NTY 2011 has an objective of bringing in one million tourists, and for this Nepal has to double the number of international tourists compared to last year. India is the largest tourist source market for Nepal. [break]
The report has focused on advertising through television, newspapers, magazines, FM radio and the internet as well as on public relations, consumer promotion, India travel roadshows and media familiarization trips.
The budget allocation recommended for these activities for 12 months is Rs 18.5 million. The suggested language mediums for newspaper and television advertising include Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati.
According to Kashiraj Bhandari, director of Research and Planning Department, the report has suggested selection of visitors from 16 cities in northern India and eight cities in western India.
The northern Indian cities selected for publicity related activities are Delhi, Ambala, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Gwalior, Indore, Bhopal, Patna, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Dehradun, Shimla and Jammu and the western Indian cities selected are Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jaipur, Nasik and Nagpur.
For Indian middle class tourists, the research report has clearly indicated packages of three nights and four days for shorter vacations.
Citing the report, Bhandari said Mussoorie, Agra and Jaipur are the nearest competitors for Nepal among Indian cities. He said, "NTB should leverage technology and heed domestic competitors more effectively."
The research report has shown the utter necessity of coordination among NTB, airlines and travel agents in a partnership approach to achieve the goal of maximizing Indian tourist inflow into Nepal.
The report has found that Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are competitors for Nepal as destination countries.
The aggregate average growth rate of Indian tourists from 1990 to 2009 is just 2.28 percent due to adverse conditions and the insurgency. This shows that significant progress has not been made in bringing more tourists into Nepal and the environment has not been supportive either.
The declining trend of Indian tourists visiting Nepal started in 1999. In 1998, around 143,229 Indian tourists visited Nepal, the highest ever. Last year only 93,781 Indians came as tourists.
Need for stability, peace
Achyut Sharma Guragain, secretary of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), says the indefinite general strike in May had impacted the hardest on Indian tourists.
Religious tourists visiting Jomsom, Beni, Muktinath and other places were blocked by the strike. This is the season for Indian tourists, mostly from Gujrat, visiting Mansarovar through Nepal, but this year the number of incoming Indians headed for Mansarovar is less than last year, Guragain said.
He added,"This may be the result of the negative message regarding strikes and political instability". According to tourism entrepreneurs, most high-spending Indian tourists used to come because of the casinos but since the opening of a casino in Goa, the number of such tourists is less.
Indian Tourist Data
1994 - 102,540
1999 - 140,661
2004 - 90,326
2009 - 93,781
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