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Nepal’s Tourism Business in August 2008 and trends

First, I would like to tell you that I have been on a vacation for two months, unable to blog. I truly apologize to all those who have admired this small yet useful Nepali blog and have visited regularly. They know, this is the first Nepali Blog fully dedicated to talking about “Tourism but nothing else”

In this post, let’s recap What’s up and What’s Down During August 2008

• Nepal receives unexpected increase in tourist flow from Australia which was shown not a satisfactory level when compared to other regions in the monthly chart of tourists arrival.
• Notable decrease in tourists from regions like China and Korea. Could the arrests of many peaceful protesters had misconduct by local authorities and the image were all over the world. If China hates Tibetans so much, why did not the Chinese come to Nepal ? As peace is today and tomorrow, tourism industry expects many Asian countries will contribute as they have been, this include China and South Korea.
• About Twenty Six Thousand Tourists came to Nepal during the month of August
• After nearly 17 percent drop of tourists arrival in July, tourism business owners were optimistic – they sure have the reason. The only thing that Nepal can bring more and more tourist is by maintaining peace, and promoting the unique culture and nature’s gift that Nepal possess. While much has to be done, they are happy with a slight decline then the last month (about 2 percent tourist decline for August 2008).

Trend ?  Tourism has come a long way since the abolish of Royal. Many hotels had closed during the time of fights between Royal Armies and Maoists. As Nepal reaches for its ultimate goal; to govern its people through democratic and peaceful process by a general election, there is no telling about the increase of tourists inflow Nepal will have every single month! Period.

Nepal never fails to show you why you ought to visit it. I always love to write, It’s a magnet and it’ll attract you but every now and then someone switches this magnet to another side, but not any more. You might be wondering what the heck did I mention by  that? Well, a country with tons of issues starting from poverty to corruption, government can’t do all in a month or even in a year, so you can expect a few minor strikes, a few protests but, they are peaceful and all you tourists simply think of it as a big war still going on in this country.  There is NO WAR in Nepal. Period again.
Recently, Asian Development Bank is planning to grant money to uplift Nepal’s development including poverty sector, tourism, and infrastructure in rural areas. Such grants from various other sources can be useful in developing many rural parts of the nation which can capture even more market share than the shinning city of Kathmandu. People have realized that that importance of doing for those who need the most, will not only develop Nepal, but it will also bring more tourists. Many tourists are seeking to hike or even trek in areas that are less crowded and/or visited by others. But due to lack of services such as food, transportation and shelter, they have chosen areas that give more money to the regions that are popular.

The challenge for Nepal now is to uplift it’s poverty, give grants to areas where it’s necessary and allow tourists to explore many hidden areas of Nepal. To do this, build the basic needs for a trekker in those areas.

In your view, which parts of Nepal are ignored by Nepal Tourism Board ? By Tourism Government ? Or if can you recommend the areas where people might like to travel off the regular paths ? That’s the challenge. Giving more choices to travelers rather than the stereotype (a one and half day tour to Kathmandu package or Pokhara) won’t change much of the tourism business in this nation.

Seasons come and go but Change in the way we create tourism packages for our nation hasn’t changed.  Branding Nepal has also not been done in away that captures people.Yes, Nepal is a very poor country, we don’t have money and certainly we don’t have the qualified people in the right seats to do the job.
This year, providing basic needs in areas where tourists trek is an important issue that must be addressed and fixed by our government, this applies to popular areas. And the other challenge is to create more places so they more to chose from with different price tags. Would you like just a plain ice-cream or vanilla, straberry? There are a few travel companies which have already started creating unique travel pacakages separating themselves from the others – but there is a need. Need? Yes – government to recognize those places and develop those rural areas to provide world-class services for tourists who visit those places.

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