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Tourism sector generated 487,000 jobs in 2014

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Tourism sector generated 487,000 jobs in 2014

World Tourism News

Nepal’s tourism sector is providing 3.5 percent of the total employment in the country, directly providing 487,000 jobs in 2014, according to a research report published by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and research partner Oxford Economics.The report, however, shows that direct job from travel trade sector is decreasing. In 2012, tourism sector had employed 553,500 people. It went down to 504,000 in 2013. However, WTTC expects that number of jobs to increase by 4 percent to 507,000 in 2015.

The report has included jobs provided by hotels and restaurants, travel agents, airlines, passenger transportation services and leisure industries.

Bhola Bickram Thapa, managing director of President Group of Companies, said that employment from tourism sector declines with the drop in tourist arrivals. “People working the tourism sector are attracted toward overseas jobs. This has also resulted to decline in number of jobs in the tourism sector,” said Thapa.

Nepal is ranked 33rd among 184 countries in terms of absolute employment creation.

It is estimated that more than 800,000 tourists visited Nepal in 2014 and the country mobilized *Rs 53.7 billion in revenue from the tourism sector. The revenue is estimated to grow by 1.1 percent to Rs 54.3 billion in 2015. Number of tourists is also expected to climb to 997,000 this year.

According to the report, the tourism industry attracted investments worth Rs 15.7 billion in 2014. It expects investment to increase by 12 percent in 2015. The sector contributed Rs 171.6 billion, or 8.9 percent, to Gross Domestic Product in 2014. The report expect tourism sector’s contribution to GDP to grow by 5.8 percent to Rs 181.6 billion, or 9 percent, in 2015.

Nepal is ranked 122nd in terms of total contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Likewise, direct contribution of tourism to GDP, mainly from jobs in 2014 was, Rs 83.7 billion, or 4.3 percent of GDP. The report forecast this to rise by 5.4 percent to Rs 88.2 billion this year.

Leisure travel spending, both inbound and domestic, generated Rs 111.9 billion, which is 85.5 percent of travel and tourism GDP, compared to Rs 19.1 billion, which is 14.5 percent of total GDP from business travels.

The report has forecast leisure travel spending to grow by 4.7 percent in 2015 to Rs 117.1 billion and business travel spending to grow by 10 percent to Rs 21 billion.

According to the report, domestic travel spending generated 59 percent of direct travel and tourism GDP in 2014 compared to 41 percent of GDP by the international tourists. Domestic travel spending which was Rs 77.3 billion in 2014 is expected to grow by 8.5 percent in 2015 to Rs 83.8 billion this year.

Source: MyRepublica

Sagarmatha National Park’s entry fee Increased

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The Sagarmatha National Park entry fee has been increased by 13%  effective from Monday, 16th March 2015. According to the office of Sagarmatha National Park at Jorosalle, the increment was done based on the Financial law of Nepal 2071. Although the new rate was  restructured  from 1st March,  the new  increment  has been implemented  only from 15th March in the Khumbu area.

Everest-KalaPatthar

With the increment, the entry fee for visitors from SAARC countries  will be  Rs.1615 whereas the visitors from the third country need to pay  Rs. 3390 and for Helicopter landing , it will charge Rs. 2260 . However,  the entry fee for porter will remain the same. According to the office, the entry fee for porters was increased last year only.

Nepal to improve and speed up Mount Everest rescues, have more doctors at base camp

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everest_base_camp

Nepalese officials say they’re adding more medical staff at Mount Everest’s base camp and will speed up rescue efforts during the current climbing season.

The moves come after 16 local guides were killed by an avalanche last year in the deadliest disaster ever on the world’s highest peak.

Devi Bahadur Koirala of the Himalayan Rescue Association Nepal said Tuesday that four doctors would be stationed in the base camp’s emergency room tent, which will be equipped to handle almost any medical need.

Koirala said plans have been made to enable sick or injured climbers to be airlifted from the mountain by rescue helicopters within 90 minutes.

Nepal’s popular spring climbing season, when hundreds of foreigners and their local guides attempt to scale Everest, runs from March 1 to May 31.

Source: Foxnews

TAAN promotes Nepal in Melbourne, Los Angeles, Denmark

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TAAN promotes Nepal in Melbourne, Los Angeles, Denmark

Three separate delegations of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) promoted Nepal’s tourism products and services in Melbourne (Australia), Los Angeles (USA) and Herning (Denmark).

TAAN coordinated participation of Nepali trekking companies in these expos. TAAN Secretary Pasang Sherpa led Nepal’s delegation in Adventure Travel Show held in Los Angeles, USA on Febraury 21 and 22. TAAN member companies participated in the expo.

Trekking-expo

“Our stalls received around 700 visitors – most of them were buyers. Our participation was successful,” Sherpa said.

Similarly, Executive Member Vidya Hirachan led Nepali delegation in Adventure Travel Expo held on February 21 and 22. TAAN member agencies “Our participation was highly successful. There were lots of quality visitors,” Hirachan said. “Most of the visitors were interested toward trekking. Few sought information about expeditions.”

The expo, which saw participation of 120 countries, saw around 25,000 visitors, according to Hirachan.

TAAN delegations distributed promotional brochures, DVDs and maps to the visitors.

Similarly, TAAN member agency Sherpa & Swiss Adventure participated in Danish Travel Show held in Herning of Denmark from Febraury 20-22. The participation was coordinated by TAAN.

Trekking in Himalayas Nepal

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Trekking in Himalayas Nepal

Nepal is the ultimate destination for the trekking enthusiast-offering a myriad of possibilities from the short and easy to the demanding challenges of the snowy peaks. Easy, moderate or rigorous-there is something for every palate. Nepal har aptly been called “A Trekkers Paradise” as her terrain-mountains, hills and the Terai-offers some of the most spectacular trekking routes in the world. The immense contrasts in trekking routes in the world. The immense contrasts in altitudes and climates found here support an equality spectacular mix of lifestyles, vegetation and wildlife. Trekking in Nepal is as much a cultural experience as a Himalayan adventure. In the shadows and foothills of the icy pinnacles of the Himalaya, one passes picturesque charming villages inhabited by diverse ethnic groups. Treks vary from expeditions, high altitude treks to simply easy paced walks.

Trekking-in-Nepal

Trekking is another word for walking. The treks are focused in Annapurna, Everest, Langtang, Rolwaling, and restricted areas such as Dolpo, mysterious Mustang, Jumla ( Rara Lake ), Kanchenjunga, Makalu and Arun Valley , Manaslu and Larke La Pass and many new discovered unbeaten trails. However, the word trekking has become more well known for the kind of walking which takes you along trails winding up, down, over and around mountains.

Trekking is not mountaineering although some of the popular trails are used by mountaineering expeditions to get to their base camps. Most of the trails you will walk on are still used predominantly by Nepali people for everyday travel and trade. It is not uncommon to be passed along the way by a Nepali porter carrying lengths of corrugated roofing iron slung from a jute strap (namlo) around the head or a sick relative being carried in a basket (doko) in the same manner to the nearest medical facility.

Annapurna-Base-Camp-Trekking

Samrat Tours & Travels offers some of the best treks depending on the interest of the client. From hikes lasting three to four days to trekking in the restricted areas which may last longer than a month. Samrat Tours & Travels family is ready to serve you and make your holiday dream come true with some fine arrangements, government registered and will differ with its rescue services in case.

Safety fears prompt change to Everest climbing route

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The route used by mountaineers to scale Mount Everest is to be changed amid fears of an increased avalanche risk.

everest-base-camp

Nepal will change the path next month after a deadly collapse in 2014 killed 16 climbers – the worst single loss of life in expedition history. The current route up the mountain has been in use since the 1990s. Mountaineers will now take a more central route after Base Camp, avoiding the left side of the Khumbu Icefall, where last year’s accident occurred. The fatal avalanche last year triggered a boycott by Sherpa climbers who demanded better wages and conditions.

Their protest at Base Camp led to the cancellation of all expeditions to Everest. The Nepali government is seeking to improve safety at the start of the 2015 spring climbing season.

“We think the risk of avalanche in the left part of the Khumbu Icefall is growing and we are moving the route to the centre where there is almost no such danger,” said Ang Dorji Sherpa, chairman of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, an organisation authorised to set the route of Everest expeditions.

Tougher but safer

Ropes and ladders had already been imported from countries including the UK and will be fixed into position along the new route, he added. The central route up the mountain immediately after Base Camp is not actually new. It was the path used by mountaineers more than two decades ago. But in the 1990s, the route was changed to run up what is known as the “west shoulder” because it was shorter and easier to climb, even for inexperienced mountaineers.

The downside was that the avalanche risk there was greater.

“The route through the centre part will be difficult and time consuming but it will be relatively free from the risk of avalanche, as the ice cliffs and hanging glaciers [along the west shoulder] are comparatively far away from it,” said Mr Sherpa. One of the demands of sherpas during their protest last year was for the Nepali government to allow the use of helicopters to drop heavy equipment at Camp One – the next stop for climbers after leaving Base Camp. This would free sherpas from carrying heavy loads and reduce the frequency of their trips through treacherous parts of the route.

Environmental issue

Porters, many of them from the Sherpa community, pass through the Khumbu Icefall 30-40 times during the climbing season, carrying heavy loads. Foreign operators have sided the sherpas on this issue, but Nepali expedition operators disagree. “Nepal’s law does not allow even rescue helicopters above base camp mainly because of the environmental fragility of the mountains and we agree with that provision,” Tika Gurung, an executive member of the Expedition Operators’ Association of Nepal. The government has not agreed to any change on the use of helicopters, though it may hope that shifting the route will assuage some of the sherpas’ anger. Both foreign and Nepali expedition operators have welcomed the decision to move the climbing path. Figures show nearly 40 climbers, most of them support staff of expedition teams, have died in the Khumbu Icefall.

Some 250 people in total have died trying to climb Mount Everest since it was first scaled in 1953.

Source: BBC