E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, MAY 28 -

Although tourist arrivals in the first four months of Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) have been upbeat, constant shutdowns in May have hit arrivals. Travel trade entrepreneurs now fear that they may affect business during the upcoming tourist season. 

With NTY running, there was hope that tourist arrivals would remain higher even during the off season i.e. April-May. But, a series of bandas in May have forced tourists to cancel their trip or shorten their stay in Nepal. The statistics of tourist arrivals of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) show daily arrivals have dropped by more than 300 in May from 1,750 in April.

Even though tourist arrivals as of May 26 increased to 34,076 as against 26, 634 in the entire month of May last year, entrepreneurs said that the figure is nominal to what they have been expecting as compared to the increased movement from the beginning of NTY.

April-June is the period where large numbers of Indian visitors travel Nepal to get relief from the hot summer in the plains. This year, the country has targeted attracting 265,000 visitors from the southern neighbor alone. India, which constitutes the major market of Nepal, has recorded a growth of 38.3 percent in April. According to tourism entrepreneurs, arrivals of Indian tourists would have been much higher in May had there been no bandas.

Travel trade entrepreneurs said that the recent spate of bandas could affect not only NTY and the goal of bringing one million tourists but also arrivals next year. “Target of bringing one million tourists is not achievable under these circumstances,” said Rajendra Bajgai, general secretary of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN). “The political unrest has not only affected the NTY target but also the business of travel trade entrepreneurs for this season.”

The commitments made by all political parties that they will support NTY had been spread worldwide to ensure visitors that Nepal is a safe destination to travel now but strikes coming back again had made the situation reverse to convince tourists, said Basanta Raj Mishra, past president of Nepal Association of Tour Operators. 

“Why do the potential tourists take risk visiting Nepal when there are lots of options for them to visit to other competitive tourism markets,” he said adding that all political parties and the people should comprehend how sensitive tourism sector is.  After an interval of 13 years, the country had made an effort to welcome tourists in a big way. It has targeted to bring one million tourists in 2011 of which 700,000 are targeted from air and the remaining by land.

Entrepreneurs added that May-June was the time when international tour operators prepare packages and publish brochures for the next year, and the shutdowns could bar them to incorporate packages in the world travel trend brochures.

 

Posted on: 2011-05-28 08:44

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