Nepalese are friendlier than Indians, Sri Lankans: report

Tuesday, 22 November 2011 18:15

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LONDON: Nepal has moved up six places to the 112th spot in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report (TTCR) 2011.

The report prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has also pointed out the multiple constraints that the Nepal’s tourism industry is experiencing.

According to the report, Nepal and its people are friendlier toward foreign visitors compared to India and Sri Lanka. It has ranked Nepal at 44 in the population’s attitude toward foreign visitors while India and Sri Lanka has been ranked at 81 and 89 respectively. Nepal has been ranked tenth in visa requirements by the report. “We are comparatively liberal in visa issuance,”  says Bhola Bikram Thapa, a tourism entrepreneur. “We have been issuing visa on arrival to many nationalities at the Tribhuvan International Airport.”

Nepal also fares better than India and Sri Lanka in terms of airport density with a score of 64. In terms of the government’s priority to the travel and tourism industry, the report has ranked Nepal at 49th place. Likewise, Nepal has been ranked 72nd in terms of the number of operating airlines. Over the last three years, around a dozen of new airlines have entered the Nepal skies.

However, Nepal is way behind other major tourism destinations in the SAARC region in terms of marketing and branding to attract tourists. The report has ranked Nepal in the 76th position in the effectiveness of marketing and branding campaigns. Compared to Nepal, India and Sri Lanka are much better in marketing and branding.

With the country celebrating 2011 as Nepal Tourism Year, government and non-government organisations associated with tourism have upped their marketing and branding exercises. The NTY implementation committee is about to launch a major marketing and promotion campaign in India from April.

In terms of hotel rooms, Nepal scores an unenviable 126. According to the Economic Survey, Nepal has star and non-star 744 hotels with 28,493 beds. The NTY-2011 saw the opening of more hotels within Kathmandu and outside.