Until now the days have been busy with all kinds of festivities and programs being organized with the intention of making this tourism year a success. We have had ethnic festivals, cultural programs along with international artists performing for us right here.[break]
Had it not been for NTY 2011, how many of us would have had an opportunity to dance the night away to Bryan Adams or spend a soothing evening alongside Kailash Kher and his band.
However, as we talk about these high profile artists and their grand performances we inevitably come across the question of whether this is all we need to make NTY a success? Pondering over the topic this edition of chit chat has six hospitality management students, Bipin Karki 19, Ashok Upadhaya 19, Ranjana Acharya 18, Nigma Sherpa 21, Barsha Thapa 21, and Mandip Dahal 20, from Nepal College of Travel and Tourism Management (NCTTM) Naxal.
These students are getting academically trained to work on the tourism industry and share their personal views on what they consider to be positive aspects and the draw backs of NTY.
“Tourism year, for me is not just a fancy year long celebration, but an initial step towards long term prosperity of the country,” began Bipin. Ashok, supported him by adding “only 365 days of work is not enough to develop the tourism sector”. “This industry is the largest income generating source of the country, a bombastic year followed by silence is definitely not a good plan,” was Mandip’s opinion.
“I would be happy even if this single year would go ahead as planned,” put in Nigma. She was also of the opinion that, rather than being pessimistic about the aftermath of NTY what we need to concentrate on now is to make this year a success. “I don’t see how a concert every two months is going to be of help when we lack even the most basic things” was what Ranjana had to say here.
She also felt that instead of only prioritizing high profile events we could organize more of cultural festivals. Explaining the “basic things” Ranjana brought up problems associated with garbage disposal, traffic jams, security issues, harassment of tourists and load shedding.
All others agreed to the above opinion and had a lot to say. “Shouldn’t we be ashamed inviting guests asking them to come celebrate tourism year with us when we can’t even provide them with basic requirement like electricity?” questioned Bipin. “Really,” said Mandip adding “all that is done in the name of tourism year is the meetings that are conducted regularly and bombastic plans that are made.”
“Another problem that I see is that, we have not been able to publicize the real natural beauty of the nation,” said Ashok. He explained how there is very little advertisement through the media and almost nothing in the international media to let people know what Nepal has to offer.
“Just knowing we are celebrating tourism year is not enough to attract tourists. We need to show them the beautiful landscape, the rich culture, beautiful trekking routes, rafting rivers and everything else we have,” he said.
All of them were of the opinion that through various international and national mass media we needed to make Nepal visible on the international arena and show people more of our country.
“Why can’t newspapers have regular supplements on tourism at least for this year and put it up on their web portals as well. Also, NTB can produce adverts and have it aired on international channels,” put in Mandip.
The participants also suggested that advertisements should highlight pictures along with videos portraying beautiful landscapes instead of just shouting out slogans and flashing the logo.
While talking about ways to promote tourism in Nepal, Ngima shared with us her ideas regarding effective promotion of tourism.
She suggested free distribution of maps at the airport displaying various places around the country which would be beneficial.
Also, the participants believed that we needed complaint and suggestion boxes around the country. A few tourists help guides should also be present at different locations, those that are able to communicate in diverse languages at places of tourist interests.
There have been many draw backs but do participants see any good points? The answer seems to be yes. “Even if not as much, but we are definitely promoting our country,” smiled Bipin. Ashok opined that the whole home-stay concept which is the result of NTY celebrations has provided a lot of people in the rural areas an opportunity to earn money.
Apart from that, participants also shared their ideas about how through the above mentioned concept, the celebrations and tourists visiting us there will always be an assimilation of culture, where both sides can learn from each other.
Related story
Lets talk about suicide!!
