When once in Nepal isn't enough

JESSICA LAWSON

Whether you never leave Thamel, spend weeks in the mountains, or go from one adventure sport to the next, for most tourists, there’s something unique about Nepal. With Nepal Tourism Year 2011 just six months away, tourists aren’t only being encouraged to come here, but to make a return visit.

With the highest rate of return visitors in South Asia, the tourism slogan “Naturally Nepal, Once is not Enough” is a fitting one. But photos of mountains and trekkers are no longer enough to represent a diverse and culturally dynamic country such as Nepal, and both locals and foreigners agree.

Darshan Shrestha from The Last Resort agrees, and says most people come to Nepal more than once because they have already trekked and want to try something different.
“This is the best place in the world to do whitewater rafting” he says. “In the marketing campaigns overseas, we have only mountains. We have so much more in Nepal.”

He encourages tourists to go beyond the usual destinations of Kathmandu, Chitwan, and Pokhara and see the real Nepal, and he thinks this sort of tourism needs to be promoted more internationally.

“Putting tourism banners outside the airport doesn’t help. The tourists are already here. You have to go beyond that,” he says, and attract them before they get here.

Alan Curr from the UK is currently on his fourth visit to Nepal and decided to come back and work for a local travel company.

“Every time I’ve been here, I stay a little longer” he says. “I have a massive desire to help the Nepali people. They are very friendly and incredibly honest.”

But despite his numerous visits, Alan has trekked only twice, one of which was to the Everest Base Camp for a charity cricket match.

“Nepal has so much to offer other than trekking, but no one outside of Nepal knows about it,” he says. With an international promotion of its adventure sports “Nepal could become the New Zealand of Asia.”

With people increasingly looking at having one-of-a-kind experience, Alan thinks that events such as the Everest Marathon could bring more international visitors to the country.
“Nothing quite prepares you for Nepal. You don’t get much more different from home than this,” he says.

For Suzanne O’Leary from the UK, it was the Nepali culture, people and religions that encouraged her to return to Nepal for five months this year to continue her volunteering in an orphanage.

“When I left last year, I knew that I would come back. I really felt like I had made a bit of a home here,” she says. Nepal is “so diverse ethnically, so underdeveloped, it’s where my time could quite well be spent as a volunteer.”

Although Suzanne has never trekked, she has traveled throughout the country and immersed herself in the community by living with a host family.

“I really came for the cultural experience, and I’ll come back for the same, ” she says.

While she has never seen any Nepali tourism advertisements in the UK, she feels that promoting Nepal overseas would be hugely beneficial for people wanting an adventurous holiday here.

According to Lonely Planet, “one journey through this land is rarely enough. The first thing many people do after a visit is start to plan the next one.”

This is a view Nepali hotels and tour companies are hoping will dominate tourism next year. With the goal of attracting one million visitors by the end of next year, Nepal Tourism Year 2011 has plans to use the additional tourism revenue to develop the country, the economy, and help alleviate poverty.

For many Nepalis, therefore, the year 2011 is a major opportunity for growth, not only in traditional tourist areas, but across Nepal as a whole.

Source: http://theweek.myrepublica.com/details.php?news_id=19204