National 6 (Spotlight Weekly)

Forgettable Year

Thousands skipped the kingdom in 2002 because of internal and external factors

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

In a way, the year-end report released by Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) detailing the travel trend of 2002 was nothing more than an official vindication of what was being already talked and written about. Tourists, by the thousands, skipped this Himalayan kingdom during the past year, thanks to manifold reasons, both internal as well as external.

Tourists : In short supply

According to the data released by the board, total tourist arrivals to Nepal in 2002 went down by 28 percent to 215,922, representing a net loss of 82,534. The loss of such a huge number of tourists was reflected in the overall gloom that hung over the otherwise top foreign exchange earning industry. "Due to a culmination of a number of negative national and international events, there was a marked negative growth in the tourism sector, leading to closure of many businesses," said a tourism entrepreneur.

Many hotels and big restaurants engaged in intense cost-cutting exercises to remain afloat in these trying times. "Exercises like forced leave and temporary closures were extensively practiced by many entrepreneurs to survive," said the entrepreneur.

"A comparison to last year shows that third-country tourist arrivals could not break the negative trend in 2002, showing a decrease by 36 percent. The third-country arrivals have gone down by 83,963 in number," reads the NTB release.

However, there was a silver lining in the form of sustained positive growth of arrivals from India, the mainstay of Nepalese tourism industry. Indian tourist arrivals had taken a deep plunge following the IC 814 hijack in 1999 and Hrithik Roshan episode in December 2000. "But due to massive efforts from the NTB in promoting the Indian market, we are witnessing the revival of that market," said a senior official at the NTB.

"The Indian market seems to have become strong for the last several months though the arrival trend was negative in early months of the year. Indian market shows a net gain of 1429 arrivals, an increase by 2 per cent," the NTB data states.

As the current Minister for Tourism Kuber Prasad Sharma has already expressed his intention to promote regional tourism, the prospects of this market looks brighter. "To sustain tourism, we all need Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and Indian middle class tourists. We must provide good entertainment facilities here to attract them. That will work as a perennial source for tourism and it will not collapse like the present one. Besides, my idea is to target people living in provincial cities of India instead of merely focusing on residents of few metropolises," Sharma told SPOTLIGHT.

India has always been the biggest market for tourism in Nepal. Due to the presence of hallowed sites like the temple of Lord Pashupatinath and Lumbini, sacred to Hindus and Buddhists, Nepal always has a chance to lure religious tourists as well. There are 200 million middle class people in India; luring even a small fraction of that would have a stupendous effect on Nepalese tourism.

The latest data released by the NTB showed that growth of arrivals from any third country was not positive in 2002. "But negative growth of third-country arrivals has been really milder for last some months and it's been least in December. The total arrivals in December alone have shown positive growth of about 20 percent and Indian arrivals have shown a marked growth of 92 percent. After a long period, the tourism industry has seen a positive growth in any month," stated the release.

According to Aditya Baral, Manager-PR and Publicity, Tourism Marketing and Promotion, NTB, there have been many factors behind the decline. "There is a general slackness in tourism internationally. Negative international media coverage of Nepal is also a fact that has helped decrease tourist arrivals from third countries. But the efforts of NTB, Destination Nepal Campaign 2002-2003, and private sector seem to be working well in the case of India. 'Fly n win' scratch scheme of NTB and RNAC, a few press and tour-operators meet held in India under Destination Nepal Campaign 2002-2003, packages of Indian Airlines, attractive packages from private sector to Indian travelers have boosted Indian arrivals compared to last year."