I told him that though we are still mired in dirty political wranglings, the 10-year-long war has ended and things have gotten slightly better. He was pleased with my answer but it left me wondering whether people like him would even consider visiting Nepal while they held such views regarding the country?
For a Nepali traveling abroad, it has become difficult to convince foreigners that things have improved a lot since the Maoists gave up arms and joined mainstream politics. All the while it is taking a toll on the country’s tourism industry.
Last year, I had asked a high-ranking official of UNGEI how Nepal was viewed as in the US. I was expecting answers like Land of Mount Everest, Land of Buddha or even land of beautiful natural spots. But, to my surprise, she said “land of turbulence.”
Everyday protests that create a gridlock on the streets or general strikes that bring everything to a standstill may have become a way of life for Nepalis but they are certainly not natural for westerners or people in East or Southeast Asia.
Protests in themselves are not bad. They are a part of a vibrant democratic system. But there are ways to hold them. For instance, during the anti-government protests in Thailand that continued for three months beginning August last year, the demonstrators captured the prime minister’s office and were staying there round the clock. However, they never resorted to vandalism, meaning the protests were relatively peaceful and did not affect the day-to-day lives of people. Many people in other countries did not even know about the demonstrations. It went on like this for three months until November, when it spilled onto other parts of the city. Then, footage of one of the protesters pointing a revolver flooded international television channels and people planning to travel to Thailand started canceling their trips.
I was in Thailand then and things were not as bad as many international media had portrayed them to be. I then started receiving calls from family back home and my friends started e-mailing me requesting me to stay put. Probably, they were thinking that revolver-totting protesters were running scot free in Bangkok, which was not the situation.
Things got ugly only after the protesters made a foolish move and seized the airport on November 27, interrupting all domestic and international flights. Many foreign visitors were stranded in the city while Thais who were abroad couldn’t enter the country. Although the government gave compensations to the stranded tourists, the damage was already done. And in the following months, tourist arrivals fell by nearly 50 percent. Even today, along with global economic slowdown, that unruly act of capturing Bangkok’s international airport is blamed as one of the reasons for the decline in the number of foreign visitors.
This gives an example of how fragile tourism industry is. And, at a time when competition is rife and lots of destinations are offering similar packages, one foolish act made by a single group can make millions of travelers change their plans. And when these travelers opt to go to some other destination, it can have harsh impacts on tourism-dependent individuals at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.
Nepal’s tourism industry is not as big as Thailand’s. Thailand attracts around 14 million tourists every year and its tourism industry contributes to more than 30 percent of the country’s GDP. In Nepal, the industry’s contribution to GDP is just about 3 percent. However, despite being small, it has been creating lots of self-employment opportunities.
Nepal has announced 2011 as Visit Nepal Year and plans to attract one million tourists. But footages of protests on the streets of Kathmandu relayed by international television are giving a negative publicity about the country. To top that, the US government has recently issued travel warning asking its citizens not to visit Nepal. It’s time we realize that democracy is not only about safeguarding one’s own rights but also about respecting the rights of other people.
Regarding Mr. Kawasaki, I told him that Nepal is not as dangerous as he imagined it to be. I also asked him to recommend his friends to travel to Lumbini. But will they?
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