GUESS what people are discussing in Pokhara — the second biggest tourist hub in Nepal? Politics!

There is a sense of hopelessness in the air. International tourists have dwindled since the earthquake.

Tourist entrepreneurs hope that the Indians, who usually drive up north during summers, will still come, but are not sure how they would behave. One restaurant owner was wondering how he would react when the demanding Indian tourists start arguing.

Will he relent this time knowing very well that many Nepalese blame the Indians for the blockade that wiped out any chances of tourism’s revival in the late 2015 and early 2016?

Of course, there are Chinese tourists, and the entrepreneurs do have signage and menus in Mandarin, and can communicate in pidgin Mandarin to deal with them.

However, they complain that the Chinese are worse than the Indians when it comes to arguing, behaving rudely and paying for the services and that they always find ways to short-change them.

Many tour operators suggest that Nepalese tourists spend the most and with whom they are the happiest with. They do not mind having five people sleeping in one room, as they rack up large food and booze bills. Many Nepalese families, especially the nouveau riche ones, splurge and meet every demand of their children.

Tourism cartels

Nepalese tourism entrepreneurship has been relegated to fighting for elections for a plethora of tourism associations rather than thinking of how the tourism industry can be recalibrated.

After the earthquake and the blockade, tourism entrepreneurs are lobbying for more concessional loans, waiver for interests and rescheduling of various loans.

Everyone knows where any concessional money would go on the quiet — maybe into funding another real estate venture. Tourism associations have ensured that they fight ferociously for the pie through a unique strategy of informal price cartels and arbitrage on opportunities rather than thinking of how to increase the size of the pie.

In Kathmandu, tourists pay one of the highest airport transfer prices given the five-kilometre distance to the heart of the city.

Tourist guides promote stores that give them the highest commission rather than explaining to the tourists the rich heritage of their country.

When one can Google everything under the sun, a guide has to provide insights not available in online guides and share anecdotes that will excite tourists. During my regular visits to the Golden Temple in Patan, a rich heritage destination where tourists can be retained for hours, I see groups of tourists either clicking pictures or just yawning as the guides rattle on.

Services at hotels have plummeted, as good workers who do not want to be a part of unions leave Nepal for better opportunities. Politically affiliated unions have made words like productivity, efficiency and meritocracy alien to the hospitality industry.

Owners have to battle with unions in every activity of operation. Absence of global players in the industry has created another sector where rent-seeking has become more important than entrepreneurship.

The government has done little to help improve the industry. It is not fair to expect politicians and bureaucrats to act as they rarely travel as tourists on their own money. By keeping the Nepal Tourism Board headless for years, we have suffered in the same way as by not having an ambassador to India for over three years.

Recalibration

Globally, the tourism industry has undergone one of the biggest transformations in the last decade. Airbnb, which does not own a single hotel, is valued more than hotel chains and Uber, which does not own a single car, is the world’s largest transport company.

Tripadvisor has changed how people decide on their travel options, how they travel and what they do after that. Gone are the days of coming back and sharing pictures with one’s friends and loved ones over a meal. Now it is about co-creating content for future travels.

New ventures like hivetravel.com are changing how people hire experts to plan their trips.

Gone are the days of hotel ratings that the Nepal government puts so much emphasis upon. Many hotels around the world now use smartphones and apps to enhance guest security and experience.

With China and India touching 150 million and 50 million outbound tourists by 2020, Nepal’s best bet still remains tourism — an industry that creates many jobs and where service differential can still ensure one make’s more.

It has to be entrepreneurs who drive this industry forward as it had been in the ‘60s, ‘70s and the early ‘90s. Perhaps the first steps will have to be disbanding the plethora of industry associations and thinking afresh.

The Kathmandu Post

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2016