By Yug Bahadur

 

During this period after the celebration of two of the main festivals of the majority of the Nepali people, many were worried about things like political stability, security lapses, inflation and disturbances in the streets among other things.

But one good news arrived when it was reported that the Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) was being finally chosen as a destination by several international airlines.

It was specially heartening to hear that Qatar Air, a reputed international airline, which has connection flights to almost all parts of the world was making daily flights to the GBIA. This is a promising outlook for the Nepali tourism sector.

This author has written several times before how tourism along with the hydropower industry were major factors in building this country’s economy.

But while it takes a long period for the hydro-power industry to construct a project and bring it into operation, then come into effect, the tourism industry does not require much investment but shows instant income and also provides employment to thousands of people directly or indirectly in a short span of time at a much lower cost.

We all know that those people who are directly involved, like in the airline business, travel agencies, hotels and even restaurants will benefit immensely when we see more arrival of tourists. But others too, who get employment in such outlets and even porters and simple public transport workers and suppliers of edible goods or local products and workers in restaurants and homestay establishments, will have some sort of better income from the arrival of more foreigners. So tourism was and still could be a strong pillar of our weakening economy.

In fact, this is the best option for the nation to create more employment opportunities and also make Nepal a destination that foreigners would love to visit at least once in their lifetime. This would certainly help considerably in giving a huge boost not only to our tourism sector but to our whole economy as well.

This writer has said time and again why our leaders, decision-makers in the bureaucracy and also the planners have to concentrate on building the economy instead of only making ambitious plans where we have to depend on foreign aid or grants, which again doesn’t come freely. There is always a ‘string attached’ and we have to pay for it in the future. Our leaders have to understand the policy of outsiders before making their own plans. But tourism is a much simpler solution, where we can endorse our own plans and make Nepal a better destination that foreigners will like to visit.

This is another thing which I would like to recall and about which I have written in some articles in the past as well. I had met a top-level tourism entrepreneur from Japan, who had told me during a lunch meeting how Nepal could attract the high spending Japanese tourists to this country. She had told me that,  and I can put it in quotes, ‘how Nepal was much more beautiful than Switzerland’, however, she also told me that Nepal had to build the proper infrastructure and also have the facilities these rich spending people normally expected wherever they went. ‘That Nepal does not have’, she had emphatically told me.

Here, what  I personally feel is, that this is not only the responsibility of the government, the private sector making so much profit from tourism should also contribute to building better infrastructure, including the private domestic airlines which make huge gains from tourists.

Definitely, the government should take the initiative with pragmatic plans than rather spending funds on only foreign trips of officials who hardly contribute to tourism, but the private sector must also be involved in promoting the country’s tourism sector.

But like said before, the decision-makers, bureaucrats and private sector entrepreneurs must also not be satisfied in going on joy trips abroad and actually making no contribution to the country’s tourism. I myself have gone on several ‘trips’, but at least I contributed by writing about what took place in the conferences or meetings that took place in these foreign lands. But I never heard even a squeak from the government officials or the private sector people in making any mark on promoting our own tourism.

We cannot expect much from such an irresponsible attitude of both government officials and also individuals making profits from the tourism business.

As we have already said, if the tourism industry could make so much profit, give employment to so many people and make the country stronger economically, we need more serious efforts, besides seeking only personal benefits.

While delving into this issue, the reports of GBIA receiving more international flights are welcome, but one serious point is how are our officials taking the part that Nepal’s first international airport, that is the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), will be properly repaired for more international flights. It has been reported that now it will be closed for ten hours per day and officials say that it could take five months before things can come back to normal.

Late prime minister Krishna Prasad had confidently said almost thirty years back how the water of Melamchi would soak Kathmandu and the extra water would also be used to flush the dirt from the Bagmati River and clean the streets of the City. But after three decades, people still do not have enough water to drink, forget flushing the Bagmati River or cleaning the streets of the City. So, how can we believe an official saying that the construction process of the TIA will be completed within five months?

One other thing that must be not forgotten is that Kathmandu is the major destination for most foreigners, whether they are government officials or simple tourists. This has been proved by the very first flight of Qatar Air, when only one passenger got out at Bhairahawa and the rest of the passengers came to Kathmandu to disembark. This is a clear indicator for the officials that the construction works at TIA must be completed as soon as possible, Closure of the airport for ten hours will not help out the tourism sector nor will it benefit international travelers, whether they are Nepali or foreigners. Thus the private sector should also play a major role in prompting the government to complete the construction works soon and put constant pressure on this by reminding them of the decision of the important role of tourism in the country.

The economy of the nation is in a very fragile situation and it is definitely true that remittance has not built the economy of any nation nor brought it any development. Normally the taxes from remittance are misused by politicians and government officials in different means. But tourism and hydropower could strengthen the economy of a small country like Nepal in a major way. For this to happen, the political leaders, decision-making bureaucrats and also the big ‘players’ in the private tourism sector have to all work together for the benefit of the country and not only for their petty self-interest.

Source : https://www.peoplesreview.com.np/2024/11/19/work-together-for-the-development-of-tourism/