SATV approached Mani Raj Lamichhane, a director of Nepal Tourism Board in order to gather information and for the curious and concerned ears of Nepal's tourism sector.The interview gathers current plans, progress, agreements and preperation of Nepal Toursim Board for upcoming 2080 national and international toursits, especially Chinese tourist as China opened its citizens for an international tours from March 15.
Hello! Mr. Mani Raj Lamichhane Sir! I am Ramila Gautam, host of South Asian Network TV. First of all, thank you very much for accepting our invitation and participating in this program today! Also, welcome to this program.
Hello. Thank you Ramila.
After the corona pandemic, what is the state of Nepal's tourism sector in recent times? Please tell our viewers briefly.
Mainly after Corona, if we look at the number of tourists, in 2022 the world tourism recovered around 63% and Nepal recovered 65%. In comparison to 2019 figures, 70% and 75% have been recovered respectively until January-February of 2023.
Even if we look at the past data, the largest number of foreign tourists who come to visit Nepal are Chinese tourists. As a director of the Nepal Tourism Department, how attractive do you think Nepal's tourism sector is for Chinese tourists?
Chinese tourists are important for Nepal's tourism sector and the Chinese market is also a major source market for Nepal. If we look at the statistics of 2019, it is seen that 2,70,000 people entered Nepal from India and 1,70,000 people from China. In that calculation, China is the second largest market after India, and if the total market is observed, 10-15% of the total tourists are Chinese tourists. In 2016, an agreement was reached between the Government of Nepal and China, which stated that around 200 Chinese-speaking tour guides would be trained within 5 years. As it was 1,70,000 in 2019, we aimed to bring in at least 5,00,000 Chinese tourists by 2020 with the cooperation of the Chinese government. Therefore, we have made a strategic action plan so that we can help them to reach the target of 20,00,000 tourists. But in the end we could not move forward due to covid. But recently the Chinese government has placed Nepal as one of the twenty more countries to be visited towards the beginning of February which has officially opened from March 15. Because of that, we hope that there will be a good presence of Chinese tourists in Nepal in the coming days.
Does the Nepal Tourism Board have any plans while in cooperation with China's tourism industry? If so, please share.
Mainly because China is our main market. Since it opened from March 15, we together with Nepal association of tour and travel agency, will have a sales mission in the major markets of China. Such as: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, these three markets, towards the end of march or within the first week of April. We have planned to organize and take 20-25 good tour offers from Nepal and invite big tour operators and media from China to hold a business exchange program. Similarly, now Chinese fair, various travel shows, travel fairs will be conducted. we have also planned to actively participate inthe big fairs and festivals in the main cities of China, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Kunming, Chengdu, where there is fast air service of Nepal.
What are the difficulties and challenges that Nepal's tourism sector has to face when bringing Chinese tourists into Nepal and whatare the things that should be taken into consideration if a Chinese tourist comes to visit Nepal? Would you like to give some advice?
Right now it's being difficult to come to Nepal. It is not only from China but from other countries as well because of this latest war between Russia and Ukraine. It keeps on fluctuating the price of oil. On top of that, our tourism sector, which was severly affected due to the pandemic, is now slowly speeding to return to its formercondition. Due to this, the demand of tourist to visit us is high but our supply, mainly the capacity of our airways is less. As a result, air fares for people going to India, China and also to various destinations in Europe have become a bit expensive. So, the same problem has arisen in context of China.
That is why we are taking the initiative to operate more two-way air services with the Chinese government by requesting through the Nepal government. When that happens, it is most probable that the fares will go downand the influx of Chinese tourists will increase. Apart from that, since Nepalis one of the destinations chosen by the Chinese government and mainly Kathmandu, Pokhara, Chitwan, Nagarkot, these four or five areas have a little more movement, in those areas they have the services they want in restaurants and hotels, including tour guides, transportation. Nepal doesn't have much problem. Due to this, citizens can come and spend their holidays comfortably in Nepal.
China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has given permission to Chinese citizens to visit Nepal just some time before. We hope that more and more Chinese tourists will visit Nepal. Is Nepal's tourism sector ready to welcome those Chinese tourists?
Nepal's tourism sector is not only ready but eager to welcome them. I also recently spoke with a tour operator who runs some Chinese tours. Their happiness also knows no bounds. Along with us, they are eager to welcome Chinese tourists. Similarly, hoteliers and transporters are also eager.As a whole, the government of Nepal and the tourism sector are all ready to make Chinese tourists visit Nepal under every conditions.
Despite your busy schedule, thank you very much for giving your precious time to attend today's event.
On behalf of the Nepal Tourism Board and the tourism sector as a whole, I would like to thank South Asia Networking Television for providing the audience with an opportunity to inform the audience about the current situation of Chinese tourists and Nepal's preparations to welcome them.
