A worthwhile initiative to promote tourism

The park alone has earned 267.1 million rupees this year from tourists. The arrival of tourists is also helping businesses such as hotels and transportation. If enough attention can be paid to infrastructure and promotion, there is no doubt that the tourism sector will become an important means for the country's economic prosperity.

Being a geographically, religiously, culturally and biologically diverse country, many types of tourists come to Nepal from abroad. Foreigners mainly come to Nepal for holidays, religious pilgrimage and mountain climbing. The number of people going for Himalayan range sightseeing, trekking and rock climbing is increasing. The culture of traveling is growing even in Nepali. Chitwan National Park is visited by 111,000 foreigners including SAARC countries during the 10 months of the current financial year, and the number of Nepalis who visit there is about 162,000. In the park, tourists go for a walk in the forest with the help of a nature guide, elephant safari in the community forest of the intermediate zone, jeep safari in the park or intermediate forest, boat safari in the river and river flowing through the park. Due to the tourists, the business of hotels and travel companies has been helped, Raithane culture is also being promoted. This means that the country can get multiple benefits from the tourism sector.

Tourist attractions like Chitwan are all over the country. The government has been taking initiatives to expose and publicize them and build infrastructure, but it is not enough. In some areas, the local communities themselves have also protested. It has been 75 years since the opening of entry to foreign tourists in Nepal. In the first five-year plan introduced by the government in 2013, emphasis was placed on infrastructure development, mentioning that there is good potential for tourism in Nepal. The Tourism Board was established in 2016 to advance the program of the tourism sector in a systematic manner. In 2018, the Department of Tourism was formed under the Ministry of Construction and Transport, and a separate Ministry of Tourism was established in 2034.

Even though there are such initiatives from the government at the policy and structural level, it does not seem that enough initiatives have been taken in infrastructure construction and promotional work. Moreover, the arrival of tourists fluctuates due to various disasters and epidemics. A few years ago, the corona epidemic affected the tourism sector. Tourism activities are picking up after the epidemic. The government's target of bringing in 1 million tourists in 2023 has been fulfilled. That year, when 10 lakh 14 thousand tourists entered, the income was about 73 billion rupees. Before the Corona epidemic, about 1.2 million tourists came in 2019. The National Tourism Strategic Plan (2016-2025) made by the government predicted that the annual number of tourists will reach 2.5 million in 2025. But it has become impossible.

In the policy and program of the current financial year, the government announced that the year 2023-23 will be celebrated as 'Nepal Visit Decade', according to which the number of foreign tourists will reach 3.5 million annually by 2033. This goal can be easily achieved if the government focuses on infrastructure and promotion. The rate of foreign tourist arrivals can accelerate only if international flights are operated from the recently built airports in Pokhara and Bhairahawa. There is a need to facilitate access to road transport connecting tourist destinations.

It is important to get the attention of the government about the delay in the upgrading of roads like Muglin-Pokhara, Narayangadh-Butwal, which is affecting the movement of tourists. Facilities like drinking water, toilets, internet should be expanded in major tourist areas. Attention should be paid to the safety of tourists. Promotional program should be done at national and international level to bring in as many tourists as possible.