Nepal remains unchanged at 112th in rankings

KATHMANDU, MAR 08 -

Nepal remained unmoved on 112th spot in the world travel and tourism ranking s, according to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 published by World Economic Forum (WEF) .

Among the South Asian countries, Nepal is ranked above Pakistan and Bangladesh which are ranked at 122 and 123 places respectively. However, Nepal is way below India and Sri Lanka that are at 65th and 74th in the rankings. Except Nepal, all the four nations have made progress over the last two years.  

Tourism experts termed the ranking as satisfactory given the low investment in the tourism infrastructure and protracted political transition. “Despite political transition, Nepal holding the same position in travel and tourism ranking s should be considered satisfactory,” said Prachanda Man Shrestha, former chief executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board.

According to Shrestha, Nepal has not seen major changes in tourism infrastructure and big investments in the hospitality industry since the end of insurgency. “On top of the infrastructure and investment bottleneck, Nepal has poor policy support and state priority to fully capitalised travel demand in Nepal,” added Shrestha.

The report shows that Nepal is in 52nd spot in terms of government prioritisation of the travel and tourism industry, while the country stands at 36th place in government’s expenditure in travel trade industry.

Nepal is also ranked lowly, at 78th postion, when it comes to effective marketing and branding. The country is ranked 133rd in openness of bilateral air service agreement.

The report shows that Nepal is not friendly towards foreign visitors. Nepal has been ranked 70th in attitude of population toward foreign visitors or how foreign visitors are welcomed in Nepal. In 2011, Nepal was ranked 44th in terms of attitude of population towards foreign visitors.

Nepal is ranked sixth in price competitiveness in the travel and tourism industry. Travel trade entrepreneurs blamed devaluation of Nepali

currency against the US dollar and unhealthy competition in the industry as the cause for Nepal becoming a price competitiveness destination.  The report shows that Nepal offers the most competitive hotel prices in the world, second behind Gambia on the hotel price index. Average room rates calculated for first-class branded hotels over a 12-month period in 2011 shows hotels’ average room tariff in Nepal at $52.7.

“Five-star hotels in Nepal are still struggling to fetch $100 on an average for a room night,” said Bharat Joshi, resident manager of Yak & Yeti hotel. The average room rates in five-star properties were $50 five years ago. According to Joshi, hotel tariff has increased due to higher travel demand in the last three years, but hotels are still adopting under-cutting measures whenever travel demand drops.

According to the report, ranked at 25th place Nepal is also among the countries with the lowest ticket taxes and airport charges. It is ranked 131st in the availability of hotel rooms per 100 population.

The report calls for some soul searching for country’s tourism planners, with the quality of air and road transport infrastructure in Nepal getting poor marks. Nepal is ranked 130th in tourism infrastructure and 121st in the air transport infrastructure. It is placed fourth from bottom among 140 countries in terms of ground transport infrastructure. However, the good news is Nepal is among top 25 least restrictive destinations to visit.

Source: The Kathmandu Post