Celebrating World Tourism Day and tourism in Nepal

Theme for WTD 2014: ‘Tourism and Community Development’

In the last few decades, tourism industry in Nepal is flourishing and thus serving to be one of the major sources of revenue collection. Commemorating the immense importance tourism has in the world economy, every year world tourism day is marked throughout the world. In our country also we mark this day promising to take tourism industry to a whole different level.

Nepal is a small mountainous country with huge geographical, cultural and religious diversity. Nature has blessed this country with high mountains crowned with snow, breathtaking landscapes, dense forest with rare wild animals, fast flowing rivers with scintillating water and much more. With such huge prospects, it all depends upon us whether we can act sensibly and make our country as one of the major tourist destinations in the world.

Tourism in Nepal is not a mere industry.  Though it certainly helps many people to sustain their livelihood, it also reflects our culture, tradition and our hospitality. Nepalese people are long known for their courtesy and camaraderie. With the motto 'guests are our gods' within them, it elucidates that hospitality comes before anything else for them.

The theme for the World Tourism Day 2014, 'Tourism and Community Development', symbolizes in itself, an inalienable relation between the two. Tourism has always been linked to community development especially with the fruitful changes it brings about. But sometimes the tourism industry can be hazardous to community as well relating to the bad influences it may trigger. The native culture, dress up and religion can be prone to the ill-effects of tourism. So one has to act promptly to ensure a harmonious relationship between Tourism and Community Development.

In order to make tourism a perennial and fruitful industry, there are many things which need to be looked at. A single effort cannot ascertain these feats. There have to be many helping hands joined together. Government policies and efforts have always been the key to promote tourism. But the role an individual can play cannot be overlooked. It is often said, 'with success comes many responsibilities'. So we have to be prudent enough to explicate the threat tourism industry can bring about. We should adopt different measures to minimize the negative impacts of tourism industry.

Thus, world tourism day can be taken as the opportunity to come together for the betterment of tourism industry. It may be just a day, but the initiatives it provides can be decisive in the long run. Only by making a balance in the use of natural resources, we can use it for a longer time for uplifting the status of people, society and the whole country.