A Situational Analysis of Child Sex Tourism in Nepal (Kathmandu ...

1.3. Tourism Trends
In terms of tourists length of stay in 1999 the number of days according to the major
nationalities were Denmark – 22.6 days, Australia -19.5 days, Canada 19.3 days, UK –
18.7 days, Switzerland -17 days, Germany -16.2 days, the Netherlands -16.1 days, USA –
15.5 days, France 13.5 days, Austria – 13.5 days, Japan -11.2 days, Italy -10.4 days,
Spain – 9.2 days. India although the biggest inbound market for Nepal has got one of the
shortest stays of 6.9 days; as they usually do not go for trekking/ mountaineering that
needs longer stay.
With regard to the places of visit in the country, Pokhara established itself as the second
tourist destination in Nepal, which attracts about 22% of the total visitors followed by
Chitwan with abut 16.5%. trekking an Mountaineering activities attract 24% of the total
tourists of which ACAP draws about 60% followed by Sagarmatha National Park 20%
and Langtang National Park about 9%.
In terms of the tourist arrival per month for other countries except India, October is the
peak moth followed by March and November whereas June is the month with the lowest
arrivals.
Tourist inflow gained momentum from in the 1960s. In the fiscal year 1965-66 some
9,211 tourists visited the country while the figure reached 380, 301 in 1995-96. Due to
the armed conflict situation in country since 1996 the numbers of arrivals of tourists have
gone down dramatically. For example the tourist arrival in 2000 was 376, 503 with a
10.61% growth rate. (The Rising Nepal. 9th Jan 2001)
The history of rural tourism in Nepal is not long. Nepal introduced a programme of
village tourism aiming at promoting country's tourism industry in 2052 B.S. for the first
time. Since then "Nepal Village Resorts" from the private sector has been active. The
concept of village tourism has emerged to assist the tourism industry to expand from
urban centres to the rural areas.
1.4. Tourism and the National Economy
Tourism has long been a driving force for the economic development of Nepal. Tourism
is a vital sector that contributes significantly to the national confers of a country. It is also
the largest foreign currency earner. The sector has provided employment opportunities to
a large number of people. For these reasons, tourism is considered the backbone of
Nepal's national economy. The tourism sector contributes almost 3.6% to the total GDP.
As a matter of fact a total of Rs 12073.9 million was released as receipts from the tourism
sector in FY 1999/2000.
Tourism is an important consideration in the major national plans and policies of the
country. This can be clearly seen in the following Long term objectives as laid down in
the Ninth Plan:
2 A Situational Analysis of Child Sex Tourism in Nepal