With Nepal no longer in the grip of civil war and removed from travel warning lists, officials believe the impoverished Himalayan nation is set to benefit from a much-needed surge in tourists.
Former rebel Maoists, elected to power earlier this year, have said they will work to boost the lucrative sector — particularly in the little visited, poverty-stricken rural areas where they draw their biggest support.
Bringing in US$230 million last year — 4 percent of the country’s GDP — tourism delivers vital foreign currency and generates jobs for Nepal.
“The industry is ripe for expansion,” Tourism Minister Hisila Yami said. “We are focusing on rural tourism as we think this could bring an immediate impact to areas that have never seen tourists.”
The new government has set its sights on welcoming 1 million visitors annually by 2011, almost double the number of tourists last year.
The early signs are positive despite the global financial crisis.
Seventy percent of hotels have experienced good advance bookings, said Madhav Om Shrestha, director of the Hotel Association of Nepal.
Last month saw more than 50,000 tourist arrivals, the highest monthly total since 2000, official figures showed.
Nepal’s tourism board believes the country will escape the worst of the financial fallout.
“Most of our tourists are backpackers, trekkers and high altitude climbers and the economic crisis should not deter these kinds of people,” said Sarad Pradhan, a Nepal Tourism Board spokesman.
After democratic polls in April, countries such as the US, the UK and Japan downgraded the security risk assessment they provide for tourists.
Nepal has a huge amount to offer visitors, from jungles in the south teeming with wildlife to the world’s highest mountains on the northern border.
Trekkers and mountaineers can also now visit the center and far west of Nepal — once the heartland of the Maoists who battled security services to a standstill during a decade of civil war that ended two years ago.
“In the mid and far west, the mountains are all now open for exploring. We have totally waived mountaineering royalties to encourage people to visit,” Yami said.
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