Everest celebrations hide worry over visitors

By TIM WATKIN

Tourist numbers in Nepal have slumped despite the golden jubilee of the ascent of Mt Everest and a two-year tourism campaign by the Government.

As the country prepares for a week at the forefront of international media attention, the chief executive of the Nepal Tourism Board confessed it was failing to reach targets set as part of the Government's Destination Nepal 2002-3 campaign.

The campaign aims for half a million tourists each year. Last year only an estimated 260,000 visited. Even with a record 22 expeditions trying to climb Everest this year, street vendors, hotel operators and trekking guides all said business was slow.

Nepal has suffered from both international tourist fears, such as Sars and terrorism, and particular concerns about fighting between the Government and Maoist rebels.

Tek Bhahadur Dangi of the Tourism Board said: "Due to many adverse situations nationally and internationally we couldn't meet our targets. [Tourist numbers] are quite low. Even when we had insurgencies here, there was never a problem for tourists, but the way we have been portrayed means tourists felt reluctant to come to the country."

This week's celebrations 50 years after Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the summit of Everest would help rebuild Nepal's image, he said.

Ang Tsering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association which is co-ordinating this week's celebrations, said the lack of tourists was disappointing.

But with the Government and Maoists in peace talks and more than 100 journalists already in Nepal, he was confident tourists would return.

Income from tourism was vital not just for tourist operators, but everyone in the impoverished country.

In Kathmandu, street vendors said business was slow and tourists were few. A bedspread seller outside the Ministry of Education and Sports said it was very quiet but he hoped it would pick up in a few days, as the expeditions return from Everest and climbers arrive for the celebrations.

Closer to the central tourist district a boy trying to sell necklaces dropped his price by more than a third in less than a minute.

In central Dunbar Square, amid the crumbling temples and palaces of centuries past, you could count the number of tourists on your fingers.

At the Blue Moon Store mini-market, Sunil blamed the low tourist numbers on the Maoist rebels.

"The anniversary is important to Nepalese," he said. "Because it brings tourists, and tourists bring money."