Continuous Slide

Despite various efforts, the slide of tourist arrival continues unabated

By A CORRESPONDENT

Although exercises like the celebrations of the golden jubilee of the first successful ascents of Mt. Makalu and Mt. Kanchanjunga did attract a number of international mountaineers and improved the image of the country as a tourist destination, the country is yet to recover from continuous decline in the number of tourist arrivals.

 The arrival of tourists to Nepal by air continued to decline for yet another month, as total tourist arrivals registered a decline by 7 percent in May.

Tourists : Declining Number

 A total of 20,816 tourists came to Nepal by air in May – witnessing a net loss of 1462 visitors in comparison to the same month last year. The tourist arrival from third country came down by 10 percent whereas Indian arrivals registered a slight decrease of 2 percent.  

Visitors from major markets like the US , the UK , Germany and Japan declined by 2 percent, 15 percent, 9 percent and 21 percent respectively. “The softening in decline is certainly a positive message, Hosting of various international events has helped in increasing the visitors’ confidence. Organizing FAM trips, NATTA Travel Mart, celebrations of events like 50 years of first ascent to Mt. Makalu and Mt. Kanchanjunga , and Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon – have helped in conveying the tourism friendly destination image to the visitors internationally,” said Tek Bahadur Dangi, chief executive officer at Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).

Unfortunately, at a time when Indian tourists could have visited Nepal to escape harsh summer time, two major international carriers have suspended their flights to Kathmandu beginning June 2.

Jet Airways of India has said it would suspend the flight for the next one month in Delhi-Kathmandu sector. Qatar Airways, on the other hand, has suspended its flight indefinitely in Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur sector. Both companies have cited problems in operation in these sectors.  

“We had to suspend the flights because of problems in fixing flight routines. We will resume it as soon as possible,” said Joy Dewan, General Sales Agent (GSA) of Qatar Airways. Jet Airways’ GSA Hansha Travel has said that it would resume the daily flights between Delhi-Kathmandu after one month.  

Recently, the Indian government had given permission to Jet Airways to operate flights in European and American sectors. In course of formulating new flight routine and charts, the flights to Kathmandu had to be suspended for a month, it is said.  

The flights by another Indian airlines Sahara Airlines, too, remain suspended. Jet and Sahara are two leading private sector airlines of India . “The suspension of their flights could be a huge setback to tourism as they used to carry a large number of Indian tourists,” said a tourism entrepreneur.

In its efforts to diversify the tourism sector and build up basic infrastructures, the government is planning to upgrade the airport at Bhairahawa to the level of regional international airport.

 After years of demand by the tourism entrepreneurs regarding the necessity of alternative international airport, the government seems to have zeroed in on the plans to build the airport in Bhairahawa near Lumbini. The clear objective here is to lure more and more religious tourists.

 Being a birthplace of Lord Buddha – worshipped across the world – it is high time Nepal cashed in the opportunity. According to Buddhiraj Bajracharya, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the airport in Bhairahawa will be upgraded to enable it to handle jet aircraft like 757 within three years. The cost of upgrading the airport is estimated to be Rs 300 million – Rs 50 million will be used to acquire land and the rest to build terminal building, installing equipment and expansion of runway.