Wither, Nepal's Tourism
Whither, Nepal’s Tourism? Much has been written about the country’s tourism sector but, mostly from the academic or developmental point of view. Many Master Plans have been put forward. Once again, they have been formulated keeping in mind the lofty ideals of delivering development, easing poverty, creating jobs, etc. Often, I have been a willing and sometimes unwilling, party to these shenanigans where the only result has been the generation of reports and plans that nobody ever refers to again! What is stopping this sector from re-positioning itself as the driving force of the Nepali economy, in the short and medium term, earning money for the country that will enable investments in sectors with longer gestation periods and with Returns on Investment sometime in the distant future? An engine that can haul the Nepali economy, if you will. Cleanly, with minimal environmental impact, allowing us to move from an agrarian economy to a services economy and bypassing the whole,...