Kathmandu, February 19:

Experts today called for enhancement of service sectors including Tourism and Information Technology (IT) to achieve economic boom in the country.

Speaking at a Nepal National Stockholder’s workshop on service sector programme, Purushottam Ojha, secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MOCS) said, “There are many service sectors but we need to have a harmonized policy approach. Though we have a many tourist destinations we lag behind in infrastructure.”

“There is high competition at the international level, and we must cope with it to encourage foreign investment here. Areas of competitiveness must be explored and developed,” said Ojha.

According to Dr Badri Pokhrel, joint secretary at the MOCS, service sectors contribute 50 per cent to the GDP. Therefore, for economic gain expansion and enhancement of service sectors is necessary, mainly in the tourism and information technology sectors. “ We should encourage economic and business tourism by increasing tourism quality,” said Dr Pokhrel.

There are 12 service sectors listed in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Among these, Nepal has 11 sectors and of which there are 70 sub-sectors. In the service sectors, the country is trying to focus on banking, finance, education, health, tourism and others for providing quality service.

“Service sectors can provide new opportunities to the private sector by showing the reality of the business world to the government sector,” said Robert Hamwey, senior expert at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

According to Hamwey, the government should not only focus on a specific issue but the entire service sector to overcome barriers. “We have come along with the ministry and are coordinating to recognize new sectors except those like education, health, etc. We are looking for tourism and also IT services expansion as they are at present the most promising sectors which can mature faster, creating greater employment opportunities,” he opined.

Hamwey added that in terms of tourism products Nepal should move along with business, wellness and education tourism. Hamwey said vacation tourism (52 per cent) and trekking tourism (28 per cent) accounted for over three quarters of tourism visits in 2001 before the political instability. In 2008, the tourism sector contributed three per cent to the GDP directly and 6.8 per cent to the GDP if contribution from linked sectors were included. In terms of employment, the tourism sector accounts for 2.3 per cent of the total employment and the wider tourism economy accounts for 5.3 per cent of total employment or one in every 18 jobs. Moreover, tourism economy is estimated to account for 15 per cent of total goods and services export.

Nepal has a large and capable workforce able to do computer programming. Therefore, the IT sector can be the next service sector, Hamwey said adding, “Recent advancements in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have offered Nepal new opportunities for economic development and for meeting imperatives to offer telecommunications and internet access to its population.”

There are 20 foreign companies from Japan, Germany, US and the Netherlands operating in the Nepal IT services market. Many foreign companies have established offices here to take utilise the young, educated and English-speaking workforce in order to lower their labour costs for producing software and IT-related services.