Tourist Arrival Boosts Industry’s Confidence

The year 2023 brought a lot of glimmer of hope to Nepal’s tourism industry as the nation witnessed a strong recovery in the number of tourists despite numerous national and international factors, including a global economic slump, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and Israel hostility. The country was able to welcome a bit more than one million foreign tourists last year, creating much confidence among travel trade people. In 2022, a total of 614,148 foreign tourists came to the country. However, tourist arrivals did not reach pre-COVID-19 levels. In 2019, the country received about 1.19 million visitors while tourist arrivals stood at 1.17 million in the preceding year. Nepal as well as various other tourist destinations worldwide have started recording a steady recovery in visitor arrivals since the beginning of 2022 following a record-low in the number of international arrivals in 2020 and 2021due to the spread of COVID-19. 

Contribution

Recognising a significant contribution of the tourism sector for the national economy, the government has come up with a plan to mark the period between 2023 and 2033 as Tourism Decade, targeting to attract a million tourists in the initial year. With this decade-long initiative, the government aims to give a boost to the potential but delicate tourism industry. It is needless to mention that tourism is one of key sources of foreign exchange reserves. The multifaceted industry creates many jobs as well. Its significance lies in the fact that it helps several other economic sectors grow sustainably. Though tourism in Nepal is mostly a seasonal business, it contributes towards retaining youths within the country because it provides them with job opportunities. Under the Tourism Decade plan, the nation aims at bringing in two million tourists this year. Extra efforts must be made to achieve this ambitious target.

According to the data unveiled by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Nepal received nearly 1,015,000 foreign tourists last year. This figure shows that tourist arrivals recovered by about 95.76 per cent from pre-pandemic scenario. Neighbouring India has continued to remain the biggest tourist source market for Nepal because of physical proximity and an easy access. Cultural similarities and open borders are also attributed to higher tourist arrivals from the southern neighbour. In 2023, Indian arrivals increased to 319,936 from 254,150 in 2019. This data indicates an encouraging rise of 25.88 per cent.  However, the figure does not include those Indian travellers who entered Nepal through various land routes. A lot of pilgrims from different parts of India come to Nepal every year in order to visit numerous pilgrimage sites such as Pashupatinath Temple, Lumbini, Janakpur and Muktinath. 

With the Indian economy recording a robust growth rate, travellers from India are among high spenders. But it seems that Nepal is failing to make them spend much because of a lack of an effective policy. Each of Indian visitors is allowed to bring with them less than INR 25,000 in cash while travelling to Nepal at one time. Since this policy is not favourable for the development of our tourism industry, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and other responsible authorities must revise it immediately. This has not only caused huge loss to our economy but also created inconvenience to those tourists willing to spend more during their trips.  

Another difficulty facing Indian tourists is that they cannot make payments online or use ATM. While the two governments have already agreed to operate cross-country online payment gateways, no significant progress has so far been made in this connection. The relevant bodies must follow up on this so as to bring the cross-country digital transaction system into operation at the earliest. Besides, the Nepal government needs to facilitate Indian visitors interested in coming to the country over land routes. At present, they have to go through unnecessary inspections. Their vehicles are also checked many times. Besides, sacred pilgrimage sites such as Janakpur, Lumbini and Muktinath can be marriage destinations for many Indian youths. So, the government needs to adopt a suitable policy to attract such groups.  

The United States (US) became the second largest tourist generating market for Nepal in 2023. Even though Nepal and the US are faraway physically, the Himalayan nation hosts a lot of American tourists. Last year, a total of 100, 357 Americans experienced their trips to Nepal. In 2019, the number of US tourists visiting Nepal stood at 93,241 while the figure was 49,830 in 2013. This shows that the number of American tourists nearly doubled over the past one decade. Americans are mostly interested in trekking and cultural tours. More holidaymakers from the US are expected to visit Nepal this year. However, the US has recently issued a travel advisory suggesting the possibility of peaceful political demonstrations escalating into violence in Nepal. Since Nepal’s political situation is normal, the US travel advisory is unlikely to have any negative implications for our tourism industry.  

Lucrative packages

But it is worrying that the Chinese market shrank for Nepal in 2023. The country lured only 60,878 Chinese tourists last year as compared to 169,543 in 2019. Chinese arrivals fell considerably last year despite resumption of flights from various cities in China to Kathmandu. Nepal’s tour operators need to offer more lucrative packages in order to tap the vast Chinese market. However, the Bangladeshi market appears to be better. Last year, more than 32,000 Bangladeshi travellers came to Nepal. In 2019, the figure was 25,849.

In 2022, average length of stay of tourists decreased to 13.1 days from 15.5 days in 2021. It is natural that average tourist spending also falls with the shortening of their stay. Last year, the average spending of tourists dropped to US$40 per day from US$48 per day in the preceding year.  Besides attracting more tourists from across the world, it is necessary for the government bodies as well as other travel trade stakeholders to focus on lengthening the stay of tourists and increase their spending. This can be possible only through developing better tourism infrastructures and diversifying tourism activities. Proper policy incentives are also equally essential for bolstering tourism. 

(The author is a former deputy executive editor of this daily.)