National 6 (Spotlight Weekly)

Hopes For Revival

The government-Maoist truce lifts the spirits of a sagging industry

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

Tourism entrepreneurs have been heaving a collective sigh of relief these days. After years of struggling to survive amid atmosphere of gloom and despondency marked by increasing intensity of violence in the country, finally there has emerged some signs of peace.

"Tourism is a very sensitive industry. It reacts sensitively to any internal or external disturbances," said senior official at Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).

No wonder, the chain of events in the last couple of years in Nepal as well as in the world had sharply brought down the numbers of people visiting overseas.

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For a developing country like Nepal, which is heavily dependent on tourism to generate the scarce foreign exchange, the rapid developments in domestic political instability wreaked havoc.

Big hotels began to run empty and many restaurants and lodges pulled down their shutters. "We were merely surviving," said one entrepreneur.

As such, the announcement of cease-fire between the government and the Maoists has injected fresh hopes among tourism entrepreneurs and industrialists. "In the immediate aftermath of the cease-fire announcement, there has been a marked rise in the volume of inquiries from our customers abroad. This is a really positive development," said Suman Pandey, president of Trekking Agents Association of Nepal (TAAN).

Pandey, however, cautions against premature optimism. "Till now these are just inquiries. If the situation deteriorates, these will not materialize into actual visits. Therefore, we will have to wait till March/April to really assess the impact."

Agrees a hotelier. "Indeed, if the truce holds and things move towards permanent resolution, the current inquiries will materialize into actual visits."

Tourism entrepreneurs believe that if there are concrete steps towards lasting peace in the country, Nepal will observe an increased flow in the number of tourists. "We should not compare the arrival of tourists with the last year because the year 2002 was the worst one in our history and its figures do not reflect our true status as tourist destination country," remarked Hari Man Lama, a tourism entrepreneur. Of late the passengers arriving from the national flag carrier RNAC, too, has increased according to an official.

According to the NTB, the total number of tourist arrivals to Nepal in 2002 had gone down by 28 per cent to 215,922, making a net loss of 82,534. A comparison to last year shows that third country tourist arrivals could not break the negative trend in 2002 showing a decrease by 36 per cent. The third country arrivals had gone down by 83,963 in number. However, the Indian market had shown signs of recovery. Indian market shows a net gain of 1429 arrivals, an increase by 2 per cent in the year.

With the country observing major events like Mount Everest Golden Jubilee celebration in the coming months, there will be marked increase in the arrival of tourists, according to tourism officials.

Meanwhile, in recent months there has been an attempt to promote domestic tourism as well. Apart from events like Chitawan Mahotsav, the board is also assisting in the organization of programs like "Jaun Hai Pokhara" (Let's Go To Pokhara). "We are planning to organize a major trekking campaign to promote domestic trekking shortly," said Lama. The TAAN is also organizing several programs to boost the trekking sector in the year 2003, which incidentally is also its silver jubilee anniversary.

The different promotional events coupled with hopes for lasting peace in the country have definitely injected fresh lease of life to the otherwise ailing industry. Whether the industry revives and thrives, however, depends on not only how these promotional events are handled but also how the country's politics evolves from the current quagmire.