Turning to domestic tourism Despite the huge potential, the domestic tourism remains untapped Abhilasha Rayamajhi Kathmandu In Nepal, the tourism industry earns 24 per cent of the total foreign currency earnings and provides 200,000 people direct employment. But the international tourist arrivals declined by 46 per cent in 2015/ 16 due to the earthquakes and political unrest. In 2014, the international tourist arrivals by air was recorded at 652,655 which dropped to 300,325 in 2015. This inadvertently led to problems in the industry and realistaion that domestic tourism could help the investors survive. Internal tourism in neighbouring countries is enormous and growing at a high rate. The total number of domestic tourist in India was recorded at 1.28 billion in 2015 according to Ministry of Tourism, India. Similarly, domestic tourist in China wasrecorded at four billion and the total revenue from domestic tourism was RMB 3,419.5 billion. However, domestic tourism in Nepal is in its infancy despite good prospects. The tourism industry is led by the private sector and the government is yet to play a real proactive role for its development. No significant research  According to hoteliers, the trend of Nepali people travelling to explore the country has grown significantly as compared to the past decade due to the increase in disposable income and change in mindset. Prabesh Aryal, Executive Director of Hotel Association of Nepal ( HAN) says, “ About 40 to 45 per cent of the occupancy in hotels in Pokhara is covered by domestic tourists.” Hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs also claim that on average internal tourists tend to spend more than international tourists. “ However, the concept of domestic tourism is relatively new in Nepal. Further, there have not been any significant research and studies especially in the sector of domestic tourism,” he mentions. The government has introduced a campaign for the promotion of domestic tourism this year and it is a positive move according to him. “ But such campaigns will not do any good if the government does not collaborate for development of infrastructure in the country,” he says. He also mentions, “ HAN has chapters in different parts of Nepal. We are working towards increasing domestic tourism by conducting various interaction programmes between these chapters.” He says that if every stakeholder works towards the betterment then this sector can grow and help in the overall revenue collection. Lack of activities, incentives and packages  “ I am not sure if the government has introduced campaigns to promote domestic tourism in a planned and systematic way,” says Pramod Kumar Shrestha, Managing Director of Emery Travels. He adds, “ Apart from a few promotional activities in social media I have not seen any noteworthy activity to promote domestic tourism from the government.” Domestic tourism is not as affected by political unrest as compared to international tourism. Therefore, the government and the stakeholders must recognise its importance and work seriously towards improving it. “ Let’s suppose a person wants to travel to the Western Region of Nepal but despite the willingness she/ he cannot travel due to lack of information and publicity about the destination,” he says. He further says, “ Even if a person gets to the destination, it probably lacks proper hotels and tourist facilities.” “ Merely throwing slogans and changing the logo is not enough for the recovery of the tourism sector that has declined by almost 50 per cent!” he exclaims. In order to encourage people to travel the government should first implement its plans to develop transportation and road facilities and come up with packages that are cost effective and of high quality. Concentration in major cities  “ During turbulent times of disaster and political problems domestic tourism has helped us to survive,” says Sukra Thapa, Proprietor of Holiday Nepal. From his experience in domestic tourism he says that he has witnessed an increase in 40 per cent. Therefore, it is the right time to enhance domestic tourism as per him. Domestic tourism is mostly concentrated in Pokhara, Chitwan and Lumbini but this is not enough. There are beautiful and unexplored areas in the Eastern and Western parts of Nepal and the government must develop infrastructure to support tourism which ultimately contributes to the GDP. Encash adventure sports  Chairman of Himalaya Expeditions, Bikram Pandey Kaji says there is a rise in domestic tourists for adventure sports such as cannoying, bungee jumping, paragliding, rafting and so on. “ More cost effective as well as high quality programmes must be introduced so that this untapped market can be explored to its full capacity. It is high time the government played a bigger upbeat role and organised and planned realistic goals,” he says. “ People travel either to explore new destination or for entertainment purposes. We should focus on introducing activities such as rock climbing or cycling in order to get more domestic tourists engaged,” says Pandey Kaji. Law enforcing body required  “ Domestic tourism peaks during both English and Nepali New Years especially in Pokhara and Chitwan,” says Bijay Amatya, CEO of Kora Tours. “ Young people in Nepal have also shown an interest to travel and explore unexplored destinations. This has contributed to increase in the movement of domestic tourists,” he says. “ After the natural disaster and blockade, tourism entrepreneurs were convinced that the flow of international tourists would not increase” he says. Thus, for the survival of the industry they focused on domestic tourists. He shares that in a way it is a good initiative to promote domestic tourism as it creates interest among Nepali to travel. “ In the long run such initiatives and policies must be implemented.” He further says, “ However there are challenges in road and transportation connectivity, hotels and lodging facilities and trained human resources.” According to him, tourism in Nepal has great potential to grow into the number one revenue generating industry. The government must now take a more proactive role. “ Many plans and policies have been made in the past. However, they are not strictly followed,” he shares. He says that if tourism both domestic and international is togrow the government must work as a monitoring and regulatory body to ensure that enough market research is done and infrastructure is developed on time. While Nepalis with more disposable income are even travelling abroad as well as in the country, sadly Nepal Tourism Board nor the government has any records or figures of domestic tourism. While the government has gallantly declared this year 2073 as the year for domestic tourism it has done precious little in terms of documenting the number of domestic tourist or starting any research on what can be a very important segment for tourism in Nepal. BOX: “ Young people in Nepal have also shown an interest to travel and explore unexplored destinations. This has contributed to increase in the movement of domestic tourists” Bijay Amatya CEO, Kora Tours  “ It is high time the government played a bigger upbeat role and organised and planned realistic goals” Bikram Pandey Kaji Chairman, Himalaya Expeditions  “ About 40 to 45 per cent of the occupancy in hotels in Pokhara is covered by domestic tourists” Prabesh Aryal Executive Director, HAN According to Jun Mulmi, Head of Business Development at Quest Travels and Hospitality Solutions, “ The trend of Nepalis travelling to countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai has significantly increased.” He adds, “ On average our agency alone sends around 50 Neplais a month for foreign tours.” According to outbound travel agents Nepalis spend around USD 80 per day and take trips which are at least 4 days and 5 nights. According to tourism entrepreneurs over 100,000 Nepali tourists travel to international destinations on a yearly basis and the trend is growing. (The printed version of this article was published on The Himalayan Times- Perspectives on May 22, 2016.)