National Park are now included in World Heritage Sites (natural) by World Heritage Committee UNESCO as Universal Heritage for mankind.

Not only wildlife, Nepal is also a land of varied attractions for adventure andexotic pleasure by trekking on both well-established routes and in more remote areas. Trekking through magnificent hills, valleys and lakes gives the grandeur of landscape, enjoying the breath taking views of snowy Himalayan massifs and the calm and quiet sleeping hamlets and green valleys. The world's steepest country present the ultimate in soft adventure as well as difficult trek of the world's most challenging trails. Trekking is really the visitor's pastime that Nepal is most well-known for owing to the country's vast and generally safe landscape, from the valleys to the majestic peaks of the Himalayan ranges. Trekking offers variety and beauty of many sites and scenery and the opportunities of coming near to so many of the different ethnic groups inhabiting the different trekking areas of Nepal. Trekking offers vacation paradise providing new delights and thrills.

Nepal has major religious sites for pilgrimages in different parts of the country. Nepal is the only Hindu Kingdom in the world and has a tradition of religious tolerance. Hinduism and Buddhism are the two religions of Nepal which co-exist in a most friendly and harmonious atmosphere with a civilization stretching back to thousands of years — a culture richly endowed by the synthesis of Hinduism and Buddhism. Nepal is revered as the land of Shiva by all the Hindus. Buddhism has its origin in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama who was born in the terai of Nepal at Lumbini in about 563 B.C. Nepal possesses many sacred and revered places of religious tourism which attract the visitors from all over the world. So Nepal has a great potentiality for the growth of pilgrimage tourism also.

The vast potentials of tourism described above are attracting tourists even at present and they will surely become great attractions for the future. In order to secure, the objective of enhancing future tourism markets are to be created by giving considerable thoughts to watchful expansion of tourism marketing for Nepal and improving Nepal's tourism product. The tourist arrivals from international markets must be increased in order to raise foreign exchange earnings in the future. In order to meet the target of tourists arrivals that would add charm and profit, the price of tourist products must be increased by extending their duration of visits. International Union of Official travel organization, WOTO or the World Tourism Organization, WTO, has defined tourism marketing as: — a management philosophy which in the light of tourist demand makes it possible through research, forecasting and selection to place tourism products on the market most in line with the orgamsation's purpose, for the greatest benefit."

The above definition clearly justifies that marketing is a modern method of creature management function which assists trade and employment by promoting consumer needs and embarking on research and development to meet them. Tourism is a service industry and selling of products in tourism is becoming more complex due to intangible nature of the goods for sale. So the 'input' and 'sales output' is more difficult in tourism industry. The technique of marketing is constantly changing in accordance with other characteristics of modern age. Similarly the mix of marketing activities varies from market to market and from product to product. So the Marketing Research is regarded as the foundation of any effective marketing plan. Research insures substantiality with the best possible results and the maximum return of time and money spent to market any product or service. Improved management technique with an imaginative use of research can lead to more effective tourist arrivals and to more assistance and contribution to national tourism to the national economy.

Major Market Areas of Nepal - Europe, Japan, North America and India, country wise are the biggest tourist generating markets for Nepal. The annual growth of tourist arrival from overseas country averaged about 8 percent over the last 20 years. The length of tourist stay in Nepal ranges from 10-13 days. But the tourist movement is still limited to certain geographical areas of the country which are in need of expansion. There are many potential sites in the nooks and corners of the country that need to be searched, developed and opened for international visitors. The aim should be for an increasing number of visitors to come from Japan and other Asian markets and for a greater proportion of visitors to stay in quality hotels. In order to attract even more visitors from neighboring India, more promotional activities must be done in India putting more force in pilgrimage as well as sight seeing tourism. In order to achieve considerable targets of tourist arrivals from Europe and Northern America, more investment in marketing and product development is called for.

The international markets show keen interest in marketing profile from Nepal. Nepal despite a viable tourism product has been under-sold in the overseas market. His Majesty's Government of Nepal should take a leading role in this field through her Nepal Tourism Board in order to optimizing the importance of tourism as an economic and social activity in terms of net value added. The Nepal Tourism Board can not perform in isolation. All the travel trade (private sectors) are equally important and the Nepal Tourism Board has to take them in stride for tourism to become a profitable industry. HMG of Nepal has to play a coordinater's role and in close consultation with all tourism sectors devise way and means that will impart solid basis to this important foreign exchange earning resource. Much precious time has already been lost. We cannot afford to lose any more.

Satyal writes on Tourism.