Tourists spending declined by 1.25pc

Per day spending of tourists who visited Nepal during the period of mid-January 2013 to mid-January 2014 has come down. Tourists spent $34.49 a day on an average, which is a fall by 1.25 per cent compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The spending of tourists was at $34.93 per day in the previous year. However, in terms of Nepali currency, there is a growth in per day spending by 2.22 per cent. The Economic Survey released by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday revealed that per day expenses increased to Rs 3,036, up from Rs 2,970 in the preceding year.

The spending in Nepali rupees witnessed growth due to appreciation of the US dollar.

The value of the exchange rate, which was at Rs 87.90 per US dollar on January 13, 2013 had depreciated to Rs 98.74 per US dollar by January 14, 2014.

The statistics of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation show that tourists’ spending have been in a declining trend since

a decade. In 2003, the spending of foreign visitors had reached a record $79.1 per day.

Arrival of tourists and their spending have not increased as expected despite promotions like Nepal Tourism Year in 2011. The fall in

per tourist expenses is attributed to the lack of capacity of tourism service providers to increase tourist spending mainly outside Kathmandu and Pokhara. Normally, it is only within the Valley and some other mountain destinations that attract any significant tourist expenditure.

Even as there is marginal growth in spending as a result of appreciation of the US dollar, the survey has portrayed a gloomy picture of the whole tourism sector. Tourism industry’s other indicators on number of tourists visiting Nepal, their average stay, income from tourism, earning per tourist and tourism sector contribution to national GDP are also in the red.

Between the period of mid-January 2013 to mid-January 2014, 797,759 tourists visited Nepal, against 803,092 who entered the country in the same period the previous year. The average length of stay of tourists has dropped to 12.57 days from 12.87 days and earning from tourism sector declined to Rs 30.43 billion from previous year’s Rs 30.70 billion.

The country’s foreign exchange earnings come from airport service charges, hotels and travel agencies. The survey has stated that

income per tourist also declined to Rs 38,144 from Rs 38,280. Similarly, tourism sector’s contribution to the national GDP this year slid to 1.7 per cent, from previous year’s two per cent.

Despite fall in number of tourists and their spending in Nepal, the tourism industry provided direct employment to 178,000 individuals, according to the survey. The number of people employed in the sector was 160,000 in the previous year.

source: the himalayan times,10 july 2014