Visit Achham two thousand when?

I was trying to read Udaundo Naya Nepal, a freshly launched Achhami daily, when I overheard the re-airing of Kantipur Televisions´s Sajha Sawal in the Karnali Guest House reception area. It was a lazy Tuesday morning on the second of January earlier this month and Narayan Shrestha was hosting three of Nepal´s Who´s Who in the tourism industry. They were discussing the topic of the day, Visit Nepal 2011.

The campaign I had heard about for most of 2010 was - I imagined at the time - taking over places like Kathmandu even if it had failed to generate the slightest buzz in Mangalsen. I was in the headquarters of a far-western district and aside from one wall of a corner lodge with "Visit Nepal" splashed in sunshine yellow, there had been zero reference to the national campaign in any conversation over the course of my stay in Achham.

Perhaps a week is too short to gauge the campaign’s role in the district or perhaps Achham being excluded or having excused itself form the talk of the year, NTY ’11, was for the most obvious reasons. Regions like Achham after all are not part of the Nepal touted in Visit "Nepal".

That Nepal referred to the sacred square alone – Kathmandu (as the obligatory pit stop with its one and only international airport), Chitwan (for the elephant safari and tiger sighting (or lack thereof), Lumbini (in order to walk the grounds that Siddhartha Gautam did) and Pokhara (to begin the numerous scenic treks).

And as my friend, Aayushma Regmi, doing her MA in Development Studies points out, “Isn´t something such as ´tourism year´ just another gimmick aimed at highlighting the stereotype of Nepal as a tourist destination?… I think it is something worthwhile to propose that tourism take a new meaning this year as unexplored regions are visited in a new experiment, a new way of traveling perhaps?” I couldn’t agree more.

Looking around Achham I had to wonder if the district was missing out on the gains of tourism or spared the negative impacts (including beer cans, Twix wrappers and oxygen tanks trekkers, guides, businesses and lodge owners fail to discard appropriately).

But that would be for places where trekking paths even cross villages and owners can and have made investments. Tourism, though claimed to be a national affair, is only really that of a very few. Sure, remote corners gain in some discrete ways, but supplying garlic through a third party from Salyan is too small to count.

A place like Achham is off the radar – not because it lacks attractive features, but maybe because it hasn’t been developed or promoted, by the locals or the state.

Tourism is the name of the game for many impoverished countries looking to deepen their foreign reserve and in the process negotiate vikas. Nepal, with our smiling citizens and well-endowed terrain is a great destination for many travelers. So really it could be a win-win for both the tourist and the local. After all, we have lots to offer – tradition, history, culture, cuisine and these days, even adventure sports, so “once is not enough” is an appropriate tag for our “Naturally Nepal”.

And, yet, the fiscal gain tourism offers is exclusive to certain industries, certain regions and certain individuals. Of course the whole country cannot gain evenly, but to sell the name of our country and refrain from putting more of it in the market is insulting.

A place like Achham is off the radar – not because it lacks attractive features, but maybe because it hasn’t been developed or promoted, by the locals or the state.

So, in the spirit of slicing off a piece of the pie to those in Achham and beyond, I hope that of the 1 million targeted tourists, a few will get off the beaten path and head to Rama Roshan, a tranquil little lake on a high mountain Hsila Yami visited when she was Minister of Tourism, though she made little effort to promote local or international tourists. The snow-peaked mountains in the distance are shy, and the view offered of the fog nestled down in the valley below is something else.

Achham is worth a visit – whether you are foreign and in the sub-continent for the very first time or a tried and true Nepali who has failed to venture beyond their parents’ gaun and sites of mandatory school field trips.

For those that want to travel for the sake of traveling, Achham is perfect. Aside from the recently establishment “cyber” cafés that never once worked when I was in town and the (limited) availability of coke, it is one of few places in Nepal where you can’t order a pizza or steak yet (though with tourism and travel encouraged this too shall pass).

In Achham the tea is sweet – too sweet if you ask me, but if you are gagging you still have to appreciate the gesture because sugar is precious in these parts. The main (and only) road is made of cobblestone even if it is waiting to have a gutter be dug alongside. Charming is the word I choose to describe the town that stretches along the top of a hill and can be crossed in less than 10 minutes. The air is fresh, so pristine that you want to take in extra gulps as though you can hold it in reserve for Kathmandu. The food is spicy, but only that much more than in other parts of the country. The sun’s rays streaming above the rolling hills is one you’ll have to see for yourself, black text on white paper would do it little justice.

Making 2011´s campaign a success demands more than lauding the usual suspects. So, while the national campaign has already been launched with fireworks and is to be heralded in the capital these remaining 11 months, I hope individuals and institutions make more of an effort to promote the hidden treasures. This way neither the tourists nor the districts miss out.

And for all the pitfalls of tourism, there is too much to lose if what it offers cannot be gained by more in this country.

Writer suggests such out of the usual destinations especially for those who are on a real vacation and want some peace and quiet

sradda.thapa@gmail.com