POKHARA, June 11: Through the annual budget for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023/24, the government announced the goal of increasing the number of foreign tourists entering Nepal to one million in 2023. While stating that the year 2023-2032 will be celebrated as the 'Tourism Decade', Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat  announced the target of bringing 1 million foreign tourists in 2023.

Tourism entrepreneurs maintain that Nepal's tourism market has become very weak due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Entrepreneurs say that even though the infection has weakened, the arrival of foreign tourists has not picked up as expected. Tourism entrepreneurs are optimistic with the government's announcement to  bring in 1 million tourists in 2023. Tourism entrepreneurs said that they will have a big relief if the number of tourists increase as per the target.

According to official data, 11,97,191 foreign tourists entered Nepal in 2019. This is the highest number of foreign tourists entering Nepal. With the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the number of arrivals dropped significantly. A total of 230,085 foreign guests came to Nepal in 2020. In 2021, the number reduced further to 150,962.

However, the number increased to 614,148 in 2022 as the coronavirus infection weakened.

Maniraj Lamichhane, the spokesperson of the Nepal Tourism Board, said that there should be no doubt that one million foreign tourists will enter in 2023 because the number of foreign guests entering Nepal has already reached 3,26,528 from January-April 2023. Adding the arrival of May, about 4,00,000 foreign guests will enter Nepal in a period of five months. All those guests arrived by air.

"It is estimated that the number of foreigners who will enter Nepal in five months will reach about 4, 00,000. Based on that, we estimate that one million foreign visitors will enter this year," said Lamichhane. "The main tourist arrival season is still not over and there are various grounds for increasing the arrival. So, the government's target will be achieved. The Board has also estimated the same number."

According to Lamichhane, there are also other reasons for the increase in foreign tourist arrivals. Recently, international airlines have increased the number of flights in Nepal as the coronavirus infection has weakened. The airline's expansion of the air network to Nepal has gained momentum. Not only is the air network expanding, but the number of foreign passengers coming through these flights is also increasing. He said that the arrival of tourists can be expected to increase further as the occupancy of air companies has been increasing recently.

Apart from that, the arrival of Chinese tourists has just started to increase. The arrival of Chinese guests entering Nepal is increasing with the opening of the travel ban imposed by China on its citizens after the corona infection started. Lately, Chinese tourists have started coming to Nepal through chartered flights. Among the ten countries that receive the most foreign guests in Nepal, China is currently ranked fourth.

"With the opening of the way for Chinese guests, the arrival has also increased. This shows the basis to bring in more guests in the future," he said. 

Similarly, another basis for the increase of foreign visitors is that the Tourism Board has currently organized a tourism promotion program in Bangladesh. Lately, Nepal is also becoming a dynamic destination for Bangladeshi tourists. He said that the number of guests is expected to increase in the coming days due to the promotional programs.

The annual conference and Adventure Travel Mart of 'Pacific Asia Travel Association' (PATA) has started in Pokhara from Tuesday. The conference is organized for the first time in Nepal. Businessmen expect that the event, which will be held for four days, will help boost Nepal's tourism sector.

It is hoped that the conference will help boost the tourism sector affected by the corona virus infection. According to Suman Pandey, secretary of PATA, it is an important opportunity for Nepal to host this conference. This conference will play a big role in raising the tourism sector which has slowed down due to coronavirus infection. Because tourism experts and businessmen from different countries coming to the conference will get to understand Nepal and Pokhara from a tourist point of view, he said. High-ranking officials related to tourism from different 22 countries are participating in the conference.

According to the Nepal Tourism Board, as many as 160 guests will participate in this conference and mart. About 40 of them are international buyers and 25 domestic sellers. "The PATA conference is a very dynamic opportunity for marketing," he said, "it will help to increase the number of visitors in the coming days."

Similarly, Nepal was promoted at the 'ITB Berlin' held in Berlin, Germany with the aim of bringing in tourists of European origin. 24 tourism related companies of Nepal participated in this fair held in Berlin, Germany. This fair was conducted last March 7 to 9. "The Himalayan Travel Mart will also be held in Kathmandu next week, apart from that, various commercial organizations are also preparing for international promotion," Lamichhane said, "Apart from this, the government and the private sector have done a lot of tourism promotion this year. Therefore, it is expected that the goals of the government and the board will be fulfilled.

According to Lamichhane, the coming season (September-November) is also expected to be encouraging. He said that it is not difficult to meet the government's target as guests are expected to arrive in September, 150,000 in October and around 120,000 in November. He said that there is no problem in meeting the government target due to the recent increase in the number of Indian guests.

Laxman Subedi, President of Pokhara Hotel Association, says that if we work hard, we will not be able to meet the government's target. He says that now the tourist area is in a state of panic only because they are so tired that they can't get up. At the time when 1,00,000 guests entered, there was a situation where the number of guests entered was two digits. There has been a significant improvement in the arrival of that size," said Subedi, "therefore, there is no need to doubt that the arrival will increase if only a little support is given in the promotion."

He said that there is a place where one can suspect that the guests will not come due to the global economic recession, but if they work hard, there is no problem in bringing in 1 million tourists. Subedi said that if the government, the tourism board and the private sector move forward together, there will be no difficulty in bringing in guests. The tourism sector, which was affected by Covid-19 pandemic, has improved in a short time. At this time, the investment has increased but the income is low, the businessmen are panicking," he said.

 
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