'Nepal Is NOT An Unsafe Destination'

Dr. Osmane Aidi, President of International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH&RA), recently visited Nepal at the invitation of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) on the occasion of the latter’s 33rd Annual General Meeting (AGM).

As a global tourism entrepreneur, Dr. Aidi is the owner of over 20 five-star hotels in Europe, USA, Middle East and other parts of the world. He sees a lot of tourism potential in Nepal. He has shown interest to join hands with HAN for the promotion of Nepalese tourism. He has also found Nepal to be a peaceful, safe and exotic tourist destination. Last week, B. M. Dahal of Sunday Despatch talked to Dr. Aidi regarding issues ranging from global tourism trend, IH &RA activities to the prospects of Nepalese tourism industry. Excerpts:

As a global tourism entrepreneur and President of IH &RA, what trend do you see in the world tourism?
Currently, the tourism worldwide is increasing by more than 10 per cent annually. In 1999, more over 650 million tourists travelled globally. They spent about 450 billion US dollars. So, you see tourism is a very rich and booming industry.

What is your organisation  doing for the development  of tourism industry?
Our association is a global network that represents more than 750,000 hospitality operators, associations and suppliers in 150 countries of the world. More than 100 national associations, including HAN, are our members. IH& RA has a mission to protect and promote the hospitality industry globally. After I took over as its president, IH & RA has established a good relationship with the World Tourism Organisation (WTO).  I have attended several WTO seminars on issues ranging from reduction of travel formalities to facilitate tourism.

Besides, our association has responded to a request from the WTO to provide input on the WTO’s draft ‘Global Code of Ethics.’ It proposes both to establish a set of ethical guidelines governing tourism activities and a mechanism for enforcing the voluntary commitment.

 Moreover, the IH &RA made history with the signing of the revised Code of Practice for Hoteliers and Travel Agents during last autumn. The document was a result of a long collaboration between IH &RA and the Universal Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTAA).  For the interest of the clients, we have established relationships between hotels and travel agencies. We have also made an agreement with UNESCO to work together for the preservation of historical, cultural and archaeological sites.

How can the IH & RA extend help to tourism associations in countries like Nepal?
We are always following all the members in the world. We can provide them with any kind of help and assistance they need.  We also give opportunity to organise seminars and conduct training programmes.

As a tourism entrepreneur, what tourism potentials do you see in Nepal?
Nepal has a lot of tourism potentials as you have an exotic scenic beauty. Besides, Nepal is abundant in historic and cultural heritages. So, you have a good tourism prospects. But you have to preserve and promote them.

Everything is nice and good in your country. You have to make some improvements at the airport and the civil aviation sector needs to be revamped. However, I found an excellent hospitality and security management. I have found Nepal as a peaceful and safe tourist destination. Culturally, you have very important things and you have also good hotels. You need to provide training to the people involved in hotel and travel industry.

What is the impact of the hijacking of an Indian plane in Nepalese tourism?
Your government has to clarify about the hijacking through international media. It should inform the world that such a hijacking had never happened before in Nepal. You should also say what happened can happen anywhere in the world. Planes have been hijacked even in India many times. You should also say that hijacking has been taking place in USA, Europe and India. You must explain about the hijacking and make contacts with the travel and trade people in the world. I have already told you that Nepal is not an unsafe destination.

New Definition Drastically Reduces Unemployment Rate

By Krishna Shrestha

The unemployment rate of the country has declined not because the employment situation of the country has improved but because new definition has been introduced while calculating employed, unemployed and underemployed people. Four years back, the unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent. Today, according to the latest report of the Central Bureau of  Statistics, it is 1.8 per cent only.

According to Nepal Labour Force Survey 1998/99 being carried out by Central Bureau of Statistics with support from International Labour Organisation and United Nations Development Programme, using the international definitions, it is estimated that fewer than 200,000 people aged 15 and over would be classified as unemployed, giving an unemployment rate of 1.8 per cent.

According to the Bureau, unemployment in urban areas is 7.4 per cent whereas it is only 1.2 per cent in rural areas.

“Across the country, the urban areas with the highest rate of unemployment are those in the Eastern Terai with an unemployment rate of 13 per cent, while in the urban areas of the Kathmandu valley the unemployment rate is 10 per cent,” says the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Across all urban areas, the rate of youth unemployment is 12 per cent, says Bureau quoting Nepal Labour Force Survey Report 1998/99.

“Young people in urban areas, and particularly females, experience unemployment rates of 10 to 15 per cent. Those aged under 30 account for almost two-thirds of total unemployment,” says the report.

However, Nepal Living Standards Survey Report 1996 shows the unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent.

“It is not directly comparable with the figure of National Living Standards Survey of 1996 as that had followed old system of national account while the current Nepal Labour Force Survey has followed the definitions as provided in the system of national account of 1993, which has been adopted by all the countries of the world,” says Dr. Nirmal Prasad Pandey, Member of National Planning Commission, who looks after social issues including others. The Central Bureau of Statistics comes under National Planning Commission.

New tools have been used; and, some of activities that were not introduced in economic activities previously have been incorporated in new survey, says Dr. Pandey.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent as given by Nepal Living Standards Survey 1996 would go up to 5.2 per cent in 1998/99 if the old definition were used. On the contrary, underemployment rate estimated at 47 per cent in 1996 would go up to 32 per cent in 1998/99 on comparable basis.

“A person is counted as currently employed if he or she has done at least one hour’s work in the previous seven days, or if such a person has an involvement in any kind of job,” says the report.

The report estimates the population of Nepal aged 15 and over to be 11.2 million, of whom about 9.6 million are on average currently active at any time. In addition, out of 7.9 million children aged 5 to 14, 2.0 million are economically active.

In the report, it is stated that in the absence of unemployment insurance schemes, very few people can afford to be unemployed for any period of time.

The report clearly states that child labour exists in the country. “About 500,000 children aged 5 to 9, and 1.5 million children aged 10 to 14, are classified as economically active. Participation rates are higher for girls than boys, and much higher in rural areas than in urban areas,” says report. They work 44 million hours of work per week, representing 22 hours week on average for every children.

If measured on a ‘usual’ basis over a whole year, almost one million children are economically active, says Central Bureau of Statistics.

Majority of children are involved in agricultural activities. The report does not rule out the possibilities of children working ‘at risk’ situation.       

Some of the major finding of the report, as stated in the report, is as follows:

á In population aged 15 and over, number of women is higher than men by about half a million, the number of economically active men and women is about same, at 4.8 million;

á About 4.2 million men and 4.4 million women in rural areas are currently economically active, compared with about 600,000 men and only 450,000 women in urban areas;

á Out of 1.6 million people aged 15 and over who are currently inactive, women constitute two-thirds;

á 418,000 million women were inactive because they were involved in household duties;

á 11.2 million people including 2.0 million children under the age of 15 carried out one more activities in a seven-day period;

á The major activity is agriculture, where 7.1 million persons aged 15 and over are engaged followed by 1.3 million people engaged in elementary occupations;

á Out of 9.5 million people aged 15 and over, 1.5 million are in paid employment and 8.0 million are self-employed; Number of males in paid employment is almost 1.2 million where females are less than 400,000;

á About 240,000 are in government services, of which number of females is only 30,000; 70,000 people (60,000 males) in public corporations; About 30,000 people in non-government organisations and international non-governmental organisations; and about 380,000 people in private companies;

á Out of the 1.5 million paid employees, almost 10 per cent receive their payments on a piece-rate basis;

á The average total monthly earnings of paid employees in 1998/99 were about Rs. 2,400 for men and about Rs. 1,400 for women;

á 4.0 million persons did other work in addition to their main job;

á About 2.6 million people work less than 40 hours a week;

á Majority of underemployed live in rural areas, and only 50,000 of the underemployed live in the urban areas;

á About 60,000 children aged 10 to 14 (but hardly any children aged 5 to 9) are in paid employment;

“This is the first survey of its kind. Such an elaborated survey was not carried out in the past,” says National Planning Commission member Dr. Pandey.

Dr. Pandey is optimistic that it will be a very important tool for policy makers to hit the core areas in the way of solving the problem on unemployment.

“We have a long term vision of poverty alleviation. The survey provides detail information regarding the employment, unemployment and underemployment situation along with other relevant information. It helps to find out areas where we really need to hit,” says Dr. Pandey.

According to Kapil Prasad Timialsena, Statistical Officer in Central Bureau of Statistics, one of the members of core staff of the survey team, the survey had covered a very large sample with more than 14,000 households with 70,000 households members. Bureau staffs carried out interview with the fieldwork spread over a full 12 months to measure the variation in employment in different seasons.