"We collected and sent relief supplies to the earthquake victims," said Hari Prasad Gautam, a taxi driver waiting for fare at the Lakeside in Pokhara. "I have not seen a major group after 12 May, not carried a tourist for some days, now it looks like we might need relief."The narrative is the same across town at bookstores, restaurants, hotels and lodges.
Many tourism entrepreneurs I spoke to had one very clear reason for the sudden slump: Media coverage and particularly the focus on the negative and the inability of international media to separate areas not affected by the quake from those that were.
"The media has been focusing only on negative stories, nothing has happened in Pokhara, Lumbini or the Annapurna Circuit," Maina Devi Lamsal, who runs a bookshop at Lakeside, points out. "We sit under the tree and keep an eye on the road and everyone gets excited when we see a tourist." She now has three empty apartments that were rented by a Russian, an American and a person from Europe before the quake. The rent was Rs 45, 000 each month and that is now gone.
It is the low tourism season from June to September. But this was also a time when both Chinese and Indian tourists came. Travel advisories issued by many governments after the earthquake—also not discerning enough in terms of the destinations that were affected—caused many to cancel trips after the 25 April earthquake.
The guest register of the Green Mansions Resort's said everything. The last registered tourist had come some days before the quake and all but five tourists in its 20 rooms had checked out on the 24th. The group of seven visitors arriving in Chitwan on June 21 had the entire resort for themselves for two nights. Its manager Keshav Adhikari said he had sent nine of the 25 staffs home on forced leave with half-pay. The staffs have been asked to return in September when tourism picks up—hopefully.
"Have they begun to come back?" a shopkeeper selling snacks and soft drinks on the banks of the Budi Rapti asked a tour guide who was taking the guests from Green Mansions around. Their faces brightened up after he told them that the fresh group had just arrived. Even the mahouts did an extra 30 minutes on the jungle elephant rides for the few tourists that had managed to get to Chitwan.
The businesses in Pokhara take turns to open. They formed a committee immediately after tourists stopped coming and decided to take turns to open their stores. "Otherwise, we feared that the media would write 'Pokhara is closed'". The committee has been working to try to get government support to ensure interest rate deferrals on loans and to take on special measures to promote the destination.
The longer-term impact of the 25 April earthquake is already evident at tourism hotspots like Chitwan and Pokhara, where room rates have been slashed and there are discounts even on food.
"So these people actually came from China?" a tea shop owner on the banks of the Budi Rapti river bordering the Chitwan National Park asked the local guide taking the group of Chinese students from Green Mansions around. There was a sense of relief when the guide said 'yes'.
The group had just returned from a jungle walk, and there was reason for the shopkeeper to be pleased. Within minutes he sold some water bottles and chips.
However, given that the monsoons have started it is unlikely that the shopkeeper would do much business until September. That is if the tourists come back.
The decline in tourist numbers is also a reminder of how badly Nepal needs alternative airports for international arrivals. This is something the government needs to count in the post-disaster needs assessment it is discussing with donors today.
Related story
Kerala Tourism’s first STREET project inaugurated in Maravanthu...
