Despite Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) claiming that foreign travel advice has been toned down in the last year, over-cautious warnings are still deterring tourists from visiting Nepal.
"The number of tourists could be much higher if not for the travel advice from foreign embassies," says Sarad Pradhan, NTB's media consultant. "Unforeseen things happen everywhere, everyday and Nepal is no different." He argues that there is no threat of terrorism in Nepal.
At least seven countries advise tourists not to travel to Nepal because it's too dangerous. "The US is always trying to link Nepali organisations with terrorism, but in my opinion this is not true. Like the Maoist Party, they're a political outfit, they're not a terrorist organisation," Pradhan says.
NTB recently wrote a letter to all western ambassadors in Nepal requesting them to review their travel advice and Nepal's Foreign Ministry was also copied in on the letter. Nepal's ambassador to the US, Shankar Sharma, briefed the US State Department last January in an attempt to sway them to review their advice, which suggests that Nepal is a dangerous country to travel in (see box).
As part of their commitment to NTY 2011, all political parties signed an agreement assuring NTB that they would not disrupt 2011 with any strikes or protests that will affect the safety of tourists. NTB is confident that this agreement will not be broken. "We believe the parties will stick to their word," Pradhan says. Another move by NTB was to put a crisis management and crisis tourism unit in place to further protect travellers in the event of any threat to tourism.
Most of the information that the US embassy uses to determine the security situation is drawn from public sources, including the media and police reports. The US councillor for public affairs, Terry J White, says the US Embassy has an obligation to provide the American people with fact-based information. "This information is gathered, sifted and distilled into what we think would be useful to our constituents," White says.
President of the Tours and Travel Agents Association, Arjun Prasad Sharma, says this kind of travel advice is produced to prevent foreign embassies from being sued. "This is to protect the jobs of the embassy people and the government people," he says. "But the benefits of tourism go to the grassroots level people in Nepal, so the embassies have to support the people and stop this (travel advice). We don't need aid, we need business."
Sharma argues that Nepal is not linked with any terrorist organisations, but adds that Nepal isn't the only country that bears the brunt of foreign travel advice.
A British embassy spokesman says there is a general threat of terrorism in a country with any British and American ties. The UK advises all British citizens that there is a threat of terrorism wherever they choose to travel. He says they're not singling out Nepal. "I think it's fairly balanced (advice), we have a duty to give advice. Travellers expect to know about potential risks," the spokesman says, "and travellers anywhere in the world should have their wits about them."
The Australian Embassy updates its travel advice every three months and its intelligence is based on anything that affects Australians. A spokesman from the Australian Embassy says, "I wouldn't say we're over-cautious, we're trying to be right on the money to reflect the situation."
Travel advice from foreign ministries
United States:
"urges caution" www.travel.state.gov
United Kingdom:
"general threat of terrorism" www.fco.gov.uk
Australia:
"high degree of caution" www.smartraveller.com.au
Canada:
"should remain vigilant at all times"
www.voyage.gc.ca
New Zealand:
"some risk …threat from terrorism"
www.safetravel.govt.nz
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