Tourism entrepreneurs seek designated body for information dissemination

KATHMANDU, July 29:

As the nation embarks on the path of tourism recovery, tourism entrepreneurs have urged the government to designate a nodal agency for dissemination of correct information to international media.

Speaking at a session on 'Post Earthquake Tourism Recovery and Brand Building' in Kathmandu on Wednesday, tourism entrepreneurs say all stakeholders should guarantee that the information disseminated to international community is correct. Hjörtur Smárason, place branding expert, who is Nepal to run workshops on storytelling and tourism recovery strategies, said Nepal needs to guarantee dissemination of correct information through one channel.

"For early recovery of tourism industry, Nepal also needs to focus on internal marketing, appoint the people, who love and has visited Nepal, as ambassadors to promote Nepal, and tell the story of recovery of the people besides providing correct information," said Smárason.

Lack of correct information about Nepal has been a problem for international tourists visiting Nepal. "People around the world search information about destinations that they want to visit in Internet. We also did the same. But we found that Nepal lacks a one-stop destination that provides all information about what is going on in Nepal now," said Inga Ros Antoniusdottir, independent tourism marketing consultant, said.

Ramesh Prasad Dhamala, president of Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN), said guaranteeing dissemination of correct information is a difficult task. "There should be some system to ensure that only correct message is disseminated to media," he added.

Sarad Pradhan, media consultant of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), said they were working to ensure that tourists get the right information from one channel.

Tours operators participating in the session said joint efforts should be made to promote Nepal in the international arena. They also said entrepreneurs should focus on enhancing quality of service and providing incentives rather than reducing rates. Raj Gyawali of Social Tours said the tendency of offering discounts will affect the industry in the long run. "We should provide incentives and more value for money than the discount," he added.

Similarly, Rajan Simkhada, president of Earthbound Expeditions, also said discounts won't help in the long run.

Antoniusdottir said that people either easily forget about discounts as getting 25 percent or 50 percent off is a very small portion of what they spend to come to Nepal. "Our experiences and case studies shows it is difficult to get back to regular tariff and business after the price slash," she added.

Source: Republica