Sarad Pradhan : Domestic Tourism & Survival Strategy

Domestic Tourism & Survival Strategy: Now it becomes imperative to motivate Nepali people to travel and understand what beauty we have in Nepal.

Realizing the importance of domestic tourism to keep Nepali tourism business alive after corona pandemic is over, XcelTrip Nepal has diverted its focus from attracting international tourists to encouraging Nepalese travellers to go around Nepal. We also organized a webinar (online seminar) on April 27, 2020, on Domestic Tourism & Survival Strategy ( impact, Survival & Roadmap to a better future) inviting senior tourism entrepreneur Karna Shakya, President of Nepal Trekking Agents Association Khum Subedi, former Executive Chief  Officer of Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi and First Vice President of Hotel Association  Nepal Binayak Shah.  Many experts predict that it takes more than a year to bring back the international travelling in normalcy,  As domestic tourism has never been a priority of travel industry of Nepal, now it becomes imperative to motivate Nepali people to travel and understand what beauty we have in Nepal.  The money that has been earmarked for Visit Nepal 2020  should be used for promoting domestic tourism in Nepal.  Motivation is a strong factor that attracts people to travel.

All services in the tourism industry in Nepal are designed targeting foreign travellers whether it is hotel/restaurant or transportation. So domestic package for Nepali travellers is important to promote domestic tourism in the post-pandemic period. Trekking, rafting and other adventure activities are still not the priority of Nepal while travelling because they believe that these are meant for foreigners. It is a high time to change the mindset of Nepali travellers who enjoy adventure activities in other foreign destinations but not in Nepal.

XcelTrip, being first Online Travel Aggregator of Nepal is mulling a strategic partner with hotels and other service providers to promote domestic travel package affordable to Nepali travellers. It is very important for the survival of the tourism industry of Nepal. We believe that Nepalese travellers are not miser when it comes to spending money on themselves. But in absence of complete promotion of destinations, many tourist destinations beyond Pokhara and Chitwan are in shambles and they need a special promotion from government and Nepal Tourism Board.  Since the tourism industry is driven by the private sector in Nepal, we expect promotional and marketing strategies more than business ethics and protocol that Industry needs to adhere to after business comes back to operation.