By Kamala Sarup
Photo Source pradesh.com
Photo Source paradesh.com
World Tourism Day (WTD) is celebrated worldwide on 27 September every year. The theme of this year’s WTD is “Travel and Transport: From the Imagination of Jules Verne to 21st Century Reality”.
Village tourism, rural tourism, community tourism, mountain tourism, agro tourism, are being talked about today new dimensions of tourism.
“By increasing the number of tourists, increasing tourist destination and making more hotels available to more people, profits from tourism can be spread to wider section of the people,” said Stanley, an American tour operator.
Violence and terrorism always hurt the tourism business. They have caused decline in tourism industry and are one of the major factors in destroying tourism infrastructure.
The nine-year-old armed conflict has virtually brought Nepali tourism on its knees. Since 1999, the overall number of tourists visiting the country has declined. The closures of well-known hotels like Blue Star and blue Birds reflect the difficulties that the country’s tourism industry is facing at present.
Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Buddi Raj Bajracharya greeting the first passenger to disembark from a Qatar Airways flight at 6:30 a.m. at Tribhuvan International Airport, George Dauster of Germany, on the occasion of World Tourism Day, Tuesday, Sep 27 05. Photo courtesy: Nepal Tourism Board
Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Buddi Raj Bajracharya greeting the …
In such a situation, how do we cope with the situation?
Of course, there could be a number of steps to get Nepal back on its feet and functioning as a viable and attractive tourist destination. The first mantra is networking. Nepali entrepreneurs should network with as many tourist industry people as possible and gather as many good ideas about where the industry is growing (who is actually traveling and spending money these days? Japanese? Chinese? Indians? Britons? Americans? Germans?) and what type of destinations they prefer (beaches, lakes, mountains, cultural centers, etc.).
Nepal Tourism Board—a public-private entity– should invite all the interested business groups in Nepal and seek their advise on how best to develop new tourism products within the country. Emphasis should be given on developing linkages between agriculture and tourism and promoting eco-tourism.
Says John Scherb, an American journalist, who has been to Nepal several times, ” Nepal must get its act together to develop a mutually reinforcing agricultural and tourist industries. Almost always, there is more money to be made in cooperative ventures. But, hostilities are usually bad for business, so everyone has a stake in seeing a good peace established”.
A large number of tourists visit Nepal for trekking. Almost all the trekking areas are en route rural villages, which are benefiting the locals. Nepal is a unique destination for tourists because of the warmth, affection and friendliness of Nepalis people. Now, the only challenge is how to translate it into a thriving tourism business and make it sustainable?