Tourism Must Take Centre Stage

For the past several decades, all successive governments in Nepal have accorded top priority to tourism in their respective policies in view of its multiple desired effects on the overall national economy.  An open and liberalised aviation policy introduced in the country in the early 1990s is a testimony to the fact that the then government was committed to giving a boost to the tourism industry. In the late 1990s, Nepal observed ‘Visit Nepal Year 1998’, a national tourism campaign which was first of its kind in the country’s history, with a target of welcoming 500,000 international travellers. That landmark event was also focused on encouraging potential investors to invest in tourism-related businesses, and building better roads and other infrastructure. It was followed by numerous other tourism promotion initiatives.  

With those tourism bonanzas, Nepal was able to receive a lot of publicity and promotion in international media, making this appealing tourist destination known to many more important tourist source markets worldwide. Despite all those efforts, the country’s tourism has failed to grow as expected, owing to varied internal factors coupled with lingering political and policy instability, and external reasons. The decade-long armed Maoist insurgency and the palace massacre were among the major factors behind the insignificant growth of the susceptible tourism business. The country had gone through frequent political protests and nationwide strikes that had not only created a sense of dread among visiting tourists but also shied away potential domestic and foreign investors from making investments in the tourism industry. 

Reputation

Those incidents led to a loss of the country’s reputation as a safe and peaceful tourist destination in the international market, causing much damage to our tourism business. Despite being sensitive in nature, tourism is considered a resilient sector, as it has the capacity to revive and recover in no time once the situation improves. That global tourism has now nearly experienced a full recovery from the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic suggests this.  

Tourism can be a vital tool to achieve national prosperity because it contributes to creating jobs and earning foreign exchanges. It also helps promote domestic products and directly or indirectly supports various sectors of the national economy. But tourism can grow by leaps and bounds only when there is political and policy stability in the country. With the country now having political stability, the entire economic sector is anticipated to experience a robust revival.  What is now required is a good vision on the part of policy-makers, effective plans, policies and laws, and unwavering political resolve to translate them into action. Only then can the nation move on the road to prosperity.

In its policy document, the federal government has come up with various programmes for the revival of tourism. As per the policy paper, the government is going to organise ‘Visit Nepal 2085’ to lure more international tourists into the country. In the past, a dearth of necessary preparations had often been an issue with holding any national/regional tourism campaign, making it impossible for the country to achieve the goals of such campaigns. The government is going to devote the coming fiscal year (2083/84) to the preparations of the round-the-year tourism event, keeping in mind that any event being organised without carrying out proper groundwork can prove to be ineffective.  

Similarly, the government is planning to hold a national campaign known as ‘Devbhumi Nepal’ during the fiscal year 2083/84. The aim is to establish Nepal as a hub for global spiritual/religious tourism because the country is home to many important Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage sites. When all the key places with spiritual and religious importance are linked by better roads, those pilgrimages are sure to receive a large number of domestic as well as foreign pilgrims. As the birthplace of Lord Buddha, Lumbini alone welcomes hundreds of thousands of Buddhists and other travellers from a host of countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar every year. The number of visitors to this sacred destination will go up significantly when the Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) is brought into operation in full swing. 

Air traffic congestion 

Two newly-built airports – GBIA and Pokhara International Airport – have not been in operation on full scale despite a lot of pressure from local tourism entrepreneurs and residents. Taking this into serious consideration, the government has pledged to step up measures to operate them to facilitate travellers and reduce air traffic congestion at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). A landlocked country like Nepal has no alternative but to increase air access for its tourism to flourish. The government has also announced to ease travellers by making tourist visa procedures fully online. Besides, the government also plans to install e-gate systems at international airports by replacing traditional immigration counters. With the installation of this new system, eligible travellers can go through immigration processes in a more efficient and hassle-free manner. The government is also planning to brand 5,000 new homestays to boost rural and cultural tourism. Homestay facilities are now available in many rural parts of the country. They have been instrumental in diversifying tourism across the country. 

Under its ‘Tourism Decade Campaign (2023-2032)’, Nepal aims to bring in 3.5 million international tourists annually by 2032. To achieve this target, a more effective and systematic plan with necessary strategies is essential. There is a need for all three-tier governments to coordinate and collaborate to achieve a desired growth in tourism. It is equally essential for strengthening the public-private partnership to take our tourism to its newer heights. Tourism must keep taking centre stage in national plans and policies. Upcoming budgets of three-tier governments must reflect this. 

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