Nepal bags best destination award

Nepal received the best destination award at India International Travel Mart (IITM) in Maharashtra state of India last week.
The Travel mart — organised on November 23-25 — highlighted Nepal as the home of Mt Everest and birthplace of Lord Buddha.
Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), along with six prominent travel trade partners from Nepal showcased diverse tourism attractions offering special packages for Pune’s ardent travelers at the mart.
Besides the pilgrimage tours of Pashupatinath and Muktinath, and city tours of Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan, Nepal is increasingly becoming the nearest international trekking destination for the Pune youth, following successful ascent of Mt Everest by a Marathi Expedition team 'Giripremi' this spring.
Nepal with the best flight connectivity from India has succeeded in receiving nearly 150,000 Indian visitors in the last ten months which is about 20 per cent of annual growth from India.

Honey hunting festival can lure more tourists

Ghalegaun-Ghanpokhara in Lamjung observed the Honey Hunting festival to attract more local and foreign tourists to the district.

"An event like this can help draw more local and foreign tourists if included in the calendar of events," said Lamjung CDO Baburam Bhandari, asking Nepal Tourism Board to help publicise the event.

A 17-member delegation of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) also participated in the festival on November 22.

TAAN president Mahendra Singh Thapa, on the occasion, also called for publishing the event as it could lure more tourists to the district. "But locals should change the traditional way of honey hunting for safety reasons," he added.

Likewise, a renowned mountain guide and goodwill ambassador of Gorkha district Sunar Bahadur Gurung provided rock climbing ropes to honey hunters for them to harvest honey in a safer way. "We are ready to give local honey hunters rock climbing training, if needed,” he added.

October-November in winter and April-May in summer are considered the main seasons for honey harvesting. In recent years, locals have been trying to develop honey hunting as a tourism product.

A significant chunk of honey, which is believed to posses medicinal values, harvested in the village is exported to different international markets, according to locals.

Besides honey hunting — one of the important events in the area — the association is also studying the prospects of including honey hunting and canyoning in trekking packages in Lamjung.

The honey hunting site in Ghanpokhara-8 can be reached after a trek of two-and-a-half hours from the nearest motorable road near Ghimrang.

There are many honey hunting sites in and around the Gurung village, which have become an important source of livelihood for the people of Ghalegaun and Ghanpokhara.

The locals use indigenous techniques to collect honeycombs from steep cliffs.

Nepal, Singapore should plan more joint ventures

Nepal and Singapore must look for ways to start more joint ventures to bridge the trade deficit.
"Though Singapore and Nepal share a cordial relationship, Nepal has a huge trade deficit with Singapore," said former ambassador and foreign relations expert Hiranya Lal Shrestha at the 47th National Day celebrations of Singapore organised by the Nepal-Singapore Friendship Society here today.
"As a country with a predominance of Buddhism, Singapore's religious and cultural relations started with the introduction of Buddhism in Singapore," he said, adding that some 6234 Singaporean tourists visited Nepal in 2011.
With easier air connectivity due to Singapore Air and Silk Air, some 2,442 Singaporeans visited Nepal by air from January to July in the seven months of 2012.
"Nepal not only has a bilateral trade link in Singapore but it is a port that has facilitated Nepal's trade with overseas countries," he said, adding that the trade deficit has been, however, growing against Nepal. "To bridge the growing trade deficit, Nepal must join hands with Singapore and start joint ventures.
Singapore has made investments in tourism, service, manufacturing, energy based, and agriculture sectors amounting to Rs 1505.39 million in 23 different industries — by fiscal year 2010-11 — that has generated some 1,965 jobs.
A country that is among the 15 trade partners of Nepal, Singapore exports dried peas, olive oil, sauce, and polyethylene to Nepal, whereas Nepal exports lentils, carpets and primary cells to Singapore.
Though a small country of 5.18 million, some 33 per cent of the population is Buddhist and Nepal can attract them to visit Nepal as the country is observing Visit Lumbini Year. "Cultural and social ties between our two nations have many common factors, from which we stand to benefit in all aspects of business and economy," according to president of Nepal-Singapore Friendship Society Sanandan Singh.
"Direct flights between the two countries also play an important role in opportunities and benefits," he said, adding that the society is working towards promoting bilateral ties in various areas like education, tourism and other business activities.
Nepal and Singapore established diplomatic relations in March 1969.

Increasing trade deficit
Fiscal year — Export — Import
2005-06 — Rs 322.55 million — Rs 3,375.21 million
2006-07 — Rs 179.60 million — Rs 5,496.87 million
2007-08 — Rs 230.40 million — Rs 5,268.69 million
2008-09 — Rs 509.18 million — Rs 7,047.11 million
2009-10 — Rs 305.66 million — Rs 5,007.33 million
(Source: Trade and Export Promotion Centre)

Revenue leakages due to arbitrary TIMS cards distribution rise

The government has been losing revenue due to arbitrary distribution of Trekkers’ Management Information System (TIMS) cards, alleged trekking guides.
The government had introduced Trekkers’ Management Information System cards from April 1, 2010 to make trekking more safe but the arbitrary distribution of the cards has hurt the revenue, they said.
“Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) are jointly implementing the TIMS but the delay in appointment of NTB board and chief executive has delayed the regulation of the TIMS that is expected to make it more effective, said president of TAAN Mahendra Singh Thapa.
The trekkers are increasing but the trekking business has not seen any increment, he said, attributing the largely unregulated trekking agencies for the revenue leakages.
The government had scrapped trekking permit system but failed to bring the regulation that would help regulate the sector resulting in not only loss of revenue but also giving foreign trekking companies open field that has hit the domestic trekking agencies, he added.
NTB and TAAN had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on March 18, 2010 to implement the TIMS system under a new format from April 1, 2010. Under the MoU, they have introduced separate TIMS cards for Free Individual Trekkers (FITs) and organised groups trekkers.
The individual trekkers need to have green TIMS cards that costs $20 per person, while those travelling in groups need to have blue TIMS cards worth $10 per person. "However, there is no records of blue TIMS card bought by the group trekkers," the agencies blamed, adding that the individual trekkers should also be checked till the TIMS software comes into practice as it could neither create employment nor revenue.
However, Thapa claimed that the software is ready and will come into operation that will help track trekkers in case they lost their way or have any accident on the trekking route.
Trekkers taking the service of trekking agencies can pay fee for TIMS card in US dollar, whereas the individual will pay Nepali currency equivalent to $20.
The revenue is shared equally among the NTB, TAAN and a fund that is established to promote trekking and rescue the porters.
In 2011, the TIMS card fetched Rs 80 million and this year — 2012 — it is expected to fetch Rs 100 million, but it could have been more, if the system has been implemented with proper regulation and card distribution channel as the number of trekkers is increased, the agencies added.

South Asian arrivals propel tourist inflow up

Propelled by the strong and sustained South Asian arrivals by air, the country witnessed a sustained tourist inflow in April.
"Visitor arrivals by air in April have increased by 14.3 per cent — to 59,415 — compared to the same month last year, according to the figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
The arrivals from South Asian region have shown positive growth of 35.4 per cent with mixed performance. "The arrivals from India and Pakistan went up by 44.5 per cent and 14.8 per cent, respectively whereas arrivals from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka dropped by 12.9 per cent and 41.2 per cent, respectively," the data compiled by the Nepal Tourism Board revealed, adding that a sustained growth of 36.8 per cent has been observed in the arrivals from the South Asian region
during the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year.
Similarly, Asia — except South Asian region — saw overall rise of 16.7 per cent. Except for Thailand — that dropped by 14.7 per cent — almost all the markets have shown positive trend with China (up by 42.9 per cent), Malaysia (up by 16.8 per cent), Singapore (up by 5.7 per cent) and Japan (up by 13.1 per cent) compared to the same month last year.
"Between January and April, the arrivals from Asia rose by 21.1 per cent compared to the same period last year," it added.
As far as the long haul markets, Europe registered overall positive growth of 3.2 per cent compared to the same month last year with total visitor arrivals of 19,286. "Arrivals from Denmark, Germany, Italy, Russia and Sweden were up by 4.9 per cent, 5.5 per cent,115.8 per cent, 83.1 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively," it said, adding that the Netherlands, France, UK were some of the major markets to register negative growths in April.
The figures show increasing trend in the visitor arrivals from Australia ( up by 4.7 per cent) whereas the arrivals from New Zealand dropped by 9.5 per cent. However, the US and Canada, both the markets have registered positive growth of 9.8 per cent and 39.1 per cent, respectively.
Overall in the four months period of January-April, India grew at an average of 43.9 per cent, China (up by 38.3 per cent), Germany (40.3 per cent), France (up by 8.4 per cent), UK (up by four per cent) and US (up by 10.7 per cent).
The visitor arrivals totaled 207,961 between January and April, up by 23.1 per cent compared to the same period last year as the country received a total of 39,003 more tourists between January and April this year in comparison to the same period last year.
A total of 67,810 foreign tourists departed from the international airport in April, whereas some 58,483 Nepalis arrived and some 72,726 Nepalis departed from the Tribhuvan International Airport in April.

Report suggests to incentivise, priorities tourism

The government has been not only suggested to provide incentives but also to give priority industry status to boost the tourism sector, one of the key foreign currency earner.
The report, prepared by the High Level Committee under the coordination of secretary at the prime minister's office Lila Mani Poudel, concluded that the government should focus on proper infrastructure development and maintain law and order situation apart from giving the sector high priority. “Nepal though well ranked in the world tourism market, still needs to develop its quality and become more competitive adding more infrastructures,” noted the report. “Better infrastructure could increase the length of stay of the tourists.”
The report was prepared after holding discussion and collecting suggestions from various tourism entrepreneurs and studying condition of world tourism market in 2010, world tourist arrivals, total tourist nights, and tourist arrivals in Nepal from 1962 to 2011.
The report also included issues related to different charges and taxes in the tourism sector and the overall condition of Nepal in the World Tourism Competitive Index 2011. Nepal ranks 112 out of 139 countries in the World Tourism Competitive Index 2011.
The committee led by the secretary of the Prime Minister’s office Lila Mani Poudel submitted the final report to Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai suggesting him to give tourism sector the national priority industry status.
The report has also suggested giving tax holidays for the entrepreneurs for establishing hotels in the western part of the country. The committee has also recommended the government to allow custom and tax discounts to the tourism and aviation sector, separate electricity charges, develop tourism friendly rules and regulations, and also allow the facility to lease land to attract foreign investments in the sector.
The cabinet meeting in September 2011 had formed a 13-member High Level Committee to study the overall scenario of tourism in the country and submit a report with recommendations regarding the improvements and facilities needed for the development and promotion of the tourism industry as a national priority industry.
“The government must develop short-term and long-term plans for the tourism sector to establish it as a national priority industry,” noted the final report.