Resilience and Heart
Tourism over the years became the backbone of this humble nation. Nepal is a land blessed with natural yonder and great adventure potential.
It slowly became a prime destination for travel bugs. During this process, communities all over Nepal flourished as their area saw foot traffic. The pandemic stunned Nepal’s rapid growth. It brought to a halt various leaps taken in the tourism sector.
The situation got darker day by day.
As normalcy was within grasps, a new wave has grappled this nation. It has struck communities far and wide, some prepared while others can do nothing but wait. Through all of this, the Nepalese people have not let down hope. Resilient at heart. Nepalese have in the darkest days shown great dexterity in making the most out of every situation. In the year 2021, arrivals were down 35% from the past year. In 2020, Nepal welcomed 230,085 travellers whereas the figure was just 150,962 in 2021.
These aren’t just numbers. The major contributor to development through tourism was trekking. In 2021, only 34,000 travellers visited Nepal for trekking purposes. Routes once dense were deserted, and domestic trekkers were also low. Trekking brought the income right in front of a simple Nepali families doorstep. Regions such as Annapurna, Everest, Kanchanjunga and Mustang flourished greatly due to trekking and tourism. Trekking and mountaineering were both contributors to the national GDP. The industry took a 6.7 % share of the GDP in 2019 and was responsible for 6.9 % of all employment.
Even with low arrival’s, the businesses are doing their best to survive. Most businesses owners are dilemmatic. They can neither move forward nor shut down. Some have a large debt, whereas others hang on by a thread. In all of this, Nepalese souls still have hope. They see good days ahead of them, a new normal where they can bring back the glory of the yesteryears.
Development experts had always warned of a dire economic crisis that would emerge out of dependency in only one sector. On paper, tourism is only a minimal contributor. But for communities in tourism centred destinations, it was the prime source of income. Families had to find new means or go back to traditional methods to sustain themselves.
So, what can be done? Even though it isn’t just Nepal that is grappling with the pandemic, we can learn a lesson from our failures. Firstly, income needs to be diversified, especially for small communities heavily reliant on tourism. Secondly, better protocols for safety and hygiene must be drawn. It must be followed by not just major establishments in the urban centres but also in the trekking regions of Nepal. Thirdly, domestic travel should be heavily promoted with incentives and vacation days provided via legislation. Finally, businesses and the tourism entities of Nepal need to start thinking outside the box to attract more travellers.
Apart from these measures, all the tourism industry can do is wait and watch. In solidarity must all the sectors work together to support each other in these difficult times. For travel bugs however, they can plan today and travel tomorrow.