Bangkok--23 Jun--ScottAsia Communications
The Nepalese government is depending on tourism to drive economic prosperity and continued political stability. However, Nepal's ambitious tourism goals are being stymied by stay-away low cost carriers
Nepal is leveraging its tourism assets to turn its political revolution of 2005-2008 into an economic one in 2011. According to PATA, Nepal Tourism Year 2011 has so far seen foreign visitor arrivals by air increase by 18.4% to reach 168,958 for the first five months of the year.
The country is nominally on target to reach its goal of one million visitors this year, a figure that includes both air arrivals and land-based visitors, mostly from India.
The government is promoting tourism to bring a measure of prosperity and continued political stability in a country that ranks in the 20 poorest in the world. Unity is a challenge. The country has 28 million people, a poor transport infrastructure, 103 ethnic groups and 92 spoken languages. Twenty-two out of 75 local government districts aren't linked to the capital by road.
Representatives of the Nepal Tourism Board and the country's hotels and tour operators last week told travel agents in Singapore, Johor Bahru and Bangkok that Nepal's tourism industry needs low cost carriers such as Air Asia to start flying to Kathmandu.
"Airfares to Kathmandu from Southeast Asia are a little expensive," said Mr Sunil Sakya, Vice President of KGH Group of Hotels in Nepal. "A low cost carrier would bring a real paradigm shift," he said.
A tour operator at the Nepal event in Bangkok on June 16 noted that Southeast Asian tourists expect their holiday destinations to have political stability and competitively priced air tickets. Only 25,000 Thais visited Nepal in 2010, despite the close Buddhist pilgrimage links between the two countries. "It should be three-times that number," said Sunil.
Adventure tourism activities such as paragliding, flying in ultralites, white water rafting and mountain biking are now being heavily promoted, especially in Pokhara, the adventure capital of Nepal. The aim is to attract younger urban residents in big Southeast Asian cites who want an adrenalin fix in a wild 'back to nature' setting. On the other side of the coin, gambling is available in seven hotels in Kathmandu.
Nepal Airlines, THAI, Silk Air and Dragon Air offer a total of 25 flights a week into Nepal from Southeast Asia. Ms Ujjwalla Dali, Nepal Tourism Board's Senior Manager for Tourism Marketing, told travel agents in Bangkok that the destination needs more than that if the country is to reach its tourism targets. "I hope that Air Asia will start flying to Kathmandu within a year," she said.
Contact
Mr Madan Lamichhane
Tourism Marketing Officer
Nepal Tourism Board
PO Box 11018
Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel: (+977) 1 4256 909 ext 211
Email:
[email protected]
www.welcomenepal.com
The above press release was written and distributed by ScottAsia Communications for the Nepal Tourism Board.
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