That is not all. They have even unveiled a plan to raise the number of domestic tourists to 50 percent of total tourists visiting the lake city by 2014. [break]
“By the next three years, we target to achieve 50 percent occupancy from Nepali tourists,” said Biplav Paudel, president of Western Regional Hotel Association Nepal (WRHA).
Not just the hoteliers, other tourism entrepreneurs too said that they have extensively switched their focus over the last few years and are making special efforts to bring in more Nepali tourists. What forced the entrepreneurs to change their focus?
There are multiple reasons to that, said entrepreneurs. First is; when fewer foreign tourists visited the country when the Maoist conflict was at its height, it was Nepali tourists that kept the industry going. Second is; Nepali tourists over the past few years are spending more lavishly than what they did in the past. In fact, a major chunk of Nepalis these days spend more than average foreign tourists do, according to the hoteliers.
Third reason behind this shift and also unveiling such a plan is; a large of Nepalis living in bordering areas are presently visiting India almost annually, and entrepreneurs feel they can be lured to Pokhara with the proper marketing and offering special care.
“Domestic tourists have already become a backbone of the industry in Pokhara. We now believe increase in number of domestic tourist arrivals will also encourage more foreign tourists to visit the city,” said Paudel.
When the association first launched ´Jaun Hai Pokhara´ (Let´s Visit Pokhara) campaign 10 years ago to lure more domestic tourists, occupancy of Nepali visitors at hotels in Pokhara was mere 2 percent. However, the campaign enabled the entrepreneurs to draw such a large number of visitors that occupancy of domestic tourists in 2011 jumped to 30 percent.
“This growth rate in occupancy of Nepali tourists is very encouraging, particularly as it happened despite increment in number of foreign tourist arrivals,” said Paudel. This situation has mainly enabled the entrepreneurs to understand that they need not ignore one set of visitors to ensure better serve to others.
To achieve the target, the association is planning to create more favorable environment to facilitate Nepalis to travel to Pokhara. It is also continuing promotional campaign - Let´s Visit Pokhara - twice a year in different parts of the country.
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