Yes... once is not enough, concur foreign tourists
SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, AUG 04 -
Tourists making repeat visits to Nepal in 2009 made up almost half of the total arrivals giving credence to the travel trade’s advertising slogan “Naturally Nepal — Once Is Not Enough”.
According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), among the 509,956 tourists who visited Nepal last year, 158,153 were making their second visit, 7,858 were here for the third time, 7,426 for the fourth and 18,256 for the fifth or more times. Tourists visiting the country for the first time numbered 318,263.
Although past records are not available, NTB officials and travel trade entrepreneurs said that the number of tourists making repeat visits had gone up. “This shows that tourists want to come to Nepal again and again, but negative publicity has forced them to think twice about their travel plans,” they said.
Aditya Baral, senior director and spokesperson of the NTB, said it was encouraging that repeat visits to Nepal were increasing.
“Repeat visits make the tourism sector sustainable in any country,” he said. Repeat
visitors usually spend less according to international trends, but that is not the case in Nepal, he added. Indian sent the highest number of first-time and repeat visitors to Nepal.
Among the 93,884 travellers from India, 54,120 were here for the first time while the
rest were repeat visitors.
Cultural ties, pilgrimage options and better air connectivity are the major reasons behind the large number of repeat visitors from India, Baral said. The US, the UK, France, China and Spain are among the other countries sending repeat visitors to Nepal after India.
Abhinav Rana, general manager of the Radisson Hotel, said that the hotel had more repeat corporate clients in 2009 compared to the previous year.
Despite political instability and weak performance of the national flag carrier, the number of repeat visitors has swelled, said Ram Kazi Koney, managing director of Gandaki Tours & Travels and past president of the Nepal Association of Travel and Tour Agents (NATTA).
He added that it was a good indication that the country’s tourism sector could flourish instantly if the political situation becomes stable.
Of the total arrivals in 2009, air travellers numbered 379,322 while 130,634 came overland.
Country First time visitors Repeated Visitors
India 54,120 39764
Sri Lanka 33,264 3098
Thailand 22,972 4425
China 22,689 9583
USA 18,646 13397
UK 18,233 17149
Japan 14,943 7502
Korea 13,042 3103
Bangladesh 10,990 4395
France 10,130 12024
Australia 8,312 7149
Thursday, August 5, 2010
NOC bonus row, folk sweat
SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, AUG 04 -
Long queues were back again on Wednesday outside gasoline stations in the Capital after the agitating Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) unions’ staff stopped distributing petroleum products from the depots. This is the second time after June-end that consumers are forced to wait endlessly for petroleum products.
Around June-end, the state oil monopoly, NOC, created a petroleum shortage clarifying it was compelled to do so as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) cut deliveries by 50-60 percent because NOC had fallen behind in its payments.
However, this time the consumers are likely to suffer the artificial shortage driven by the NOC’s staff. “It’s totally irresponsible behaviour on part of the NOC management and its staff,” said Ram Chandra Simkhada, secretary at Consumers Rights Protection Forum.
He said that the state-owned enterprise and the state recruited employees are making consumers suffer for reason as the issue is one that should remain within their own house. “We also smell a rat inside NOC,” he alleged. The government has 98 percent stake in NOC.
He added that it was not reasonable that NOC, with has millions of outstanding loans, declare bonus even if it earns profit for some period. The NOC had earned a profit of Rs 3.31 billion the last fiscal year and had provisioned Rs 200 million as bonus to employees.
“We are not hungry for the bonus,” claimed Babu Ram Rai, President of Nepal National Employees’ Union.
On Wednesday, the NOC management called the agitating unions for the talks to settle the issue. The dialogue was going on till in the late night. “We’re still discussing on the issue,” said Rai when contacted by the Post. Earlier in the day, the unions had meeting with Commerce Secretary Purushottam Ojha.
The NOC management withdrew its plan to distribute bonus after its Annual General Meeting (AGM) announced the bonus, Rai said adding, “The management has humiliated the employees and forced them to wage war for their rights.” He said NOC should implement its decision passed by the AGM. “We will be compelled to be on strike indefinitely period if the management does not heed our demand,” Rai said.
The ongoing tug-of-war between the management and the Unions is likely to impact the consumers more. As per the unions’ charted plan, fuel depots across the country have stopped their shipment to the refueling stations from Wednesday. The second and third day plan of the unions is to close the depots for a half day. Fuel tankers will be able to get fuel for three hours, i.e from 10 am to 1 pm on Thursday and Friday.
Saroj Pandey, President of Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association, said depots across the country were totally closed on Wednesday. “This will amplify the demand automatically and create crisis again,” he said. It would be impossible to address the needs of the refuelling stations.”
SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, AUG 04 -
Long queues were back again on Wednesday outside gasoline stations in the Capital after the agitating Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) unions’ staff stopped distributing petroleum products from the depots. This is the second time after June-end that consumers are forced to wait endlessly for petroleum products.
Around June-end, the state oil monopoly, NOC, created a petroleum shortage clarifying it was compelled to do so as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) cut deliveries by 50-60 percent because NOC had fallen behind in its payments.
However, this time the consumers are likely to suffer the artificial shortage driven by the NOC’s staff. “It’s totally irresponsible behaviour on part of the NOC management and its staff,” said Ram Chandra Simkhada, secretary at Consumers Rights Protection Forum.
He said that the state-owned enterprise and the state recruited employees are making consumers suffer for reason as the issue is one that should remain within their own house. “We also smell a rat inside NOC,” he alleged. The government has 98 percent stake in NOC.
He added that it was not reasonable that NOC, with has millions of outstanding loans, declare bonus even if it earns profit for some period. The NOC had earned a profit of Rs 3.31 billion the last fiscal year and had provisioned Rs 200 million as bonus to employees.
“We are not hungry for the bonus,” claimed Babu Ram Rai, President of Nepal National Employees’ Union.
On Wednesday, the NOC management called the agitating unions for the talks to settle the issue. The dialogue was going on till in the late night. “We’re still discussing on the issue,” said Rai when contacted by the Post. Earlier in the day, the unions had meeting with Commerce Secretary Purushottam Ojha.
The NOC management withdrew its plan to distribute bonus after its Annual General Meeting (AGM) announced the bonus, Rai said adding, “The management has humiliated the employees and forced them to wage war for their rights.” He said NOC should implement its decision passed by the AGM. “We will be compelled to be on strike indefinitely period if the management does not heed our demand,” Rai said.
The ongoing tug-of-war between the management and the Unions is likely to impact the consumers more. As per the unions’ charted plan, fuel depots across the country have stopped their shipment to the refueling stations from Wednesday. The second and third day plan of the unions is to close the depots for a half day. Fuel tankers will be able to get fuel for three hours, i.e from 10 am to 1 pm on Thursday and Friday.
Saroj Pandey, President of Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association, said depots across the country were totally closed on Wednesday. “This will amplify the demand automatically and create crisis again,” he said. It would be impossible to address the needs of the refuelling stations.”
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