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6th Anniversary of Nepal Tourism Board
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| Established in December 31, 1998 under the private public-partnership concept after the enactment of Nepal Tourism Board Act- 2053 replacing the then Department of Tourism, Nepal Tourism Board is completing its sixth year of operation on December 31. Over the last six years, Nepal Tourism Board saw both ups and downs in Nepal's tourism industry. Undeterred by present situation, Nepal Tourism Board has been encountering every challenge to promote Nepal in the international arena as per mandate given by the government to develop Nepal as an attractive travel destination by maintaining, improving and diversifying the quality of tourism products and services in the country and promoting them effectively in the international marketplace. Evaluating NTB from impartial grounds, the quality and quantity of work that NTB has done in last six years justifies its stance and the nomenclature attached to it as a private-public partnership nodal agency. On the other hand, it is also a fact that because of the paucity of resources caused by the skewed nature of cash flow dependent on the inflow and subsequent expenditure of tourists in Nepal, it could not demonstrate the desired level of result as anticipated by the trade. However, irrespective of the outer situations, the Board is dedicated to mitigate with the situations to show the positive results, may be for tomorrow, if not for today. NTB's present challenges are twofold- to address the problems faced by tourism industry at home, and to reposition Nepal's image as a premier tourism destination in the international tourism market. It equally demands the synergy and co-operation of all because tourism is multi-disciplinary and dimensional in nature and touches upon every strata of society. It also needs positive comments & suggestions from all to drive the Nepalese tourism ahead in the 21st century in much professional and competitive fashion. Since NTB runs through the two-percent Tourism Service Fee collected from tourists, all marketing, promotional and development activities depend on the arrival of tourists in Nepal. So it is equally important for Nepal Tourism Board to take the confidence-building measure to woo tourists in Nepal. Nepal still faces a bottleneck situation in tourist arrivals from many countries other than India. Despite marathon promotion campaigns NTB did in India, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, it could not yield expected result due to limited air access to Nepal from these countries. Because of costly air ticket and limited air access, the Nepal's package becomes more expensive for Chinese tourists and it is one of the reasons for Nepal not being able to capitalize the booming Chinese outbound market. After September 11, 2001, the long haul travellers from USA and Europe have become very much cautious to make long haul travel. This lack of confidence has been further triggered by the regular negative travel advisories disseminated by the USA, the UK, Japan and other European countries and airing of negative news about Nepal in the international media. Economic slowdown in some parts of Europe is another reason that hinders the mobility of European tourists in the long haul destinations. Domestic crisis like insurgency, emergency, closures (strikes, demonstrations, bandhs, chakkajam, nakabandhi) have taken heavy toll of tourism industry in Nepal. As a result of these incidences, there were excessive cancellations during peak tourist season. In order to reach to the earlier level of tourism activity, international marketing & promotion are the major consistent drive of the Board. In 2004, the Board focussed its marketing & promotion activities in a planned way targeting the major tourists generating countries and regions like India, China, UK, France, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Germany. Major marketing and promotion activities of the Board targeted at such countries include participation in travel-trade fairs, organizing of Country Sales Missions/Road Shows, hosting Familiarization (Fam) Trips for foreign media, travel writers, TV crew and tour operators, production and distribution of various promotional collaterals, launching advertising campaigns in major print and electronic media, etc. Nepal Tourism Board will accelerate the marketing and promotion effort collaborating with image building exercise and massive media campaigns in future. NTB had given equal focus towards developing, enhancing and diversifying tourism products and services in the country. NTB has identified a few more places for tourism development. The newly focused sites of NTB for tourism development throughout the country include Aantu Danda, Basantpur, Dhanusha Dham, Tansen & Khaptad with their surrounding areas. In 2004, NTB promoted more than a hundred tourism festivals, fairs and events organized in the different parts of Nepal. As a NTO, Nepal Tourism Board supported and promoted a myriad of tourism mega events partnering with the government and other tourism related organisations. Destination Nepal Campaign 2002-03, Mount Everest Golden Jubilee Celebration, Mt. Cho Oyu Golden Jubilee Celebration, 2nd World Buddhist Summit, Pashupathi Darshan Package, Bhiva Panchami are the few prominent festivals, events and package that NTB promoted internationally with the support of various agencies. As a part of promoting inbound pilgrimage tourism to Nepal from the regional markets, especially from South East Asia, Nepal Tourism Board launched marketing and promotion campaign under regional promotion campaign initiated by His Majesty?s Government in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia which was supported by Nepal Association of Tour Operators, Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents and PATA Nepal Chapter. Similarly, Nepal Tourism Board also promoted various adventure sports events organised by Trekking Agents Association of Nepal and Nepal Association of Rafting Agents. To establish Nepal as a sports tourism destination, NTB also promoted international level Golf tournament, marathons, biking and rafting races which were organised in the different parts of Nepal. The High Level Tourism Crisis Coordination Committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation to coordinate with various governmental agencies for managing crisis as well as providing directives to the Crisis Response Action Unit which is comprised of private sector and governmental agencies. So far, these two committees have become very active during the time of crisis and made crucial decision to manage crisis relating to tourism industry. Recognizing media's role in influencing public opinion throughout the world, Nepal Tourism Board in consultation with various stakeholders has established Media Center within its existing set up. It aims at facilitating Nepal based foreign journalists as well as national media community by disseminating accurate information related to Nepalese tourism products and activities. This center also plays an active role by interacting with the international media in promoting Nepal and its image as premier destination. Tourism Industry has been established as a vehicle of socio-economic development in Nepal with immense potentiality for further development. NTB is an outcome of the commitment and long-term vision of HMG for the consolidation of overall tourism development process in Nepal. Therefore, NTB needs and seeks continued support mainly from the Media community. Without their support, the effort of NTB would be highlighted only on the black and white and not remain in the mind and soul of various walk of people scattered in Nepal and abroad. Hence, NTB humbly pleads Media community to consider the tourism as our national property and contribute positively in its healthy development through collective endeavour. Our hand in glove approach for projecting the national tourism image would certainly yield positive signs in our national economy. In this respect, NTB deems unjustifiable to share its moments without extending thanks for the co-operation and directives of all-government, private sector associations and the Professionals representing various walk of institutions involved directly or indirectly with tourism and its development. NTB believes that together it can bring a change and steer Nepalese tourism towards new heights of success. |
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