Policy Dialogue focuses on advancing women’s entrepreneurship in tourism sector

Kathmandu, Dec 24: A high-level policy dialogue on gender-responsive, sustainable, and resilient tourism enterprises aimed at promoting inclusive and durable tourism was held today.     

The event was organized by the Academy of Innovation for Economic Development (ACAIED) Nepal,with support from the Nepal Tourism Board and the UNDP-supported Sustainable Tourism Project. It brought together policymakers, development partners, private sector representatives, women tourism entrepreneurs, and experts for in-depth and collective discussions on the issue.     

The dialogue primarily focused on ensuring women's entrepreneurship and inclusive economic growth in the tourism sector.     

According to Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), the objective of the dialogue was to strengthen policy and programmatic responses that support women-led tourism enterprises.     

The event extensively discussed tourism sector development, employment generation, foreign currency earnings, and the vital role of women in local livelihoods. Particular emphasis was placed on women’s involvement in homestays and accommodation services, handicrafts, food services, community-based tourism, and small- and medium-scale tourism enterprises.     

Recognizing that women-led tourism businesses are disproportionately affected by natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change risks, and economic downturns, the dialogue also focused on challenges related to access to finance, markets, skills, technology, and institutional support for such enterprises.     

FNCCI President Dhakal said that the event was significant in terms of analyzing existing issues and identifying potential measures to address them.     

 He echoed the need to promote tourism potential through the mobilization of domestic capital, adding that large-scale tourism projects could be implemented using domestic investment. He further highlighted that the tourism sector has witnessed an international resurgence, particularly in the post-COVID-19 period.     

Similarly, Durga Thapa, ACAIED Nepal CEO of Academy of Innovation for Economic Development Nepal said the policy dialogue is pivotal to bridge the gap between policy commitment and practical implementation.     

She argued that placing gender responsiveness, sustainability and resilience at the heart of the revitalization and transformation of tourism sector was the need of the hour.     

Echoing with Thapa, Deepak Raj Joshi, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board, underscored the need to bring gender responsiveness in tourism revitalization and growth into the mainstream.     

He acknowledged that the women-led tourism enterprises at community level were the backbone of Nepal's tourism system.     

"Inclusive, competitiveness and sustainable tourism is not possible without their resilience enhancement and effective policy support," he noted.     

Participants discussed ways and means to enhance resilience of women-led tourism enterprises and promoting gender responsive tourism entrepreneurship.     

They also had exchanged ideas and views on policy measures, good practices and enterprise-level strategies to address the risks relating to economic, climate change and market.     

The discussion held in two sessions had attempted to identify the priority course of action for the government agencies, development partners and private sector to achieve inclusive and resilient tourism.     

Organizers are confident that important policy suggestions collected from the policy dialogue would contribute in further strengthening collaboration among the stakeholders thereby further supporting economic empowerment of the women-led enterprises and inclusive tourism growth in future.(RSS)