Tourism industry is fourth largest employer in the country.
According to an analytical study report by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), tourism industry provides some 371,140 jobs, which is 11.5 per cent of total jobs in Nepali industries.
"The largest industry by employment is wholesale and retail trade, which accounts for 30.6 per cent of the total employment, followed by education with 15.9 per cent and manufacturing with 15.8 per cent," the report adds.
Province=wise, Bagmati Province, which includes Kathmandu Valley, accounts for the largest number of tourism personnel in the country, with some 161,674 persons or 43.6 per cent of the total employment, whereas Province 1 stands second with an employment of 56,782 persons or 15.3 per cent, the report reads, adding that Lumbini and Gandaki provinces employ some 47,827 and some 47,447 persons, respectively. "Likewise, Sudurpaschim Province has some 17,195 tourism workers, Karnali has 14,123 tourism workers and Province 2 has 26,092 tourism workers."
According to the report, the number of people engaged in restaurants and mobile food service activities stands at 243,790 or some 65.7 per cent, followed by short-term accommodation activities or the hotel industry with 76,010 people or some 20.5 per cent.
Similarly, airlines employ 2,750 people, and some 17,899 people are engaged in beverage selling activities. Travel agencies provide 13,223 jobs, the report adds. "There are some 134,832 establishments in tourism industry, which is 14.6 per cent of the total establishments in the country."
Bagmati Province has the largest number of 49,234 tourism establishments, accounting for 36.5 per cent of all establishments in the tourism industry, the report further reads, adding that the major tourist attractions of the province are the cultural heritage of Kathmandu Valley and Chitwan National Park. "Province 1 has 24,900 tourism establishments with Everest National Park and Ilam being the main draws for visitors, whereas the number of establishment in Gandaki Province stands at 16,412 with Pokhara Valley, Mt Machhapuchchhre, Annapurna range and Gorkha being the major attracting factors for tourists."
Lumbini Province has some 19,211 tourism establishments with Lumbini and Banke and Bardia national parks being the main attractions. Rara and Shey Phoksundo national parks are the major sites of Karnali Province which has some 6,351 tourism establishments. Likewise, Sudurpaschim Province has some 7,604 establishments with Khaptad National Park and Shukla Phanta National Park being its key destinations. There are some 11,120 tourism establishments in Province 2 with Parsa Wildlife Reserve and Janakpur as the key tourism sites.
The report also reads that the number of tourist standard hotels rose by 54.3 per cent between 2012-13 and 2019-20, while the number of star hotels increased by 29 per cent in eight years.
The number of beds in tourist standard hotels and star hotels rose by 40.9 per cent and 38.2 per cent, respectively between 2012-13 and 2019-20. "In total, the number of beds increased by 39 per cent from 31,657 in 2012-13 to 43,999 in 2019-20."
Similarly, tourism industry's contribution to the national economy (GDP) and employment stood at 6.7 per cent and 6.9 per cent in 2019, just before the Covid-19 struck the country shutting the tourism industry, completely.
"Nepal's tourism industry has not necessarily achieved its full growth potential, according to the report that has been released recently, though the industry has suffered a lot since March 2020.
Due to a surge in tourist arrivals, the amount of foreign exchange earnings from tourism also jumped from Rs 11.71 billion in 2000-01 to Rs 75.80 billion in 2017-18. "Tourism revenue in the fiscal year 2017-18 was equivalent to 9.9 per cent of the total foreign exchange earnings that year," the CBS reports reads, adding that the number of international tourists has also been increasing over the years as the arrivals more than doubled from some 464,000 in 2000 to 1.17 million in 2018.
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