Yet, tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara, one of the country´s most most robust tourism markets, are not much critical of the government´s failure as most of them think the platform created in 2011 will continue to bring tourists in the years to come. [break]
In 2011, Pokhara attracted a record number of 375,000 tourists via air alone. Although the final figures fell short of the target of 500,000 tourists, Biplove Poudel, coordinator of NTY-2011 Coordination Committee - Western Nepal Chapter, said most encouraging is the rise in the number of domestic tourists. Last year, Pokhara witnessed an estimated 20 percent hike in domestic tourist arrivals.
According to Poudel, these domestic tourists kept the occupancy rate in around 500 hotels that cater to both domestic and foreign tourists at 55 percent to 60 percent throughout 2011.
“This is the highest occupancy rate recorded so far,” said Poudel, who is also the president of Regional Hotel Association of Nepal - Western Nepal Chapter, calling 2011 the best year in Pokhara´s tourism history.
One of the reasons for the rise in domestic tourist arrivals is absence of strikes that used to shut down highways linking Pokhara, Poudel continued.
“An emerging trend among Nepali people to travel during short and long vacations also played a role in pushing up Pokhara´s arrival figures,” Poudel said. Despite these encouraging figures and trends, Pokhara failed to raise the average length of stay of tourists from 1.5 days to 3 days, with final figures standing at 1.7 days.
“Yet, the increment in domestic tourist arrivals by 20 percent should be taken positively,” Tikaram Sapkota, president of Pokhara Tourism Council, said.
But not everyone is positive about the achievements made by the tourism sector in 2011. Jhalak Thapa, a tourism industry expert, said the government failed to save its face as NTY-2011 was organized haphazardly, without putting in place necessary policies and infrastructure.
“Considering other countries in Asia which attract millions of tourists every year, the fact that Nepal, which is rich in natural and ecological resources, could not attract even a million tourists during a year dedicated to tourism is not something to feel proud about,” he said, criticizing the government for spending millions of rupees conducting road shows in various countries throughout the world, only to attract less than 800,000 tourists.
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