SILIGURI: In order to brig in an upsurge in the Foreign tourist Arrival (FTA) in Tourism hotspot Nepal, the country’s tourism nodal agency is about to take up many retarding factors with the Government of Nepal to escalate the issues with western world at diplomatic level. Closely linked to Nepal’s tourism trade, Indian tourism sector is also hopeful of positive outcome of the initiative for entire Eastern Himalayan region including Indian circles in Sikkim, Darjeeling or NE India.
“In long term figures, we had around 5 lakh FTA in 1998. But, alarmingly that had come down to 3 lakh in 2012,” L B Baniya, senior manager of Nepal Tourism Board told ET.
“Though picture is in positive colour now in 2013, there are few serious retardant factors,” he added. Decision of European Union (EU) to ban all airlines from Nepal from flying into the 28-nation bloc is one among them.
Without high level of business operation of any Nepal airlines in EU countries, there is no chance of any major direct los. But, “This is enough to create negative image of Nepali airlines in the mind of western tourists who would remain dependent on Nepal’s airlines within Nepal,” said tour operators.
Moreover, caution against travelling in Nepal is also another serious one. “There is a general threat from terrorism. Attacks can be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers. There continue to be isolated incidents of bomb attacks (small improvised explosive devices), shootings and political violence across Nepal, including in Kathmandu,” says foreign travel advice of Government of UK.
“At ground level, things are not that bad,” though Baniya said so, the FTA figure of NTB reflects a subtle effect of all these retardant factors. During Jan-Aug 2013, FTA was recorded as 368,386, around 2.5% down from the figure of same period previous year. “More significantly, European continent, one of the largest contributors to Nepal tourism, had a degrowth of 7%,” said a Nepal Tourism official.
“It is a worry for us too. At least 30% of travelers from Western world arriving Nepal prefer visiting eastern Indian destinations including Darjeeling or Sikkim. Thus the trend in Nepal significantly influences the business here too,” said T Roy, Secretary Eastern Himalayan Tour and Travel Operators Association (EHTTOA).
As a remedial step, “We are persuading our Government to generate some coordination with India to work on mutual interest, as a joint effort, the ground reality, that is practically good enough, can be projected. But more importantly, an international diplomatic level initiative can be taken to persuade with western world to withdraw these cautions or warnings,” said Baniya.
Nepal's tourism body to persuade Indo-Nepal joint initiative
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