Nepal Tourism Year 2011 has officially begun. The inauguration was a thrilling one. The blacked out city was illuminated by the rockets and all the crackers of the ceremony. The stadium was illuminated with all the lights and crackers. The sounds of the crackers and rockets boomed through the evening sky. Yes, the NTY 2011 has been officially inaugurated. The expectations of the country, the tourism sector and the overall Nepalese has to be met on this year. After the grand success of Visit Nepal ’98, it took us a whole thirteen years to come to another tourism event for the country. There were various obstacles on these thirteen years, the political turmoil is the most important in the Nepalese history and will remain. Government of Nepal in consultation with Nepalese travel trade sector and concerned organizations/experts decided on October 25, 2008 to launch a national tourism campaign "Nepal Tourism Year 2011".
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| Kaligandaki with Nilgiri (courtesy www.panoramio.com) |
Tourism plays an important role in the development of country. Tourism not only brings on the economic development to the country but also the new ideas. But it depends how we perceive those ideas and how we implement them in the practical field. Nepal is a very rich country in terms of natural and cultural tourism. We have abundant feasibilities for the tourism. We just need the ideas about how to get much from what we have. Tourism doesn’t run on itself, it needs various others partners to run properly. There should be a healthy condition to run the tourism sector.
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| Mt. Everest |
The most important point for the development of a country is the political stability of the country. None of the sectors of the nation or the economy is away from the politics. If the political situation is better then there will be the possibility and availability of the development. Above all, if the political situation is better, then the people will feel secured and safe thus enhancing the mobility of people. NTY 2011 has come up in the midst of the political turbulence of the nation. No one knows what will happen tomorrow. Each and every sector is influenced by the same. In the present day situation of absence of final complete constitution of the country, it is very much like an absence of responsibility of the lawmakers, it is under a pressurized situation. Nobody knows when will it be formed and what it will bring for the economic development. The responsible people are all working for their own motives and not the needs of the country. Let's hope it to be good at least for 2011. The budget formed recently has provided the heavy loaded price hikes for the people. Moreover the regular and unmanaged price hikes in petroleum products has affected the nation as a whole. If the price of the transportation means goes up, then it is absolute that the price of every thing goes up. This leads to the overall price hike in the economy. This will definitely affect the tourism sector leading to the increase in expenses for the tourists. That might affect the overall stay plan of the foreigners.
Nepal is rich in natural resources. The flora and fauna are so rich and unique, but still we could not explore them all. The mountain ranges are suitable for all sorts of visitors. The adventure sports could be the important chapter in the tourism year. The tourists could find every type of adventurous places according to their needs. They don't have to follow the old tracks but they could also explore their own; the trekking routes, hiking routes, etc are getting bigger and bigger. The tourist could enjoy their stay at some exotic hotels or some indigenous villages. They could enjoy the city lives as well as the remote ones. They could stroll around the historic places and religious places. Though the foreigners come to Nepal to visit and spend their time but they still want to get themselves involved in some social activities. We have seen so many foreigners visiting and helping some needy people. Some has open up some NGOs to help children, old age people; some has opened up some schools.
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| Water Fall |
Nepal is rich in natural resources. The flora and fauna are so rich and unique, but still we could not explore them all. The mountain ranges are suitable for all sorts of visitors. The adventure sports could be the important chapter in the tourism year. The tourists could find every type of adventurous places according to their needs. They don't have to follow the old tracks but they could also explore their own; the trekking routes, hiking routes, etc are getting bigger and bigger. The tourist could enjoy their stay at some exotic hotels or some indigenous villages. They could enjoy the city lives as well as the remote ones. They could stroll around the historic places and religious places. Though the foreigners come to Nepal to visit and spend their time but they still want to get themselves involved in some social activities. We have seen so many foreigners visiting and helping some needy people. Some has open up some NGOs to help children, old age people; some has opened up some schools.
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| Jatra at Kathmandu |
Nepal's cultural aspects are of high values and the other people want to see them. Nepal is for every sort of religion, ethnicity and ideology. The people have various cultures and tradition. Within the same community we could see various systems and subsystems to guide the people. These cultural heritages could be of greater attraction for the visitors. They could sing along the Nepalese folk songs and dance along our Jatras and festivals. They could enjoy our religious festivals, though there are some boundaries. The cultural and religious heritages might be the places of interest for the foreigners. They might want to see them, learn them and feel them or at least they could pose a photograph in front of our heritages.
Adventure Sports
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| Rafting at Kali Gandaki |
The adventure sporting tourists are also coming to Nepal for some adventure sports such as rock climbing, mountaineering, bungee, kayaking, rafting, etc. We do have feasibility but we are unable to exploit them all to get a better return. This is due to the fact that we don't have the knowledge and ideas to explore them. If we could arrange for the infrastructure, they will be successful. We should be able to encourage the visitors to do some new things, get some new experiences and new vibes. Recently, just in the dawn of NTY 2011, we have seen the obstacles at bungee. Lets hope such obstacles won't arise at least for a year. We all want our part from the investment we have done but it's of no use to get it all for ourselves. If we share it collectively then we could make it successful for all of us. There should be a proper coordination of how we earn and how we expend the income. We do have a lot to explore about the adventure sport in the country.
Promotion
Promotion
Today is the day of communication and communication comes from sharing ideas. The best player for sharing ideas is the media. The media of any sort could be effective for the publicity of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 campaign. There should be efficient marketing strategy for the campaign to make it a successful one. The timing and flow of the advertising campaigns should be maintained properly otherwise the information could bear a negative result. The information related to the tourist spots should be provided to the tourists through various means. They could be transmitted through the television channels, magazines, brochures, newspapers, websites and all. Each and every citizen is equally liable for the promotion of this mega event of the country. We are Nepali citizens and we all are equally responsible for the development of the country. Tourism will help to get our result at least a little. Let’s make it a successful one.
Setbacks
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| Bungee |
The tourists should be provided with various facilities. I guess we are in a short of these all. We do have better resorts and hotels of various grades but they are not quite enough. We do have transportation facility but they are not in the proper condition. Even the only one international airport is not in a good condition. The roads are full of reconstruction patches. The traffic runs accordingly, without following the proper rules. The footpaths are more for the street shops rather than walk ways. The roads and street stay cramped up all the day with vehicles, and no body follows the traffic rules. On that point we all should be responsible and manage it accordingly.
A look back to Visit Nepal 1998
Tourism in Nepal contributes 3.5% to GDP and 15% of total foreign exchange earnings of the country. It also gave direct or indirect employment to 257,000 people in 1998. The average length of stay was 10.8 days and average expenditure/tourist/day was US$44.2 in 1998. According to a report, in the year 1998, we have the following number of visitors. Total number of tourists visiting Nepal 463,684
Total number of tourists visiting Pokhara 103,895
Total number of tourists visiting Chitwan 72,528
Total number of trekkers 112,644
Annapurna | 65,587 | Dolpa | 322 |
Sagarmatha | 22,826 | Bardia | 2,543 |
Langtang | 10.952 | Shuklaphata | 121 |
Kanchenjunga | 782 | Khaptad | 5 |
Upper Mustang | 798 | Kosi Tappu | 318 |
Manaslu | 756 | Makalu Barun | 876 |
Humla | 538 | Rara | 142 |
Table 1. Trekkers details
Although the Ninth Plan had envisaged a growth rate of 10% in tourist arrivals and
20% for foreign exchange earnings, the progress reported in 1998 and 1999 indicate
that the target for 10% growth rate in tourist arrivals has almost been met, the target
for foreign exchange earnings has not been met. Analysis of data for first ten months
in 2000 shows that the number of Indian tourists visiting Nepal has declined by almost
a third compared to the same period in 1999 resulting in an overall drop of almost 13%
in the number of tourists. Such factors as the hijacking of Indian Airlines plane in
December 1999 and adverse publicity in the Indian newsmedia could have been
responsible for the large decrease in the number of Indian tourists. On the other hand,
the decrease in the number of tourists from third countries could be attributed to
adverse publicity due to Maoist activity in the international media and warning given by
many tourist-generating countries that parts of Nepal are not safe for tourists.
A Visit Nepal Year was celebrated in 1998 with mixed results. UNDP assisted
Partnership for Quality Tourism was implemented between 1995 and 1998. The sites
selected were Swayambhu and Changunarayan in Kathmandu valley and two villages,
Syabru Besi and Thulo Syabru in Langtang National Park. National Tourism Board
was also created as a follow up of Quality Tourist Project.
Prospects on Nepali Tourism
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| Courtesy : realadventures.com |
Nepal is rich on every sectors required for the tourism development. We are very rich on natural resources, social and cultural factors and religious norms. We can focus on these various aspects of tourism and lead it for a sustainable development of the tourism sectors. The economic status of the country will be improved by the tourism sectors. Currently we are unable to manage what we have. We should be able to manage the available resources and avoid the by products. The waste management is the most important for the city basically Kathmandu. Whatever comes to the city goes out on the road as waste. If we could not manage the waste then the visitors will get a negative impact. They certainly won’t visit such a dirty city, and nobody does. The government and the related all the parties should focus on the conservation of reserve areas, flora and fauna, the rare animals and the beauties of the tourist spots. For the sustainable development of tourism sector the earnings from the tourism revenue should be implemented on those areas. We do not have such an implementation and if we have, they are not so enough. The tourism should not be taken as a one way concept, it is a multilateral concept. Each and every part of the country and each and every sector of the economy should participate on the tourism development. There should be a participatory movement for the sustainable development of the tourism. If tourism is to benefit people in the village level and gap between "haves" and "have nots" were to be reduced, there should be participation of the people of the touristy areas including villages who should have a say in development of tourism in their areas.
With the badge of adventure destination glittering and the adage “Atithi Devo Bhava” (Guests are Gods) embedded in our culture, the portfolio of tourism products never cease to mesmerize the visitors. The unparallel cultural, geographical, ethnic and bio diversities of the country allure visitors to Nepal time and again which truly substantiates the spirit of Nepal tourism brand ‘Naturally Nepal, once is not enough!’ Let’s promote “Nepal Tourism Year 2011”.
(Picture Courtesy : www.nepaltourismyear2011.com, realadventures.com, panoramio.com)
