As the world came together on Monday to celebrate World Tourism Day (WTD) with the theme, “Tourism and Biodiversity”,
Nepal racked up its efforts in its mission to attract one million tourists next year as the much awaited Nepal Tourism Year 2011 (NTY-2011) nears.
The growing number of hotels, increased hotel and international airlines bookings and rising number of international visitors in 2010 are positive indications that the country is likely to receive more tourists than ever.
However, doubts persist among the government authorities and travel trade entrepreneurs as to whether the country would achieve the target of bringing one million tourists at a time when the country is reeling under political uncertainty and the shaky peace process. The ambitious campaign was launched with the hope of attracting at least a million foreign tourists under the public-private-partnership and give a major boost to the country’s economy at a time when the country faces slackened tourism.
Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Sharat Singh Bhandari is hopeful that the tourism year will give the desired boost to the country’s economy. “Even if the target is not met, the campaign will be a key driver in establishing Nepal as a prime destination,” he said at a programme on Monday.
There will be two major happenings on Jan 14, 2011—the campaign is slated to be
inaugurated the day the Maoist’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is integrated and UNMIN has been scheduled to go out the same day. “This will be a major achievement in leading the country towards economic prosperity,” said Minister Bhandari while addressing the 31st WTD.
Travel trade entrepreneurs said that they are fully ready to accommodate the numbers of targeted tourists. However, on the other hand, they are still skeptical about the level of international promotion due to budget constraints. The Ministry of Tourism and the Nepal Tourism Board, as the two main responsible government agencies spearheading the preparation, are being blamed for not doing enough as per the ambitious target set for the Indian and Chinese markets. Nepal has targeted 265,000 visitors from India and 100,000 from China during NTY 2011.
“We are ready in terms of preparation and planning and are confident of taking the campaign ahead,” said Ranjit Acharya, member of the NTY-2011 promotion committee.
“But, we are not getting enough budget on time,” he said. The government has allocated Rs. 230 million budget for the NTY-2011 promotion but delay in the full fledged budget has hit the campaign hard. Of the total allocated budget, Rs. 150 million is allocated to international promotion.
Given the fact that tourist arrival by air in 2009 was 378,712 in number, the 700,000 target to be brought by air may sound a little ambitious. Yet, at the same time the growing interest of international airlines connecting Nepal seems an encouraging factor.
As per the target set by the NTY-2011 working committee, next-door neighbors—China
and India—are the major focus. “We are exploring promotional partnership in India. Recently, we tied up with Dainik Jagaran Group, one of the largest circulated Indian dailies,” Acharya said.
As part of a pre-NTY marketing test, the promotional committee has launched a campaign ‘Garmi Se Behal, Chalo Nepal’ in India.
There will be constraints on budget to make a massive promotion in China. However, the NTY promotion committee has taken a different promotion strategy through public relation, events, internet and SMS
campaign. One reason that has kept many tourists from visiting Nepal is political instability and the air accessibility. But the NTY-2011 working committee major achievement aims to garner support from the political parties. The political parties have expressed commitment to shun bandas for the year 2011 but given the fluid political situation it is not completely certain.
In terms of air accessibility, Nepal has an Air Service Agreement with over 30
countries but there is no significant presence of the national flag carrier in the international arena. “Our tourism is getting more
dependent on international airlines which remain unpredictable,” said Rajendra Bajgai, general secretary of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal.
