Kathmandu, January 30:

Government representatives as well as the private sector have admitted that tourism has seen the most difficult period in a decade during the year 2005.

They were taking part at the 37th annual general body meeting of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN). Kirti Nidhi Bista, vice-chairman of the council of ministers recalled that at one time, Nepal was quite ahead in tourism.

Today it is facing extreme difficulties due to internal and external events. Bista said that

the government has given it high priority as it has a trickle-down effect on all sectors of the economy. Bista stressed on a public-private partnership to boost the tourism sector, giving it a high priority. He expressed hopes that the tourism industry could be revived.

Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr Shankar Sharma said that the growth in tourism has not been satisfactory in recent years. He informed that the contribution of tourism sector to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes to be only about 2.8 per cent. Dr Sharma commented that tourism is the significant sector that contributes to create employment opportunities, advance economic development and help forge backward linkages. He stressed on the need to have a strategy for at least 15-20 years to effectively boost tourism sector while the government should provide an enabling environment.

Indian ambassador to Nepal, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee speaking at the same function observed that Nepal is rich in beauty, culture and hospitality, which ultimately can boost the tourism industry if managed properly.

He said that India has a great potential to boost the Nepali tourism sector by being the source of a large number of tourists. If only peace were to be restored, Nepal’s tourism sector would see wonderful days, Mukherjee mentioned.

It is crucial that Nepal should be able to market its products in India to boost its tourism here effectively, said Mukherjee.

Outgoing president of HAN, Narendra Bajracharya said that during the last five years, Nepali tourism sector faced severe troubles. He informed that during 1999, tourist arrivals were 4,91,504 but it has gone down by 45 per cent and now stand at 2,77,129 in the year 2005.

Yankila Sherpa, state minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation, expressed his commitment to revive tourism. She said that she would give high priority to revive the sick Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC).

Sherpa blamed media for the bad performance of tourism industry at home and abroad, in recent years. She pointed out to sports tourism which holds tremendous potentials.

Prakash Shrestha, president-elect of HAN, urged the government to come to the aid of the tourism industry. He said that false justifications would never work in realising the potentials of tourism.

He said that the government’s saying should be translated into a reality. Shrestha, also urged the government to form a taskforce and create a separate tourism act to revive it on a sustainable basis.

Other newly-elected members of HAN are Prasiddha Pandey (first vice-president), B K Shrestha (second vice-president), Ajay Sthapit (general secretary) and Shyam Kakshapati (treasurer). Other elected members of HAN are Suresh Lal Shrestha, Manjushree Rana, Binod Shankar Shrestha, Dinesh Bista, Ram Avatar Goyal, Rajan Shakya, Bharat Basnet and Shreedhar Acharya.