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Developments in Nepal to hit tourism industry

Parul Gupta

Bullets from automatic rifles which wiped out almost the whole of the royal family in Nepal last week may force tourism, one of the mainstays of the Nepalese economy, into a coma.

Sample some disturbing facts: A majority of travellers going to Nepal are deferring their visits; a few Royal Nepal and Indian Airlines flights have been cancelled.

According to Subhash Goyal, former president of Indian Association of Tour Operators and chairman of Delhi-based Stic Travel, "We alone have been told that about 7,000 customers (90 per cent of which are Indians) of ours have put their Nepal visit on hold. If they cancel their visit altogether we may have to take a hit of slightly less than Rs 10 million in revenues."

Tourists from India who were all set to go for their summer holidays to the Himalayan Kingdom have been cancelling their bookings and shifting their preferences to other getaways like Himachal Pradesh and the hills of Uttar Pradesh.

Almost all travel companies including Cox and Kings, Thomas Cook and Travel Corporation of India (TCI) are witnessing massive cancellations. Says TCI branch manager in Delhi, Homa Mistry: "All our bookings to Nepal have been cancelled and we see the number of tourists from India to Nepal falling by over 50 per cent as a result of political uncertainty in the region."

Echoing a similar view Thomas Cook senior executive Anil Sharma points out: "We have had 100 per cent cancellations from both domestic and foreign tourists and we have been in fact diverting these holiday goers to Darjeeling, Dalhousie and other Himachal Pradesh mountain destinations so that we do not lose any money."

Cox & Kings, yet another leading travel agency, used to get at least ten queries from potential holiday goers to Nepal every day but now it has reduced to a trickle. Says a senior executive of the company: "We haven't got a single query after the political turmoil."

Sita Word Travel, a major travel agency sees about 10-15 per cent drop in tourists in the short term to Nepal. Says Arjun Sharma chief operating officer of the inbound division: "We have had cancellations from domestic tourists but uptil now there has been no cancellations from foreign tourists."

Another fallout has been the cancellation of hotel bookings in Nepal. For example, Goyal points out that 30 Delhi clients, slated to stay in hotels like Soaltee Crowne Plaza and Phulwari Hotel in Nepal have cancelled their hotel bookings.

Of course Nepal's popularity as a tourist destination for Indians trying to beat the sweltering summer heat had waned after an Indian Airlines flight was hijacked by militants from Kathmandu in December 99.

With doubts being raised on the security in the Nepalese capital, the number of tourists from India fell substantially by over 7 per cent from 21,672 tourists in the first ten months of 1999 to 20193 in 2000 during the same period. The impact could be pretty adverse on Nepal's tourism income.

Says Rabindra Seth, hotel and tourism consultant: "As much as one third of the total tourists who come to Nepal are from India, so any drop in the number of tourists from India will have an adverse impact on the Nepal tourism economy."

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