Nepal pioneering in pro-poor tourism development

The history of Nepal's tourism development dates back to 1950 when it was first opened to foreigners after the abolishment of Rana regime. Three years latter, when Tenzing Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary stepped on top of the world, Nepal earned a name as a mountaineering sport destination. Although, access, accommodation and amenity are considered basic requirements in the field of tourism, it was very poor in the Khumbu region, and thus Sir Edmund Hillary befriended Solukhumbu as a guiding light for the people there. The Lukla airport was first built in 1964 with the objective of transporting construction materials from Kathmandu.

When the total number of tourist arrival in Khumbu was around 4000 in 1970, the local people were interested to participate in the business and Solukhumbu people started to become entrepreneurs. At the same time, the negative impact of tourism started becoming visible, as the forest resources below the alpine zone of Khumbu (below Everest base camp) disappeared in 1970s.The government of Nepal decided to establish Sagarmatha National Park in 1973. On the other hand, government recognized tourism as one of the key economic activities of Nepal, which is evident from formulation of first Tourism Master Plan 1972.

In the mid western region, the Annapurna area became popular since it has some of the world's highest mountains. Similar impacts of mountaineering tourism were experienced there as well. Learning from the experience of Khumbu, the government of Nepal decided to designate Protected Area and established Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) in 1986. As ACAP has shown remarkable achievement in sustainable development, government started to give further priority to tourism development.

With the recognition of wide range of benefits that tourism can provide, HMG/Nepal formulated the first Tourism Policy 2052 (1996) and Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) Act 2053 B. S.. The formulation of Tourism Board Act and its policy has created a platform of demonstrating private public partnership model in Nepal and elsewhere outside Nepal. The international support in Nepal's tourism development, particularly United Nation's Development Programme (UNDP)'s financial and technical assistance remains considerable.

It is the nature of tourism that brings numbers of complex challenges as the industry advances. Its impacts are diverse, complex and challenging. The environmental impacts, socio-economic impacts and cultural impacts of tourism in rural and urban areas force the government, private and related stakeholders' partnership effort to produce synergy effect in the industry. Tourism, at least in principle, is said that it would be sustainable if it were supply driven. To address this concern, Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Programme (TRPAP) with the financial and technical assistance of UNDP, DFID and SNV-Nepal has assisted the HMG/Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation- to develop community based pro-poor rural tourism products in partnership with the private sector.


Adopting the lessons learnt from the field practices, and envisioning for the future of Nepal's tourism prospects, community based tourism planning from the grass roots to district levels and district to national level tourism development guidelines, plans, policy and strategies have been prepared over the last two years. The five year District Tourism Plan for Taplejung, Rasuwa, Dolpa, Chitwan and Rupandehi have been prepared and handed over to the concerned DDCs to implement through Sustainable Tourism Development Section. At the national level, Pro-poor Tourism Policies, Nepal's Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2005-2009, Tourism Marketing Strategy for Nepal 2005-2020 and Nepal's Tourism Policy and Regulatory Framework 2060 B. S. have been prepared and submitted to MOCTCA and NTB for their implementation.

The Pro-Poor Tourism Policy addresses issues of poor and rural communities and creates a path to participate in tourism. Nepal's Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2005-2009 highlights the role and responsibilities of national tourism institutions, tourism products, branding Nepal, marketing Nepal, Religious Tourism, professionalism, standards and service, measuring the success and financing the plan. The plan was prepared with extensive consultation to private and public sectors of various levels through individual meetings, group workshops and seminars. Tourism Marketing Strategy for Nepal 2005-2020 focuses on strategies of how to market Nepal in international level, whereas Nepal's Tourism Policy and Regulatory Framework 2060 B. S. suggests on amendment of previous tourism policy and new regulatory framework for some of new tourism activities.

Involvement of local people themselves in tourism planning, product development, policy formulation, implementation and monitoring, empowering the local people and backward communities to become tourism entrepreneurs and leaders, advocating for their better future through tourism and guided by comprehensive policy and regulatory guidelines will no doubt improve the tourism of Nepal thereby contributing to the economy of the rural poor and the national economy. In addition, the massive and wide range of participatory approach adopted and concerted efforts invested by TRPAP in partnership with the private sector, government and non-government organizations will definitely make a difference in Nepal's pro-poor tourism development history in the 21st century.