National 5 (Spotlight Weekly)

Getting By

The year 2004 witnessed a modest growth by 9 percent in tourist arrival

By A CORRESPONDENT

The year 2004 was not an encouraging one for the tourism entrepreneurs. For those who were keen to see the revival of the sector, the year offered very little.

From continued escalation in violence to riots and blockades, the tourism sector had to swim through rough waters just to survive. In the face of such hardships it comes as good news that the year had, in fact, witnessed 9 percent growth in the arrival of tourists via air compared to the year 2003.

Indian tourists : Big market nearby

According to immigration office at the Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA), 2,88,356 tourists came here in 2004. The number of third country tourists grew by 13 percent in that period. Likewise, the number of Indian tourists grew by 1 percent.

The data compiled by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) indicates that the growth in the third country tourist arrival fueled the overall growth in 2004. The higher growths were observed from France (20 percent), Germany (8 percent) and the United Kingdom (10 percent). The US market grew by 5 percent in the same period.

“On the other hand, arrivals in December 2004 has declined by 14 percent with a net loss of 25 percent visitors from non-Indian segment while the Indian arrivals grew by seven percent in comparison to the same month last year,” according to NTB.

Tourism entrepreneurs have expressed grave concerns that internal turmoil in the country has dragged the tourism industry, which otherwise would have grown handsomely.

“It is quite clear that the tourism sector would rebound if the domestic instability and violence ends,” said Hari Man Lama, chief executive of the Incentive Travels. “Otherwise, we would be fortunate just to survive.”

The biggest blot on the tourism sector this year was the September 1 incident. After the killing of 12 innocent Nepalese workers in Iraq by a terrorist group called Army of Ansar Al Sunna, violent riots gripped the capital city with mobs setting the offices of Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, Pakistan International Airlines, among others, to fire. The attacks against Muslims also sent a very wrong signal to the outside world. The attacks on these airlines dealt a blow to tourism as these airlines were ferrying in a lot of tourists. Fortunately, the airlines resumed their flights soon.

The incident occurred on the eve of the new tourist season and severely affected bookings. In the wake of the violent mob riots, the officials of the Nepal Association of Tour Operators (NATO) and Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) informed that they were concerned over growing cancellation of visits/bookings by the tourists. According to the, a number of tour operators in North America and Europe had de-listed Nepal from the tourist destination for the year 2004 due to the unrest here. These half a dozen tour operators used to send around 5000 quality tourists a year to Nepal.

“The year 2004 would have ended up very positively in tourist arrivals had the incident of September 1st not occurred. Since such incidents are rare and unfortunate, 2005 is expected to perform easy double digit growth in the light of increasing travellers’ confidence to Nepal and increasing air-links from various counties,” states NTB.

Apart from September 1 riots, the incessant bandhs, strikes and shut-downs bled the country. The blockade imposed in September and later in December also created a negative environment. A volley of negative international publicity in the wake of riots and blockades also marred the prospects of the industry.

Given such odds, the fact that the sector could mark a modest growth speaks volumes about the growing ability of Nepalese entrepreneurs to survive during crises. The entrepreneurs have also been requesting the government to come up with crisis management plans to deal with the challenges of the day.