National 5 (Spotlight Weekly)

Sustained Efforts

Tour operators have dived into confidence-building campaign to convince tourists that Nepal is safe for travelers

By A CORRESPONDENT

Even though the country has sunk into various levels of instability, tourists have not been hurt. This is the message that Nepalese tour operators and Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) are trying to send home.

Tourists in Pokhara : Safe journey

After the recent political change in the country, the Nepalese tour operators, with the support from the government, organized a campaign in New Delhi, India to inject confidence on Indian tour operators and people about the safety and security situation in Nepal.

After the disruption in communication in Nepal for nearly a week, there were uncertainties in international market regarding Nepal's situation. The Nepal Association of Tour Operators (NATO), NTB and PATA Nepal Chapter held a 'show-case' to allay fears and apprehensions that had emanated following the communication disruption.

The show was participated by 12 Nepalese companies. "Since India is the most important market, we had decided to launch our campaign from India," said Basanta Mishra, president of NATO.

"This is basically our confidence building exercise to counter the negative media reports and Embassy Travel Advisories," Mishra said. During the campaign in New Delhi, the Nepalese team had organized a press conference. They are also planning to bring in Indian tour operators and journalists in familiarization trip to Nepal to convince them of the safety situation for tourists.

NTB chief executive Tek Bahadur Dangi adds that the board is not sitting silently. "We are into major destination image enhancement drive with close partnership of the government and the private sector," he said, adding, "We must convince our prospective travelers that despite all the difficulties, Nepal is still one of the safest destination for tourists."

Dangi said that the NTB makes available the updated information to media operators everyday by using their own database. It also either conducts campaign on its own or takes the help of Nepalese diplomatic missions in major tourism arrival points like India, France, Germany and so on. "Despite media negative publicity Nepal is comparatively a safer place. In 2003 tourist arrival increased by 23 percent and in 2004, it increased by 4 percent," he said. The NTB is also preparing an action plan geared towards increasing tourism growth in coming years.

Mishra believes that after the incident of 9/11, all countries have realized the importance of regional tourism as long haul tourism faced a serious setback. As such, India is the most important market for Nepal. "That is why we started our campaign from India."

Entrepreneurs believe that for immediate growth in tourism, Nepal needs to focus on religious tourism. They stress the need to give image makeover to events like Shiva Ratri to attract even the high-paying clients from India. Likewise, places like Muktinath, Gosain Kunda, Janakpur, Lumbini and organizing the travel to Mansarovar (of Tibet) hold tremendous potentials.

In fact, the NTB had conducted Pashupati Darshan package in South Indian cities to promote religious tourism. They are also preparing a package to attract Indian tourists this Shiva Ratri festival with the partnership of Pashupati Development Trust (PDT).

In the past, the tourism used to contribute 4.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which has slightly decreased in recent years. Likewise, at one point in the past, the tourism contributed to 23 percent of total foreign exchange earnings of the country – which has now come down to around 15 percent.

As the country continues to remain embroiled in internal instability, it is important that a strong public-private partnership is forged to strengthen the tourism sector, which provides livelihood to hundreds of thousands of people.