Mystery over Nepal tourism budget but not over declining arrivals…

BERLIN – They were all present: Sushil Gimire, State Secretary at Nepal Ministry for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Subash Nirola, acting CEO of Nepal Tourism Board, the Ambassador of Nepal in Germany and Sesh Ghale, a Nepalese millionaire living in Australia and President of the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA), a very influential grouping who represents all Nepalese living outside the Himalayan Republic. All of them reassess the importance of tourism for a country such as Nepal where poverty remains endemic. “We have it all: heritage, traditional culture, nature with dramatic landscapes, a unique fauna and flora and of course our native people. But without innovation we will lose out as competition is fierce”, said Sesh Ghale. 
 

The difficulties of promoting Nepal are reflected in the country international arrivals: The country recorded last year 797,759 tourists, a decrease of 0.7 % compared to 2012. Tourist air arrivals were down by 1%, reaching last year 594,991 compared to 598,204 in 2012. According to Nepal Tourism Board, most of the tourists visiting Nepal in 2013 were from India, China, USA and Thailand among others.
 

They are many factors explaining why Nepal tourism declined when most countries in Asia recorded growth: repeating strikes against the government –the effect is generally a complete shut down of the country-, the ban of Nepali airlines in Europe due to regular airlines incidents but also the absence of a proper chief at the head of the Nepal Tourism Board depressed markets. The black listing of Nepalese airlines by EU has a deterrent effect on European markets as flying in Nepal is not covered by insurance anymore. 

Photo caption (left to right) : Sushil Gimire, State Secretary at Nepal Ministry for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Subash Nirola, acting CEO of Nepal Tourism Board
 
 

“Being black-listed by the EU is a terrible slap for us but we have also to take it as an opportunity to look at our civil aviation standards and improve them accordingly. We hired IATA and Eu experts to be sure that our civil aviation standards are now meeting the strictest safety criteria”, promised in Berlin Sushil Gimire, State Secretary at Nepal Ministry for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. The government is also working with the Asia Development Bank for building a second international airport in the country, in the vicinity of Lumpini, Buddha’s birth place. “Bids have been launched and we now expect to see the airport opening to international air services by 2017”, added the Secretary.
 

Promotion remains also a problem. Surprisingly the Secretary was the first to complaint about the lack of funds to promote internationally Nepal for the Ministry of Tourism. However, when asked what was the budget and how much he would desire, Mr. Gimire was incapable to provide a single number. One of his assistants finally confessed that the budget had been doubled compared to a year earlier but refused to reveal the amount!
 

It finally left acting NTB CEO Subash Nirola juggle with a presentation on Nepal promotion.
“We are now looking to promote new areas to take away the burden on traditional tourist destinations such as Mount Everest, Pokhara and Kathmandu”, he explained. Among the new destinations being earmarked for international promotion are Eastern Nepal with tea plantations at Ilam, botanical trails in Milke and the discovery of Dharan and Basantapur, all Hill Stations of the new “Virgin East” region. Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve or Makalu Barun National Park are also ideal for animal safaris and trekking. The other new region to be promoted is dubbed “Wild West” and include Bardia National Park with royal Bengal tigers, swamp deer, rhino dolphins and black bucks or Suklapantha Wildlife Reserve with swamp deers and rare birds. Many Himalayan lakes can also be visited in Western Nepal.
 

The country is also looking at turning more active for spiritual and well-being tourism. Promotion will highlight visiting temples and monasteries, meditation, health, spa & wellness as well as spiritual journey. Mr. Nirola is in fact hopeful that the recent nominations of Nepal as a “Must-Go recipient” in the list of the New York Times and Kathmandu as the third world”s upcoming destination by Tripadvisor.com will help to attract more travellers in 2014…