Marketing Nepal As A Tourist Destination Are we doing it right?

Nepal has a very huge potential in tourism. Nepals future is in tourism. These are some
statements along with many others that we have heard so many times that they now seem like
clichs. Yes these statements have a lot of truth in them. Nepal has it all natural beauty, cultural
diversity, a great climate, a very hospitable environment. But has this resulted in a strong tourism
industry? The answer is no.
The number of tourist arrivals has grown by almost 72% since 2000 (Nepal Tourism Statistics
2013, 2014). In 2013 the number of arrivals was 797,616 which was a reduction of 0.7% from
2012. 2012 saw the largest number of tourist arrival in Nepals history. Tourism employees about
20% of the economically active population and contributes just 3% to the GDP. (Gautam, 2011).
The industry brought in 390 million US dollars in revenues in 2013.
From all these figures, it can be said that the tourism industry is growing in the country and a lot
of people are engaged in the industry. It is a major part of the national economy. But in
comparison with the potential, the current performance is not so good. The fact that 20% of
economically active population contribute to a mere 3% of GDP indicates that the resources are
seriously underutilized. It indicates that the quality of earnings in the industry is not good. The
reason for this under performance may be in the way we have approached tourism, the way we
have marketed the country.

Where are we going wrong?

Marketing is related to creating and delivering value to the customers. It is about satisfying
needs. The misconception about marketing is that it is only about selling and promoting. The
process of marketing starts by understanding what customers want, designing products that
satisfy these needs and then comes the communicating (promotion) and delivering (selling part).
If the first two steps of understanding customer needs and designing a product that satisfies them
are not done properly then there is nothing to communicate and eventually it affects the selling.
This is exactly what is happening to Nepalese tourism. We have not created enough products that

cater to the needs of the customers or even if we have the products we simply have not been able
to communicate and sell them.
Selecting a niche
As a tourist product Nepal it seems is confusing the customers. As seen throughout the world,
countries that focus on a niche area in tourism have always succeeded. Dubai has changed itself
from an oil rich desert to an exotic shopping destination. Thailand benefits from its open culture
and is popular for sex tourism (although this is an informal position the country has maintained),
Zimbabwe is for safaris etc. Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs are trying to do everything. This
diversity in services (often without the needed homework) has not been very good for tourism.
Engaging
However, having said that there should be a focus area, it is also worthy to be noted that Nepal
does not offer enough activities to engage tourists for a longer period of time and to spend more
money. Almost 50% of the tourists coming to Nepal come for pleasure and holiday but end up
bored within a week. Kathmandu, Pokhara, Chitwan and where do you go next? An average stay
of 12.51 days and an average daily spending of $42.8 mean each tourist spends on an average of
$535 during the whole of their stay in Nepal (Prasain, 2014). This is not a very high spending
when it comes to tourism. Another problem is that Nepal has a very low number of return
visitors. In 2013, only 8% of the total tourists were return visitors. This may be an indication that
visitors are not very satisfied with their first visit.
Keeping it authentic
Comparative advantage and core competencies are essential concepts of marketing and Nepal
has not been able to define its core competencies when it comes to tourism. A lot of tourists visit
a certain country to see the culture. Culture includes the traditions, the food, the language etc. In
the name of creating a comfortable environment for tourists Nepal has started to lose its essence.
For instance, I was once in a trekking trip to the Annapurna area and something struck me. The
menu of the hotel I was staying at had a long list of continental food. The list of Nepalese food
was so small. Why would a tourist visit Ghorepani if they wanted to have a pizza? So keeping it
real and authentic is very important in tourism and Nepal is missing the point on that.

Industry climate
Delivery of value is as important as creating it. The condition of tourism infrastructure is so weak
in the country and the problem is worsened by the fact that as in any other sector, the lack of free
competition is a major problem in tourism. Every tourist area will have had a committee made.
These committees will fix the price of everything and at places they even decide on the quota of
guests for each hotel. Similarly syndicates in transportation are yet another problem. These
interventions on free competition have reduced the quality of service.
Unskilled manpower
People delivering the service are as important as the service or the product. A major problem in
Nepal is the lack of skilled manpower. There was this instance during one of my trekking trips
with my friends when my friend ordered a parath and I ordered a pancake. Both of us got two
different looking things that tasted the same. In other words, the chef was not trained enough to
cook the two dishes.

Recommendations
All these problems have arisen due to a lack of integrated policy for tourism development. We
are trying to develop a certain geographical area and a certain activity. The resources and the
investment in tourism are already so less, and on top the efforts are so scattered. We are not
trying to develop Nepal as a tourist product as a whole.
The need, it seems, is to have a central policy for tourism development in the country and
develop Nepal as a unique tourist destination. A particular niche area (in terms of a product not a
geographical area) needs to be developed and many activities that are possible around this niche
needs to be developed so that the tourists can be engaged for a longer period.
Tourism is all about experience and it is essential that we develop unique services and products
that are found nowhere else. To support that it is important part to develop the human resource
for it. Vocational skills in the areas of guiding, cooking, entertaining etc. needs to be focused on
rather that formal university education for people wanting to get involved in tourism.

Hence, focusing on our core competencies, on our uniqueness and targeting a niche must be the
way forward for tourism development in Nepal.