Kathmandu Post

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Tourism and conflict

JAN 12 - Tourism is a dynamic sector and can contribute a lot to the socio-economic development of Nepal. Tourism, which is also called the backbone or power house of Nepal’s economy, is currently suffering due to the ongoing conflict. Conflict has taken its toll particularly on rural tourism.
Although the article “Let’s talk only tourism” published in your daily on January 10 covers all positive aspects of diversification and expansion of tourism in new areas, it doesn’t talk about the strengths and weaknesses of government approaches and policies in this regard. We should stop practising conventional approach in handling tourism industry and focus on coming up with innovative approaches. Also, the article should have included different ways of promoting domestic tourism in rural areas as the number of external tourists is decreasing. While talking about external tourism, transportation is the major problem that our country is currently facing. Reliable and sufficient international flights in a number of major cities, such as Kathmandu and Pokhara, help in achieving expected quality and quantity of tourism. Peace and stability is also mandatory to accomplish the objective of sustainable tourism. The article has also failed to point out this fact.
Ramji Bhandari
Kupandol, KathmanduPosted on: 2004-01-13 04:00

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