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TOURISM |
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TOURISM |
Spiraling Downwards Nepalese tourism is going
through unprecedented continued decline for the last few years By SANJAYA DHAKAL One after another, the series of events
starting from the 1999 IC 814 hijacking, the tourism industry of the country is on the
free fall thanks to various national as well as international incidents. From then
onwards, the tourist inflow in the country has declined continuously making it
unprecedented and historic. "It is historic in the sense that for the years 2000 and
2001, the tourism sector has registered continued decline back to back," said Tek
Bahadur Dangi, Director of Tourism Marketing and Promotion at the Nepal Tourism Board
(NTB).
The latest data by NTB is enough to
prove what is going through the country's premier forex earning industry. The tourist
arrival to Nepal by air in January 2002 has shown a continued decline. As compared to the
same month of last year, the total number of tourist has decreased by 47.59 % in January
2002. The third country tourist arrival is 9559 whereas it was 20611 last year, a sharp
decrease of 53.62 %. The Indian tourist component alone has decreased by 24.12%. Besides,
arrivals from U.S.A., U.K. and Japan have come down by 60.2%, 45.4% and 62.8%
respectively. The International Visitors Arrival figure
for the year 2001 showed that overall the total number of visitors to Nepal by air
decreased by 20.73 percent to 298,456 visitors for the year 2001 representing a loss of
78,047 visitors for the year. The figures indicate that the third country visitor's
declined by 16.52% and Indian by 33.04% during the period. Pradeep Raj Pandey, Chief Executive Officer
of NTB, releasing the data on January 1st 2002 said "Just as our efforts were
beginning to show positive results in arrivals during the first five months of 2001,
series of unpredictable incidents home and abroad marred the arrival scenario in
Nepal". "The September 11th terrorist attack
exacerbated a global economy that was already in decline and tourism industry throughout
the world also had to face its downturn. Nepal is no exception," he added.
"Tourist arrival in Nepal was quite satisfactory up until the second quarter of 2001.
The first quarter was up by 15.73% and the second quarter down by 16%. The decrease in
second quarter was largely a result of drastic decline in June, which was considered to be
a short term. However, the performance of third quarter was discouraging showing further
decline by 28%. This decline continued sharply till fourth quarter as well". The multiplying and chain effect of the
decline in tourism is beginning to get apparent. As hundreds of thousands of people,
directly or indirectly, depend on this sector for their livelihood, its cost on the
national economy is significant. Says hotelier Yogendra Shakya, "Opening of a single
hotel can result in favorable economic atmosphere for a whole community. For instance,
shops, restaurants can spring up in the vicinity of big hotel while people like guides get
more jobs." According to World Tourism Organization
(WTO), ten people get job if one tourist comes to a country. This equation can have a
dramatic effect on any country's economy. For a country like Nepal, which has next to
non-existent industries that can export items, tourism offers tremendous potentials
"But it all boils down to one thing. Unless we have our house in order, no tourist is
going to come here," said renowned tourism entrepreneur Tek Chandra Pokharel. Agrees Dangi. "It is absolutely
necessary that our internal security situation improves. Otherwise, tourism will continue
to deteriorate." As the international tourism sector is starting to recover after the
September 11 incident with the WTO predicting it to fully bounce back by mid-2002,
Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs are hoping against hopes that things back home, too, will
improve by then. |
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editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
