“I’ve uploaded the pictures on Facebook. It was great but the shopping has left me pennilessly broke!” exclaims Smriti, still giddy with excitement at the thought her recent trip to Bangkok.[break]
Contemporary Nepali upper-middle class is transfixed by such travel talks. A new genre of popular conversation among them echoes from one to the other with graphic explanations of the features about one’s vacations abroad, allowing the listener to soak in and simultaneously smile about what they could not afford or had the inclination ten years back.
Foreign travel was liberalized in Nepal in the late 1970s when international donors, aid givers, lenders, and critical influencers pushed the then His Majesty’s Government of Nepal not to habitually hoard foreign currency in the vaults of the Nepal Rastra Bank but allow Nepalis to travel abroad. Since then, it has progressively reached an unmatched height.
“Traveling is on the rise, approximately one thousand people are going abroad for holidays on a given day,” so articulates Bhola Bikram Thapa, the chairperson of President Travels and Tours that sells the most affordable packages to Thailand and competitive prices to travel to other destinations as well.
“Thailand is a double whammy. It’s a great vacation place and shopper’s paradise,” says Tshering Gurung, co-proprietor of Mademoiselle shop that sells fashion accessories on Durbar Marg. “I go there for seasonal shopping, and the stuffs that you get there appeal to the trendy young crowd,” he adds.
Since 2000, Nepal’s economy has seen an upsurge in foreign remittances, which rose from Rs. 47.54 billion in 2001/02 to 188 billion rupees in 2008/09. This created what experts call a ripple effect in the entire financial sector, and a dramatic boom in financial services. A mere five commercial banks operated in Nepal in 1990; now the number has shot up to a whopping twenty six! This has created more urban jobs in the sector. In tow, the growing middle class with increasing disposable incomes and a thirst to explore the world at large provides a convincing story for the rise of Nepali tourists abroad.
Sociologist Mrigendra Bahadur Karki from the Central for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) analyses this trend as an expression of an inevitable societal change in Nepal. “People are trying to redefine their identity from a traditional to a modern one, guided by globalization,” he explains. Travel seems to appear as more than sightseeing; it seems to mirror significantly and permanently irreversible changes in the ideas of living.
“The answer to the existential questions about the meaning of life has shifted to a personal exploration, rather than in-group exploration,” he says. The transition of Nepali society from traditional to modern one until it reaches the level of high modernity is increasingly becoming evident in traveling, along with other aspects of living.
“My desire for travel is because I want to feel a sense of order. I don’t think I’ll get to see that in Nepal, not in my lifetime, anyway,” says Sumina Karki, Republica’s fashion reporter who recently got back from her break in Paris. Amogh Shakya, the CEO of Lalit Mandap Travels, opines that along with Asian travel destinations, people traveling to Europe and America are on the rise as well. “With the rise in the volume of travelers, we have also begun to offer travel packages to Greece, Egypt, and South Africa,” he said at length.
“The lifestyle of the new generation and their choices tilt heavily to novelty while our own domestic tourism is more conventional in nature. So the desire is more for the likes of skyscrapers, beaches,” observes Subash Nirola, Senior Director at the Nepal Tourism Board. “The proliferation of the media and Internet has expanded the horizon of people. Add to that cheap flights, excellent marketing skills of the local agents, and it’s a success story. Most importantly, the young middle class has more avenues to make money in terms of the boom in the real estate, shares, travels loans and credit cards.”
Domestically, we seem to lag behind in product development which has further accentuated the trend of traveling abroad.
Like the upper classes of the last decade in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, the Nepali middle class, too, are entering into the era of developing a new culture that is maturing within the matrix of an urban Nepali society. In the last few years, traveling has become a significant area of spending not only for the Old Money Nepali elites but also with the burgeoning urban middle class.
“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted,” once said Bill Bryson. And the pronunciation rings true and reminds us of why more Nepalis are traveling abroad for pleasure and bringing back home “experiences.” Aided by ever so vociferous advertisements in an ever so globalized world, the lure allows them to challenge themselves to stretching the limits of their pockets and identities. The byproduct is an appreciation: Of both the world at large, and the ability to chip in narratives back home – amidst the flurries of travel tales over a mound of momos and cups of Ilam Tea.
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