Kathmandu, Mar. 15
A three-day regional
workshop on measuring tourism kicked off in the Capital on Wednesday with the
participation of representatives from about 35 countries in the Asia and the
Pacific region.
The 'UNWTO Regional
Workshop of Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the
Pacific' is jointly organised by the United Nations World Tourism Orgnaisation
(UNWTO), Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) and Nepal
Tourism Board (NTB).
Speaking at the inaugural
session of the workshop, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan
Kirati said that there was a dearth of statistics needed to design plans and
programmes in tourism sector.
"Mega programmes and plans that are not
based on factual real-time data and statistics have proved to be ineffective
and impractical," he said.
He said that to ensure
prompt and steady recovery of tourism, there is a need for development through product development and diversification.
"Regarding the same, there is a necessity for continuous research on new
tourism products and identification, increase of investment, integrated tourism
infrastructure development, ensuring that the benefits of tourism reach
community and grass-roots level," said Minister Kirati.
The Tourism Minister
informed that with the realisation of the need for streamlining and mining data
through integrated and reliable sources, the government has initiated the
implementation of 'tourism satellite account' system with the support from the
UNDP.
"As we progress
towards a digitised age, access of real-time data and statistics and in-depth
analysis of the same, are most essential in the tourism sector as well,"
he said.
Beka Jakeli, Director of
External Relations, UNWTO, said that without proper statistical system,
destinations cannot survive, there should be better understanding of the
importance of data.
"Impact of tourism
on economy, society and environment is immense, and we need to measure it in
order to tell its story," he said while airing the common aspirations to
forge collaborations among the nations and organisations to develop tourism
sector and create strong database.
Ambassador of Nepal to
Spain, Dr. Sharmila Parajuli Dhakal, who is also accredited to the UNWTO, said
that the Nepal's mission in Madrid has a goal to attract 100,000 Spaniards to
Nepal in a year.
She stated that policymakers
and tourism entrepreneurs need good data to make informed and impactful
decisions.
"We must focus on
rebranding and new market strategies to market our products including adventure
tourism, eco-tourism, religious/spiritual as well as health/education tourism
among others," she said.
Dr. Ram Kumar Phuyal, a
Member of the National Planning Commission, said that Nepal has plans and
strategies to diversify tourism destinations some of which are inscribed in the
current five-year plan as well.
"There is a need for
a better publicity and promotions of tourism destinations and products while collaborating
with other sectors like health and education," he said.
According to him, creating
modern tourism infrastructure in line with public-private cooperative and
partnership is the national priority.
“Our target is to
increase per tourist per day cost to US$100 from the current $45. However,
since, the current five-year plan is nearing its end, there has been very
little progress towards achieving this goal,” he said.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 March 2023.
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