NATIONAL7Spotlight Weekly)]

Under Media Attack

Amid negative publicity in the national and international media, Nepal’s tourism slips deeper into the quagmire

By A CORRESPONDENT

If one reads news about Nepal in the national and international media these days, it would take a great spirit of adventurism to make travel plans to the country. The incessant projection of Nepal as a hotbed of anarchy and mismanagement has taken its toll on the tourism industry.

Reporters and editors may not be unjustified in their coverage. The series of events in the country over the last few years — the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane; bird-hits at Tribhuvan International Airport; violence triggered by comments attributed to Indian movie star Hrithik Roshan which he said he never made and nobody recalls hearing; hotel strikes; growing Maoist attacks; and the June 1 massacre in the royal palace — make for a destination that only the brave can dare to venture into.

Aeroplanes at TIA : Yearning for more passengers

Interestingly, the tourism sector also made some fast recovery until the first four months of this year. After the royal palace massacre and the growing activities of Maoist rebels, June and July saw a drastic fall in tourist arrivals.

Tourist inflows in the first four months of this year were very positive. But the average increase in Indian and third-country tourist arrivals took a plunge in the following two months. "Even if the situation stabilizes, it may take years to recreate a positive image about Nepal in the international market," says Pradeep Raj Pandey, chief executive of Nepal Tourism Board.

Does the news media exaggerate what is actually happening in Nepal? Is the country any worse than other destinations in the region that still draw hordes of tourists? Tourism entrepreneurs still see Nepal as a peaceful destination.

"There is a war-like situation in Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries have also problems of insurgency. But no one talks about them. I don’t understand what prompts our media to go behind negative stories about the country," says Prasiddha Bahadur Pandey, general manager of Shangrila Hotel. "If tourism suffer, it will affect the entire Nepalese economy."

This kind of sentiment is hardly found in news coverage. Internet websites covering Nepal are full of stories about the Maoist insurgency, giving the impression that the country is in the grip of a civil war. Some foreign reporters that converged in Kathmandu following the June 1 royal tragedy soon began sending out stories about how Nepal was barely days away from Maoist rule.

"The national media needs to be more responsible and factual before publishing news on tourism-related issues," says P.T. Sherpa Kerung, executive director of Kathmandu Environment Education Project. "Coverage of the Maoist insurgency has created panic in the international tourism market."

After the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC 814 from Nepal in December 1999, the Indian media launched a virtual crusade to portray a peaceful Hindu kingdom as a den of foreign-led anarchists. The five-month suspension of Indian Airlines flights to Nepal drastically reduced the number of Indian tourists in the first six months of 2000. Indian tourists, who had started trickling in, were scared away again a year later following what is known locally as the "Hrithik Roshan episode".

"Tourism is a very vulnerable sector. We have to be very cautious, as it can be easily disturbed," says Birendra Bahadur Basnet, managing director of Buddha Air. "Nepal needs to make serious efforts to change the image of the country."

The contribution of the tourism industry to the national economy is pivotal and even a short-term damage will badly affect the country. The tourism industry must devise a way of overcoming this negative publicity before the sector slips beyond recovery.