SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, JAN 04 -
Nepal has targeted 265,000 and 100,000 visitors from India and China,
respectively. However, entrepreneurs say Nepal has been facing a tough task bringing in the targeted number of Chinese tourists with the existing air and surface links.
Despite a sharp rise in arrivals from India and China in 2010, travel traders said bringing 365,000 tourists from the two neighbours during Nepal Tourism Year would be a tall order.
Nepal has targeted 265,000 and 100,000 visitors from India and China, which would mean a two-and-a-half-fold and a four-fold increase respectively. Indian tourist arrivals grew 20.5 percent to 104,470 in 2010 from 86,696 in 2009. Chinese arrivals were up 36.8 percent to 25,559 from 18,677 in 2009.
The NTY implementation committee and the government have focused promotional activities in the two countries. However,
they doubt the goal can be met with
the available tour packages and present connectivity situation.
“We don’t have any schemes to increase arrivals, and the current growth can be considered a natural increase and not a result of marketing and promotional efforts,” said Ashok Pokhrel, president of the Nepal Association of Tour Operators.
The UN World Tourism Organization said China would become the world’s fourth-largest source of outbound tourists by 2020 with 100 million overseas visits.
The Annual Report of China Outbound Tourism Development 2009-10 issued by the China Tourism Academy has estimated that 54 million Chinese travellers would go abroad in 2010, up from 47 million in 2009.
Similarly, India is one of the fastest-growing outbound travel markets in the world. Indian outbound has been witnessing a growth of over 20 percent over the
last few years, with the figure reaching
11.58 million in 2009.
However, travel trade entrepreneurs said Nepal had been facing a tough task bringing in the targeted number of Chinese tourists with the existing air and surface links.
“Airfares from China to Nepal are among the world’s expensive fares, and the distances are also long,” said Rajendra Bajgai, general secretary of the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN).
Bajgai added that the preferences of Indian tourists to Nepal had shifted from shopping and honeymooning to adventure. “The government and the private sector need to identify the changing tastes of visitors to meet the target of bringing one million tourists during NTY.”
The government and the Nepal Tourism Board plan to continue their marketing campaign in the Indian and Chinese markets during the tourist season. “Although the two neighbours are our short-haul source markets, air connectivity, particularly with China, will be a major hindrance to achieving the target,” said Kashi Raj Bhandari, director at the research department of the NTB.
He added that the NTB had requested
the government to talk to the China about starting direct air service between Kathmandu and Beijing, but nothing has happened. “In the present scenario, the target seems unattainable.”
Increased arrivals have attracted big players to invest in resorts, hotels and aviation. Growth in air services mean the country can emerge as an attractive leisure and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) destination.
The government’s readiness to promote MICE tourism has encouraged tourism entrepreneurs. “The hotel sector has been receiving more Indian corporate clients these
days,” said Madhav Om Shrestha, executive director of the Hotel Association Nepal. However, poor road and air links with China prevent increasing arrivals from the northern neighbour, he added.
Nepal’s security situation is also another concern for tourists, particularly for Indian visitors. “Increasing instances of strikes have discouraged potential tourists from India. However, the good news is that more Indian tourists are visiting Nepal,” Shrestha said.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Sugarcane price fixed
SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, JAN 04 -
After two weeks of agitation and Sunday’s violent protest, which forced the local administration to clamp curfew in Sarlahi on Monday, the agitating sugarcane farmers called off their agitation after reaching an agreement with sugar producers on Monday.
Sugar producers agreed to pay last year’s price of Rs 401 per quintal of sugarcane to the farmers after the government agreed to waive 70 percent of the Value Added Tax (VAT) levied on sugar products. However, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar
Nepal’s intervention was required to resolve the dispute between the sugarcane farmers and sugar producers.
A tripartite meeting held in the presence of the Prime Minister in the Capital on Monday fixed both the issues—farmers’ price demand and tax waiver demanded by sugar producers.
As per the Monday’s agreement, the government will waive 70 percent of the VAT imposed on sugar products. In return, sugar producers will provide the waived VAT amount, which stand at around Rs 40 per quintal, to the farmers.
In addition to this, sugar producers have also agreed to provide Rs 33 per quintal directly to the farmers as ‘Sugarcane Development Promotion’’. Earlier, they used to contribute this amount to Sugarcane Promotion Fund. “The amount of VAT that the government waived will go to the farmers now,” said Manish Agrawal, managing director of Lumbini Sugar Mill.
Sugar producers had been asking the government for the VAT waiver for long. And, VAT was one of the major issues why sugar producers were reluctant to pay the price demanded by the farmers. “We are going to resume our operation after signing an agreement to this effect on Tuesday,” said Agrawal.
Sugarcane farmers, for last two weeks, were demanding last year’s price for sugarcane, while sugarcane producers were reluctant to pay the price.
Each year, sugarcane farmers and sugar producers have been at variance over the sugarcane price. Following a five-month agitation last year, sugar mills of Sarlahi, Mahottari and Nawalparsi had agreed to purchase sugarcane at a minimum price of Rs 401 per quintal. Then, the farmers had demanded hike in sugarcane price following surge in sugarcane price in India. However, in the wake of sugar shortage last year, sugar mills had agreed to pay as high as Rs 570 per quintal to the farmers.
However, sugar producers fixed the sugarcane price at Rs 348 per quintal for this season, after the market price of sugar dropped to Rs 58 per kg from last year’s Rs 85 per kg. The sharp drop in sugar price, according to sugar producers, made them unable to pay last year’s price.
However, farmers refused to accept the price set by the sugar mills, saying that their production cost has gone up. “We are not ready to accept low price this year,” said Paramhansa Chaturbedi, president of Sugarcane Producers’ Association, Sarlahi, before the agreement on Monday.
Currently, sugarcane is grown in over 70,000 hectares of land in 17 districts of the country. Sarlahi, Mahottari and Nawalparashi districts are the main producers of sugarcane.
Farmers said sugarcane production had dropped from 30 million quintals per year to 10 million quintals per year in six years due to the low priority of the government to this sector.
KATHMANDU, JAN 04 -
After two weeks of agitation and Sunday’s violent protest, which forced the local administration to clamp curfew in Sarlahi on Monday, the agitating sugarcane farmers called off their agitation after reaching an agreement with sugar producers on Monday.
Sugar producers agreed to pay last year’s price of Rs 401 per quintal of sugarcane to the farmers after the government agreed to waive 70 percent of the Value Added Tax (VAT) levied on sugar products. However, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar
Nepal’s intervention was required to resolve the dispute between the sugarcane farmers and sugar producers.
A tripartite meeting held in the presence of the Prime Minister in the Capital on Monday fixed both the issues—farmers’ price demand and tax waiver demanded by sugar producers.
As per the Monday’s agreement, the government will waive 70 percent of the VAT imposed on sugar products. In return, sugar producers will provide the waived VAT amount, which stand at around Rs 40 per quintal, to the farmers.
In addition to this, sugar producers have also agreed to provide Rs 33 per quintal directly to the farmers as ‘Sugarcane Development Promotion’’. Earlier, they used to contribute this amount to Sugarcane Promotion Fund. “The amount of VAT that the government waived will go to the farmers now,” said Manish Agrawal, managing director of Lumbini Sugar Mill.
Sugar producers had been asking the government for the VAT waiver for long. And, VAT was one of the major issues why sugar producers were reluctant to pay the price demanded by the farmers. “We are going to resume our operation after signing an agreement to this effect on Tuesday,” said Agrawal.
Sugarcane farmers, for last two weeks, were demanding last year’s price for sugarcane, while sugarcane producers were reluctant to pay the price.
Each year, sugarcane farmers and sugar producers have been at variance over the sugarcane price. Following a five-month agitation last year, sugar mills of Sarlahi, Mahottari and Nawalparsi had agreed to purchase sugarcane at a minimum price of Rs 401 per quintal. Then, the farmers had demanded hike in sugarcane price following surge in sugarcane price in India. However, in the wake of sugar shortage last year, sugar mills had agreed to pay as high as Rs 570 per quintal to the farmers.
However, sugar producers fixed the sugarcane price at Rs 348 per quintal for this season, after the market price of sugar dropped to Rs 58 per kg from last year’s Rs 85 per kg. The sharp drop in sugar price, according to sugar producers, made them unable to pay last year’s price.
However, farmers refused to accept the price set by the sugar mills, saying that their production cost has gone up. “We are not ready to accept low price this year,” said Paramhansa Chaturbedi, president of Sugarcane Producers’ Association, Sarlahi, before the agreement on Monday.
Currently, sugarcane is grown in over 70,000 hectares of land in 17 districts of the country. Sarlahi, Mahottari and Nawalparashi districts are the main producers of sugarcane.
Farmers said sugarcane production had dropped from 30 million quintals per year to 10 million quintals per year in six years due to the low priority of the government to this sector.
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