Kathmandu, February 28 As the government has been delaying in taking a decision to open up protected areas — national parks and wildlife reserves — for tourism activities, tourism entrepreneurs have warned that the country may lose high-yield tourists alongwith the collapse of ‘wildlife tourism’. “The private sector had introduced the concept of wildlife tourism in Nepal in 1964, when the Tiger Tops Resort was opened in Chitwan and through rigorous efforts over the years, we were able to establish Nepal as a hub of wildlife tourism in Asia,” said Prakash Shreshta, former president of the Hotel Association Nepal. “But the delay by the government in opening up protected areas for tourism activities has been pushing wildlife tourism to the verge of collapse.” The government stopped businesses from conducting tourism activities in protected areas in mid-June 2012. Prior to that, the government had allowed the private sector to operate hotels, resorts and other tourism activities in the protected areas on a contract basis. Back then, the government had said it would reopen the protected areas for tourism activities only after developing a legal framework. The Tourism Concessional manual was also prepared to open the protected areas for private sector to run tourism activities. However, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DoNPWC) and its parent ministry — Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation — has not yet taken any decision on the matter. The government has already prepared a draft manual to allow the private sector to conduct tourism-related activities within protected areas by implementing mandatory measures for conservation. The draft manual prepared by DoNPWC has envisaged well-constructed mechanism to deliver better conservation outcomes, enhance visitor experience, increase community income through tourism, and tax revenue for government. But the government has remained silent on whether it will open up the protected areas for tourism activities. The private sector says that it has played a crucial role in the past in conservation efforts but the government has been hesitant in opening up the protected areas for fear of the private sector not abiding by conservation laws. Kristjan Edwards, chairman of Tiger Tops, said that tourism entrepreneurs have played an enormous role in the conservation of wildlife even before the concept of national parks was introduced in 1974. “The number of rhinos, tigers and other endangered animals increased sustainably due to the effort of tourism entrepreneurs in conservation,” he said, adding, “If we are doing business on the back of wildlife then conservation is our top priority.” There were seven lodges and resorts located within Chitwan National Park before the government stopped renewing the contracts to run hotels, resorts and conduct other tourism activities there. The then president of the World Bank Group Robert McNamara had also praised the conservation efforts of the tourism entrepreneurs for the sustainability of wildlife tourism, reminisces Basanta Mishra, owner of Temple Tiger Resort in Chitwan National Park. “Nepal was taken as a model country in balancing conservation and wildlife tourism activities from the very beginning that also supported us in attracting high-yield tourists. The golden triangle — Kathmandu–Chitwan–Pokhara — was also established due to wildlife tourism of Chitwan,” as per Mishra. The country has 10 national parks, four wildlife reserves and six conservation areas, which are spread over 34,185.62 square km or 23.23 per cent of the country’s total land area. As per Nepal Tourism Board, about 200,000 tourists visit the national parks of the Tarai region and a similar number visit wildlife reserves and conservation areas every year.