Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education

Vol. 4 Year 2014

Chief Editor Prof. Dr. Ramesh Raj Kunwar Associate Editor Basant P. Joshi

AITM Affiliated to: ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT Under the aegis of NEF - CCN Universtity Center

AITM School of Hotel Management (Affiliated to IMI University Centre, Switzerland) Editorial Policy

We are very happy to offer Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education, Vol. 4, 2014, to our readers. This journal is published annually in English by AITM School of Hotel Management which is affiliated with IMI Universitycernre Switzerland. The journal publishes on tourism related ecology (e.g. ecotourism), economy, environment, marketing, management, sociology, anthropology, religion, hospitality, development, law, agriculture, food, education, policies, employment, planning, geography, psychology, culture, heritage, sports, shopping, disaster management, crisis, safety, research methodology, drugs, crime, conflict and peace. This is an interdisciplinary journal which welcomes research papers and book reviews from different scholars of different disciplines but those should be related with tourism studies. Articles and reviews in the journal represent neither the views of the concerned publishers nor those of editorial board. Responsibility for opinions expressed and for the accuracy of the facts published in the articles or reviews are solely with the individual authors. Authors will receive four copies of journal with remuneration. All Academic correspondence should be addressed to the publisher or AITM School of Hotel Management, Knowledge Village, Khumaltar. The editorial board reserves the right to edit, moderate or reject the articles submitted. The text should be 10,000 to 18,000 words. Articles should be original and written in English. The research work should be based on both primary and secondary sources. As far as research methodology is concerned, foot notes, citations and references should be based on APA method. If not there has to be uniformity of citation and references. The editors welcome enquiries from readers willing to write research articles and book review. We believe that the contributions contributed by national and international scholars will disseminate the knowledge and ideas of tourism to the students, researchers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, journalists and other general readers. The Editorial Board Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education AITM School of Hotel Management Konwledge Village, Khumaltar Lalitpur, Nepal Tel: 5541179/55487729 Email: [email protected] Web: www.aitm.edu.np Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education

Vol. 4 Year 2014

Chief Editor Prof. Dr. Ramesh Raj Kunwar

Associate Editor Basant P. Joshi

Advisory Board Prof. Dr. Sriram Bhagut Mathe Prof. Dr. Ram Manohar Shretha Prof. Dr. Sudarshan Raj Tiwari Prof. Dr. Pramod Bahadur Shrestha Prof. Dr. Prem Nath Maskey Umesh Shrestha Bhupa Das Raj Bhandari Shaun Leonard Guilaume Plagnol

AITM Shool of Hotel Management Tel: 5541179/55487729 Email: [email protected] Web: www.aitm.edu.np

Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education

Vol. 4 Year 2014 CONTENTS

Ramesh Raj Kunwar 1 Tourism and Crime in Nepal: Shanti Barmashkha Understanding the Concept, Recognizing the Reality

Pranil Upadhayaya 23 Interrelationships between Tourism, Security and Peace: Towards the Conceptual Understanding

Sandeep Basnyat 38 Post-Conflict Violence And Tourism Management in Nepal

Biswo Nath Ulak 58 Prospects of Ecotourism in Khopasi, Nepal

Basant P. Joshi 89 Far Western Region of Nepal, the western gate to the possibility of Tourism Industry

Sujan Amgain 102 Book Review

Tourism and Crime : A Case Study of Nepal

Ramesh Raj Kunwar* Shanti Barmashkha**

Abstract The study has focused on the various crimes faced by the tourists in Kathmandu particular and in Nepal general in the field of tourism. The study has found that the crimes such as rape, murder and sexual abuse to tourists have been seen but very minimal. The highest number of crime is loss and stolen case. The majority of tourists lose their belongings such as documents, camera, bag and clothes. Furthermore, the research found evidence that the tourists also involve in criminal activities. This evidence mostly come from the Tourist Police Unit and Nepal Police Central Crime Data Section shows that tourists especially involve in drug trafficking, fraud, counterfeit currency and fake passport and even in the case of overstay. The study has found that with the development of tourism, some negative impacts have been seen such as prostitution which in latter days has been decreased. These all impacts can leave deep and lasting consequences on the development of tourism, host communities and the destination. The study shows that Nepal is still safest tourist destination in the world. Keywords: Tourism, Security, Crime, Development

Tourism Tourism has been studied from different prospective by different scholars. There are various meanings and definitions given by different scholars on different perspectives. O' Reilly (2000:43; in Franklin, 2003:27) argues that many theorists including Graburn (1989), Smith(1989) and Voase(1995), define tourism 'more by what it is not than by what it is- It is not home and it is not work; it is a change of scenery and lifestyle, an inversion of the normal. Tourism brings great benefits to people but it has also some negative impacts. One must accept that tourism is neither a blessings nor a blight neither poison nor panacea. Tourism has been referred to as "goose that not only lays a golden egg, but also fouls

* Professor Dr. Ramesh Raj Kunwar is anthropologist and tourism educationist by profession. He is the former Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and also former Dean of Nepalese Military Academy, Kharipati, Bhaktapur. Currently, he is teaching at the Central Department of Culture, Tribhuvan University. **Shanti Barmashkha has done Master in Business Studies from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. She is also the ex-student of Master in Conflict, Peace and Development Studies, Tribhuvan University. 2 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) its own nest (Aramberri, 2001 in Kunwar 2012:42). In one hand, tourism reinforces preservation of heritage and tradition but on the other hand, it degrades cultural environment and become a commercial form of entertainment for tourists which is called trivialization. Similarly, tourism not only degrades physical environment but also creates social problems like gambling, prostitution and crime which can destroy fame of a country.

Nepal as a tourist destination Natural scenic landscape and biodiversity, high Himalayas, incomparable cultural heritage and other numerous peculiarities have made Nepal a well-known destination in the world tourism map with a distinct image (NTB, 2009). The exotic natural beauties, great Himalayas and diverse cultures have made Nepal best places among tourists. Tourism for Nepalese people is not an interest but it is compulsion because Nepal can not compete with other developed countries from the perspective of development so, it has become the panacea for the development of Nepal ( Kunwar, 2013: 5). Tourism plays an important role in bringing foreign currency and creating various economic opportunities to local people. The people involve in different tourists activities to earn their livelihood. The tourist activities in Nepal can be divided into four part: Aerial, Terrestrial, Aquatic and Niches. The aerial activities include mountain flight, hang gliding, paragliding, cable car, bungee jumping, ultra light air craft, hot air ballooning and sky diving. Similarly, the terrestrial includes mountaineering, trekking/hiking, jungle safari, wild life, honey hunting, mountain biking, rock climbing, caving, skiing, golf, elephant polo, motor rally, Himalayan marathon, triathlon, pony treks. The Aquatic includes rafting, kayaking, canoeing, boating, fishing, angling, cascading, jet ski. Similarly, Niches include eco –tourism, village tourism, community tourism, agro- tourism, culture tourism, pilgrimage and spiritual tourism, educational tourism, health and wellness tourism, special interest tours (Govt. of Nepal, Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, 2009: 13).

Statistics of tourist According to Nepal Tourism Statistics, the total tourist arrival in 2011 was 736,215 and among them 352,059 was males and 384,156 were females. The number of tourists is also categorized on the basis of their purpose such as study, holiday, trekking, expedition, business, pilgrimage, official, conference, travel and others. Among these purposes, travel or visit occupied the highest number of visitors which is 395,511 and the second largest is trekking which is 81948. The total earning from tourism in Nepal in fiscal year 2067/68 was 321,456 US$. The average length of stay was 13.12 days and within their stay, one tourist spend 38.2 US$ a day.

Significance of study Safety and security are vital to providing quality in tourism. More than any other economic activity, the success or failure of a tourism destination depends on being able Kunwar/Barmashkha: Tourism and Crime... 3 to provide a safe and secure environment for visitors. Thus, an enviable perception as being a relatively safe region is among its major assets as a tourist destination. It is a factor that has served the region well and is expected to remain with us in the future. However, we cannot be complacent, since there is an emerging consensus that crime - which raises safety issues - is a growing concern among tourism stakeholders who fear the potential damage that it may inflict on the perception of safety and, by extension, the industry. Tourism can be developed only if proper management and policy are developed for the benefit of both host and guest. However every part of tourism is not considered benefit and development. The development of tourism or tourists can be responsible for some social, environmental and cultural changes which can be harmful for the host countries and results various impacts. Similarly, the existed social, environmental and cultural condition of host countries can be equally responsible for guest to involve in different criminal activities. The relationship between tourism and crime is still not studied in depth in most of the developing countries. Therefore, an attempt has been made for doing research on tourism and crime. There are many tourist destinations in Nepal and tourists from various countries visit Nepal for various purposes. They want to enjoy and get benefit from their holiday experiences. There are various external factors that can ruin their holiday experiences and among them, crime is one of the biggest threats to tourists to not only ruin their holiday experiences but also gives bad image of the country. Although there are some reports about crimes committed against tourists such as theft and robbery but academically this study has not been carried out in Nepal. So, this study is essential and will be helpful for other researchers, academicians, decision makers, various organizations related with safety, security, crime and policy makers and other general people those who are interested in tourism. It is therefore, study about the tourist related crime is significant for the development of tourism industry in the country. Successful in addressing crime and to establishing safe environment for tourism industry, identification and addressing issues and factors those are responsible for the instigate crime, is vital to address such issues that would ultimately not only solve the problem but would assist in establishing safer society and help to develop image of the country.

Introduction to crime Safety and security have become a major factor of tourism decision making. Without safety and secure environment, tourism does not exist. The extension of this argument follows that tourism is irrevocably bound up with the concept of security. Tourists' behavior and, consequently, destinations, are deeply affected by perceptions of security and the management of safety, security and risk. Moreover, with the events in 2003 related to the war in Iraq, concerns over a new strain of pneumonia and general travel safety demonstrated the tourism industry is highly vulnerable to changes in the global security environment (Timothy, 2009). There is no universal definition of safety and security. According to Tarlow (2009, p.468), generally, safety is defined as protecting people against unintended consequences 4 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) of an involuntary nature. Regarding tourism, safety refers to protecting a visitor from damaging him/herself whereas security can be defined as protecting a visitor from the negative actions produced by another person. The new concept has emerged in tourism and that is tourism surety. "Tourism surety is the resulting concept when safety and security are combined. It is the word that is used to indicate that professionals will keep the level of risk ( be that risk self inflicted or inflicted by another) to the lowest levels possible. Tourism surety works under the assumption that any negative act, be it one of safety or security, can ruin a vacation and destroy a location's reputation" ( Tarlow,2009, p.468). Crisis, disasters and crime are related with tourism and act as a shock on the tourism industry. There are many definitions of crisis used by several scholars. Generally, the term 'crisis' refers to "a situation faced by an individual, group or organization which they are unable to cope with by the use of normal routine procedures .." ( Booth, 1993; in Hall, 2009, p.326). As far as tourism crisis is concerned, According to World Tourism Organization, tourism crisis is: " any unexpected event that affects traveler confidence in a destination and interferes with the ability to continue operating normally (Luhrman, 2003; in Kunwar, 2012, p.62). In various literatures, we can find the synonymous of crisis such as disaster. Both crisis and disaster affect in motivation and decision making process of tourist destination. The disaster will be used to refer to situations where an enterprise (or collection of enterprises in the case of tourist-destination) is confronted with sudden unpredictable catastrophic changes over which it has little control ( Faulkner, 2006 ;in Kunwar, 2012, p.63). Crime is a major threat to tourist in different tourist destinations. There were few research works on tourism and crime but now a days, this study has attracted to many scholars of tourism. Over the last ten years tourism scholars have begun to seek to understand the concepts of tourism as it relates to security. The earliest works in reality were less concerned about protecting tourists and visitors than they were about finding relationships between tourism and issues of crime (Tarlow,2009). According to Ntuli (1998) as cited by Ntuli (2000) crime is a universal social phenomenon in that it threatens the safety and security of the people, property, their sense of well being, as well as social order. Most importantly it reduces people’s quality of life. If the quality of life of an individual is affected by crime, crime itself is seen as a social problem. According to Ntuli (1998), crime is a universal social phenomenon that it threatens the safety and security of the people, property, their sense of well being, as well as social order. Most importantly it reduces people’s quality of life. If the quality of life of an individual is affected by crime, crime itself is seen as a social problem.

Study so far done The various scholars have given the various theories related with crime. According to Pizam and Mansfeld (1996; in Nkosi, 2010, p.77), the issue of crime and tourism dates back to the Biblical days, where there were people who were always willing to take advantage of the tourists. This was done either by raising the price of an item or robbing tourists their possessions under the assumption that the tourists knew no better. Kunwar/Barmashkha: Tourism and Crime... 5

Mansfeld and Pizam ( 2006, p.1; in Tarlow, 2009, p.465) have written that a tourism theory dealing with crimes and terrorism should be able to explain the following: Why do incidents of security such as crime, terrorism, wars, riots and civil unrest exist at tourism destination? What are the motivators of the perpetrators/ offenders? The classical Neo-Marxist theory states that tourism crimes (that is crimes committed against tourists) were a manifestation of the economic disparity between the wealthier tourists and the poorer members of the economy. These assumptions are/were based on the following principles: Visitors are wealthier than the people who rob them; the robberies come out of economic frustration, that is to say poor locales observe wealthy visitors flaunting wealth and therefore rub out of resentments; and tourists are therefore guilty or at least almost guilty of their own victimization. The Durkheimian approach for tourism crime is different from Marxist approach. From a functionalist perspective, crime is not a result of a wealth disparity but rather the result of the introduction of new social groupings into society, thus taking it from a stable system to an unstable system. The study on tourism and crime is also necessary for development of tourism. Most of the scholars have studied on safety and security of tourism but very few have studied on tourism and crime. Bourne (2010) studied on tourism and crime in which he found that tourists are also victim of crimes but rates are lower than the locals. Although young males from lower socio economic class perpetuate crime, violence and victimization but self preservation is high in tertiary level education. Socio- economic inequalities are also responsible for some crime, violence and victimization against visitors and residents. In terms of gender, females have a greater degree of self protection than their male counter parts. Crimes including rape, murder, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft were taken place in the period of 1983-1993 ( p.79). Nkosi (2010) has also found the tourism related crimes which are discreet, murder, rape, car hijack, assault and robbery. Pelfrey (1998, p.294) studied on tourism and crime and showed crime as the leading cause of the decline of tourists in United States. In 1993, the number of foreign visitors to the United States fell 3.7 percent, the first decline since 1985. Beirman (2003) analyzed the crime problem of South Africa from 1994 to 2000 and found the extremely high rates of violent crime in South Africa . The crimes like murder, bodily harm, rape and carjacking were in fluctuating trend but most of these crimes have grown in 2000. South Africa's crime rate has been treated as a background risk to visiting the country. Michalko (2009) states that tourists are exposed to direct or indirect risk when they visited alien environment. They rarely fall victim to violence but their personal security and safety of their property are endangered. The different criminal acts against tourists are pick pocketing, motor related theft, burglary and very less homicide and willful bodily harm. The criminal activities occur in different places such as railway, airport, hotels and tourist destination places. The expansion of crime might lead to a decline in tourist arrivals but in some places, thrill of danger has become part of attraction. Kunwar (2012) explains the concept of crisis, risk, security, disaster and relationship with tourism. These are usually unforeseen 6 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) and act as a shock in the tourism industry. Among various threats such as accidents, terrorism, war, ethnic unrest, crime is also one of the important but poorly handled threat to tourism industry. Similarly, Joshi (2008) points out the negative impacts of tourism such as lead to culture commodification, create a higher cost of living for the residents, and undermine local traditions, increase pollution and crime. Moreover, Walmsley et al. (1981) showed that the investment in tourism industries eventually benefits to people by creating economic opportunities but there are some negative externalities of tourism also which can not be neglected. Among those negative externalities, crime is also one of the important negative externalities of tourism. The analysis of serious crime in the North Coast of New South Wales (offences against the person, stealing with violence, property breaking, larceny from property, false pretences, sexual offences, drug offences, and miscellaneous offences) . Nyaupane (2004) perceived more negative socio- cultural impacts due to tourism in Annapurna Sanctuary Trail (AST). Some of the impacts perceived by the AST residents included, 'tourism increases crime in the area' (37%) culture and social life of the community of this area' (8%) and 8% mildly agreed that, tourism negatively affects local architecture of this area. Nkosi (2010) explains impacts of crime on tourism which discourages both international and domestic tourists from visiting scenic popular destinations. Tourism is a very sensitive area and can react rapidly to crime, safety and security. In this paper, the author discusses some mechanism and strategies to prevent tourism industries. Similarly, Pokharel (2010) also mentions that tourism can be effective in eliminating poverty through the creation of numerous employment opportunities but it has also some negative factors that can be developed in the course of tourism development. These can act as agent of change by bringing unwanted changes in socio- cultural fabrics which as a result destroy local culture. Goeldner and Ritchie (2007) outline the number of social effects of tourism such as the presence of visitors in local area can influence living patterns of local people, conflict over the use or abuse of local facilities and resources, increased prostitution, gambling, drunkenness, rowdyism, unwanted noise, congestion and other excesses. In order to improve safety and security of tourist, the host needs to make aware to their guests about various crimes and risks that can be faced in the destinations and ways to be safe. The safety of tourists in tourist destination is must for development of tourism industry So, Bookman (2008) states that governments that want to promote their tourism industry need to take steps to provide a safe environment for their visitors. In this similar context, the tourism industry should also make aware to tourists about crimes and possible threats in the destinations. Swarbrooke (1999) urges for safe working conditions and a safe leisure experience for both staff and customers so operation managers should improve the safety and security. Tour operators should make aware to their customers about the risks that can be faced in the destinations such as health problems and crime. The unsafe environment of tourist destinations fails to attract visitors. Gee et al. (1997) found that revolution, crime, hostile attitude of the resident population, infectious disease, and in recent times- terrorism- are primary reasons that destinations lose visitors. While writing about crime in relation with tourism in the context of India, Chaudhary (2010) mentions, theft of U.S. passports is quite common, particularly in major tourist areas, on overnight trains, and at airports. Violent crime, especially directed against Kunwar/Barmashkha: Tourism and Crime... 7 foreigners, has traditionally been uncommon, although in recent years there has been a modest increase. U.S. citizens, particularly women, are cautioned not to travel alone in India. Western women continue to report incidents of physical harassment by groups of men. Likewise, Shaw and Williams (2002) have also mentioned that tourist becomes regarded as a means of wealth provision via crime, with the tourist as victim. In their books France (2006) including Mathieson and Wall (1982), Pearce (1989) and Ryan (1991) have focused on some social and cultural impacts of tourism such as moral problems which includes crime, prostitution, gambling, decline of traditional beliefs and religion. The other impacts of tourists in the host country are threats to well being of hosts, demonstration effect, loss of traditional family lifestyle, spread of disease eg. AIDS through sex tourism and overcrowding of infrastructure and services. The long distance and mass tourism have been criticized for the rise of criminality and prostitution around tourist centers and further it also promotes for the downfall of traditional social structures and value systems. The above mentioned facts reveal negative impact of tourism in which local people get involved and tourists are unsecured and victim but the other parts, some tourists themselves get involved in creating crime at the destination with the development of tourism. In this regard, Harrison (1995) mentions that tourism increases crime rates especially where there is heavy concentration of tourists. Tourists themselves involve in behavior which is socially unacceptable such as involve in drugs .The growth in use of drug challenges the development of tourism in any country. Lanfant (1995) shows how the growth of petty crime and the use of drugs threatened at the tourist destination of Ibiza. Crime is also considered as an important aspect in the field of sport tourism. There is increasing evidence that sporting events attract criminals who engage in illegal activities. This has been stated by Barker (2006). He has also developed the typology of sports event crime which is as follows: Local event- crime type property, predatory, opportunistic , example- theft Regional/ national event- property, personal nuisance outliners , example- alcohol and drug related International event- personal, organized robbery, prostitution, example- scams, violence Global event- organized terrorism, example- security threats, bombs. At present, the scholars of tourism (D’Amore, 2007; Moufakkir and Kelly, 2010) stress that peace in tourism is quintessential. Therefore, tourism should be converted into peace- tourism. In order to develop the concept of peace- tourism in Nepal, the concerned authorities should give attention for building this form of tourism. In this same context, the above mentioned scholars have raised issues on building on the strengths, eliminating the weakness, taking advantages of the opportunities and avoiding or converting the threats. They also mention some examples of World Tourism Organization statements mentioning a link between tourism and peace and present the changing views on the concept of peace through tourism. 8 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Conceptual Framework Conceptualization takes scientific and mathematical thinking beyond the facts and singular theories to the level of underlying concepts. The goal of conceptualization is not to interpret human experience as contextualization does, but to understand essentials laws of the world that operate regardless of our perception and interpretation (Nikitina, 2006, p.261; in Repko, 2012, p. 282). The following are the concepts regarding tourism and crime which are given below:

Source: Tarlow (2009)

The above mentioned conceptual frameworks are linked with classical Neo- Marxist, Marxist outlook may be called "Robin Hood Tourism"( Tarlow, 2007b, p.36) , Functionalist Approach of Emile Durkheim, Theory of Leisure Class of Thorstein Veblen ( Tarlow, 2009, pp. 466-467) and Victimization Theory (Crotts, 1996). As Tarlow has described "The classical Neo- Marxist theory states that tourism crimes (that is crimes committed against tourists) were a manifestation of the economic disparity between the wealthier tourists and the poorer members of the economy. These assumptions are/were based on the following principles: Visitors are wealthier than the people who rob them. The robberies come out of economic frustration, that is to say poor locales observe wealthy visitors flaunting wealth and therefore rub out of resentments. Tourists are therefore guilty or at least almost guilty of their own victimization ( Tarlow, 2009, p.466). Marxists believe that managers and tourism executives are les petits bourgeoisie (poor class) who exist to serve the needs of leisure class (la bourgeoisie, also called upper class). This will make clear from the study of Thorstein Veblen (1899) who has defined leisure as "the non- productive consumption of time (1) from a sense of the unworthiness of productive work and (2)as an evidence of the pecuniary ability to afford a life of idleness " (Veblen, 1899,p.46; in Tarlow, 2009, p.467). The Durkheimian approach for tourism crime is different from Marxist approach. Emile Durkheim who was a functionalist, according to functionalist theory, the society Kunwar/Barmashkha: Tourism and Crime... 9 is a stable living system and that a change in any one aspect of the system produces unexpected consequences in other parts of the system. From a functionalist perspective, crime is not a result of a wealth disparity but rather the result of the introduction of new social groupings into society, thus taking it from a stable system to an unstable system (Tarlow, 2009, p.467). As far as victimization theory is concerned, Crotts (1996) has discussed on the location and incidence of crimes against tourists into two theoretical contexts, first one is Hot Spot Theory and the second is Routine Activity Theory. These two theories are based upon the principles of human ecology and used to explore how communities expose tourists to the risk of being criminally victimized. Hot Spot Theory centers on the ' Criminology of Place' where high percentage of predatory crimes occur. For example, Greater Miami was the location of 29 percent of all reported property crimes and 37 percent of all reported violent crimes on Florida tourists during 1993. There were five times more property crimes than violent crimes. Approximately six out of ten property crimes occurred in three types of locations: 26 percent at hotels and motels, 18 percent at parking lots and garages and 14 percent along highways and roadways. Routine Activities Theory draws heavily from Hawley's human ecological theory as a theory of criminal acts. This theory assumes that criminals are rational beings who are attempting to gain sustenance or satisfy needs by taking something of value from victims. The three elements are required for a direct- predatory crime to occur and they are suitable target or victim, motivated offender and absence of effective guardians capable of preventing the interaction between offender and victim (Crotts, 1996, p.5). There are five major theories of victimization. These theories discuss how victims and victimization are major focuses in the study of crime. They all share many of the same assumption and strengths dealing with crime and its victim. The five major theories are Victim Precipitation, Lifestyle, Equivalent group hypothesis, Proximity hypothesis and Routine Activities (www.writework.com/essay/victimization-theories). The victim precipitation assumes that "victims provoke criminals" and that "victims trigger criminal acts by their provocative behavior." The victim precipitation states that the victim initiates the confrontation that might eventually lead to the crime. The life-style theory argues that certain life-styles increases one's exposure to criminal offenses and increases risk of victimization, while other life-styles might reduce risk. The equivalent group hypothesis points out that criminals and victims overall share similar characteristics because they are not entirely separate groups. People who commit crimes are probably at higher risk for victimization. The proximity hypothesis suggests that crime is less a function of life- style, but rather is based on close proximity. Victims and criminals live in the same high crime areas, characterized by poor, densely populated, highly transient neighborhoods. As far as routine activity theory is concerned, it is already discussed above.

Research Methodology As per the objectives and type of study is concerned, qualitative approach is used. The data have been collected from both primary and secondary sources. Such kind of studies requires field work for the collection of information from different types of 10 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) respondents. For the primary data, interview method was used. The authors have conducted unstructured interviews with the tourists, entrepreneurs of Thamel, Pokhara, Nagarkot and Sauraha as the important tourist destinations of Nepal. The in-depth interviews were also taken to the authorities of TAAN, Travel Agencies, Trekking Agencies and government officials such as the authorities of tourist police, the police authorities of Thamel , Sauraha and Pokhara Police Unit. Therefore, the field work was conducted in above mentioned destinations. Altogether the researchers spent approximately one month in the field for the purpose of collecting primary data. The secondary data have been collected from books, journals, articles and the internet. Overall this study is based on policy based approach which is analyzed by following various approaches of different disciplines. Therefore, it has been studied from interdisciplinary perspectives. Discussion With an adaptation of mass tourism practice in Nepal starting from late 60s and opening its border to the foreigners, that once was almost restricted beyond the reach of general tourist gained popularity among the outsiders for its unexplored Shangri-La and culture. However, arrival of tourist not only opened the opportunity in the country for its development but also exposed and made it vulnerability to its old aged tradition culture and civilization with exposure to the crime emerged with the introduction of tourism in Nepalese Society. The young tourists from western society, looking for place to enjoy their life free from any restriction and objection know as hippies that exposed Nepalese society with the problem of drugs and other related crime. With the introduction of tourism related negative impact on its society, which until was virtually free from such crime, started to witness rise in crime in society in subsequent years. Especially rise in crime related with organized crime in drug related offense and smuggling of historic valued monuments as well as murder of foreign nationals. The case of Charles Sovraj in 70s is one of the most notorious examples of that decade. It is not only the crime raised by the tourist activities but also a rise in crime against the tourist which became the matter of issue in Nepalese society.

Crime committed by tourist in Nepal There is no official record to indicate since when the tourist in Nepal started to get involve in crime in Nepal. However, the respondents and other concerned authorities believed that tourism crime started from the era of Hippies (1960s-1970s) in Nepal. As noted above, Charles Sobhraj being accused of murdering another tourist in Nepal. Some tourists were found involving in drugs trafficking and money laundering. Record of Criminal Division of Nepal Police shows that majority of them are accused for drug related crime. Apart from this, they have been found in cases like counterfeit and fraud. Mostly these tourists are found to be a carrier for the drugs ring lords. However, there are incidents where these tourists live in tourist visa in Nepal doing illegal activities of counterfeit currency and money laundering to third country from Nepal. Similarly, there are also some cases of smuggling of ancient sculptures, where some tourists were involved in Nepal. Kunwar/Barmashkha: Tourism and Crime... 11

As far as crime related tourists are concerned, the data shows 83 foreigners are detained in Drug related crime who are detained in different jails in Kathmandu, namely “Vhadra Jail”, “Central Jail” and Dillibazar Jail. Out of 83 detainees, 27 are in Vhadra Jail , 37 in Central Jail, 5 in Lady Jail, 14 in Dillibazar Jail . The record also shows the various tourist nationalities are involved in various crimes (Criminal Division, Nepal Police, 2010). Other than drugs related crime there is significant number of foreign detainees in cases like homocide, cheating, human trafficking, rape, forge passport, theft, burn, prostitution, use of weapon, loot cash, fight, robbery, overstay, animal trafficking, kidnap. Regarding gender, female tourists are also involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking and overstay but the reported case is very minimal. The total number of reported cases of drug trafficking is five (Criminal Division, Nepal Police, 2010 and Nepal Tourist Police, 2010). In the context of Pokhara, the secondary sources show that some street children are being used by tourists for the dealings of drugs and marijuana/hashish (Sharma, 2013).

Fig 1. The General Crime Trend in Nepal

(Source: Nepal Police, Criminal Division, 2010) 12 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Table 1. Foreign Citizen Imprisoned in Jail in Kathmandu, Nepal, Year 2010

SN. Crime/ Jail Central Lady Dillibazar Nakhu Bhadra Total Jail Jail Jail Jail Jail 1 Homicide 4 - 211118 2 Drug Abuse 37 5 14 - 27 83 3 Cheating 7 - 3 - 717 4 HumanTrafficking 2 -- 114 5 Rape 2 -- 114 6 Forge Passport 4 1 1 2 - 8 7 Total 56 6 20 15 37 134 (Source: Nepal Police, Criminal Division, 2010)

The above illustrated table shows that it is having tough time to get success in its endeavor despite the government’s effort to control the illegal transaction of drugs. In addition, one of the major reasons for such difficulty in controlling drug related crime is due to the involvement of tourist in its transaction. The official record of Drugs Control Implementation Unit of Nepal Police from 2001 to 2010 shows number of tourists have been found involved in drugs related crime in Nepal as noted earlier. According to the authorities of Tourist Police Unit, there are number of cases where the tourists make fake report of stolen of property and belongings in order to claim for insurance. Thus, significant reported cases of lost and stolen are artificial and propagated. The respondents also informed same kind of scenario created by the tourists. Some informants said that tourists from SAARC region try to cheat hoteliers in order to escape from payment. In the case of Sauraha, according to police authority of local police post, a case of child sex abuse from guest has been reported but it is rarely found at the destination. The literature (Sharma, 2013, p.149) shows that around 67 per cent young Indian tourists between 25 to 35 age group opined as informants that the motivation to come to Nepal is to experience sex with girls with Tibetan looks (perhaps they meant Mongolian girls). The same author further mentioned that the tourists used to ask for ‘ massage and sassage’ in Lakeside Pokhara if they want something more after massage. Here, ‘sassage’ is a code language used in massage parlor for sex. In the same line, almost one- third of the respondents admitted that Nightclub Cabarets, Shower, and Bikini Dances- hotspots for erotic dances- in some restaurants/bars are supporting prostitution in Pokhara. Apart from this, tourists are found in crimes like counterfeit currency and being human mule (carrier) in drugs smuggling. Therefore, present system and mechanism of supervision and control is required to be revising for effective security of tourist (Sharma, 2013). According to data recorded in Tourist Police Unit, 2013, there are altogether 48 nationalities involved in criminal activities in Nepal. Kunwar/Barmashkha: Tourism and Crime... 13

Crime over Tourist in Nepal The above mentioned facts reveal that tourism brings not only positive change but also it equally might leave negative impact at the destination. Few years after the introduction of tourism, the younger generation those who are involved in this profession, they start imitating the lifestyle of tourists. Due to the changed habit, they raised a need of money for supporting new lifestyle which they cannot fulfill and as a result they involve in criminal activities. According to the Nepal Police Central Crime Data Section, “crime against tourist in Nepal has been noticed every year. However, the majority of the cases are related with loss and stolen. From the interview of tourists, the majority of them lose their belongings such as camera, passport, bag and clothes. Nevertheless, there are cases reported of rape, murder and sexual abuse over tourist in various part of the country but very few cases are reported. In course of collecting the data in Sauraha, as it has been reported that very few female tourists were sexually harassed while elephant riding, bird watching and jungle tour. Similarly, some tourists were found complaining to the police that they were cheated by the hoteliers because they could not make satisfied their clients showing wild animals inside the forest in course of jungle tour. It was also reported that in free individual trek, there are high chances of being victim of crime rather than in organized trek. Daddi (2001, p.40, 51), mentions that especially female trekkers do not feel secure in terms of getting relief from sexual harassment on the trekking trail by her guide. In course of getting answer by a researcher from her respondent, she wants a female guide rather than male guide because male guide wants both money and sex from female tourists in trekking and at guest house. In the context of Pokhara, Sharma (2013, p.147) also describes "that hotel or restaurant employee by profession are mostly found culprit not only for the lost accessories from the room, but also for the snatching of wallets and jewelry in the jungle of Raniban when visitors go up for hiking to the Peace Stupa. According to the police records, seasonal unemployment , minimal salary, frustration, temptation of tourist lifestyle, and luxury are some of the reasons to encourage minimum salaried employees or unemployed peoples in Lakeside for burglary, theft, pick pocketing, smuggling, and even pimping." According to the record of the Tourist Police Unit, three year comparative chart shows that majority of crime against the tourist recorded in the country is from the cases like lost and found, theft and fraud however the cases registered under the lost and found could not be claimed genuine all the time (see in Table 8,9,10,11). As one interviewer said, in number of occasion tourist tries to obtain police report just to claim for their insurance claim back home. Moreover, in reality, they found to have sold it by themselves and make false report in the unit. In the comparison of general crime trend, the crime against tourist in Nepal, crime committed against tourist is more related with the financial and Drug related crime. Data of general crime trend of 2009 and five year (2062-67) show the trend of crime pattern of Nepal. 14 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Table 2. Three Years Comparative Chart of Crime Committed Cver Tourist in Nepal SN Detail 60/61 61/62 62/63 1 Travels 2 Trekking 3 Hotel 4 Loss and Found 135 126 140 5 Theft 195 107 135 6 Taxi 7 Cheat 25 6 9 8 Immigration 9 Middle man 10 Cargo 11 Fight 12 Accident 1 14 Airlines 15 Rafting 16 Loot 7 17 Pickpocket 4 1 18 Misc Total 359 239 293 (Source: Nepal Tourist Police Unit, 2010)

Table 3. Current Year 2012-2013 (Gender)

Gender Jul-Aug Aug-Sep Sep-Oct Oct-Nov Nov-Dec Dec-Jan Jan-Feb Female 27 30 29 35 23 38 26 Male 42 31 48 60 37 33 18 Total 69 61 77 95 60 71 44

Gender Feb-Mar Mar-Apr Apr-May May-Jun Jun-Jul Total Female 13 41 56 36 20 374 Male 24 46 37 20 31 427 Total 37 87 93 56 51 801 (Source: Tourist Police Unit, 2013) Kunwar/Barmashkha: Tourism and Crime... 15

Table 4. Current Year 2012-2013 ( Type of Cases) Incident Jul-Aug Aug-Sep Sep-Oct Oct-Nov Nov-Dec Dec-Jan Jan-Feb Assault 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Aattack 1 0 0 0 0 0 17 Burglary 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Cheating 2 2 0 5 0 2 0 Dispute 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Fraud 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 Harrastment 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Lost 39 32 26 44 25 28 0 Picpocket 1 0 4 1 0 0 1 Missing 1 0 3 1 1 0 Robbery 0 2 8 1 4 3 2 Snatched 2 0 0 1 0 2 1 Stolen 19 16 30 30 26 25 14 Theft 3 6 4 6 4 9 8 Rape 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Threaten 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 Other 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 69 61 77 95 60 71 44

Incident Feb-Mar Mar-Apr Apr-May May-Jun Jun-Jul Total Assault 0 0 0 1 0 3 Attack 0 0 1 0 0 19 Burglary 0 0 0 0 0 2 Cheating 0 1 2 0 1 15 Dispute 0 0 0 0 0 1 Fraud 1 0 1 0 0 8 Harrastment 0 0 0 0 0 1 Lost 20 42 48 28 29 361 Pickpocket 0 1 0 0 0 8 16 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Incident Feb-Mar Mar-Apr Apr-May May-Jun Jun-Jul Total Misssing 0 0 1 1 1 9 Robbery 2 2 12 2 1 39 Snatched 3 1 0 0 2 12 Stolen 9 28 19 13 6 235 Theft 2 10 5 11 11 79 Rape 0 1 0 0 0 1 Threaten 0 1 0 0 0 4 Other 0 0 4 0 0 4 Total 37 87 93 56 51 801 (Source: Tourist Police Unit, 2013)

Table 5. The Crime Reported Table & Chart of 2005-2009 & 2010-2012 2062/63 2063/64 2064/65 2065/66 2067/68 2068/69 2069/70 Loss 152 289 288 300 329 329 377 Stolen 141 260 370 399 307 308 361 Cheating 10 11 34 31 17 17 23 Loot 7 12 30 1 1 15 Accident 1 1 7 Pick Pocket 1 4 5 Physical Attack 1 3 19 Death 1 Sexual Harrashment 3 1 1 1 Disagreement 1 others 10 1 8 8 12 Kunwar/Barmashkha: Tourism and Crime... 17

(Source: Tourist Police Unit, 2013)

The illustrated tables of different years show that the maximum number of cases were found regarding "loss and stolen" of tourists' belongingness either during their travel or from their residing area. The field study of Pokhara shows that tourists often lose their belongings inside hotel, while travelling and trekking. Most of the respondents state that they lose their belongings due to their carelessness. The government has taken few initiative measures such as issuance of advisory in order to educate tourist population for the safety measures, and establishment of tourist complain board. However, due to the limited excess to the resources, jurisdiction and skill manpower, this service is limited to the city area only, and the program is not being effectively implemented as it is expected.

Tourism related crime Some tourism-related crimes are very visible and highly publicized. The general connection is largely found on the observation that tourists are often wealthier than the local people, and that the two groups come into close contact with one another. As a result, tourists offer a tempting and convenient target for that small minority of the local population that is determined to acquire some wealth for themselves, or who wish to 18 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) exploit the tourists in some other way. At one end of the spectrum where the element of illegality is vague or borderline are locals who engage in overpricing or begging. Escalating towards the other end of the spectrum are unambiguously criminal activities involving theft, assault, murder and prostitution. The development of tourism has simultaneously brought negative impacts in the overall development of tourism. One of the major impacts is prostitution. While collecting the data in Thamel, a tourism hub of Kathmandu, most of the respondents raised issues of traffic problem, crowd in Thamel, street boys asking money, hawkers forcing to buy their products and fight between drivers and tourist on the issue of payment. The other issues raised by police and hoteliers are prostitution, dance bars, massage parlour and meeting place for criminals but with the continuous efforts to make Thamel a safer place to live in and visit , such activities are decreased to some extent. The attractiveness of tourists as targets of crime is enhanced by several factors such as color, clothing, speech, carrying and displaying objects of value and tourists' lack of familiarity with language which may produce long gap between when the crime takes place and when it is reported to the authorities. There is river-side in Sauraha where recently a dam has been constructed which is a very popular place for sunset view after 5 pm. Every afternoon around 5 pm, there is crowd of international tourists, guides and domestic tourists. Though it is not disclosed and unacceptable for local entrepreneurs, one hidden case has been found which is related with one young Nepalese boy who was approached for providing erotic pleasure at one hotel along with lodging and fooding costing Nrs.2500 for overnight. Likewise, he was also approached for providing drugs if he is interested. Regarding the case of prostitution, though it is not professionally oriented, but the local entrepreneurs do not disagree with people hiring girls outside of the destination for sexual pleasure. Moreover, some informants secretly informed that homosexual activities are rising slowly. With the increase of tourist flow, besides Thamel, Pokhara and Sauraha, other tourist destinations are also slowly affected with the rise of prostitution and other criminal activities such as theft and drug abuse. In this regard, Mt. Everest, the highest peak of the world and renowned tourist destination for adventure tourism is also not untouched with impacts of tourism development. Kodas (2008) also states that Tibetans and Chinese sell anything you can imagine, and there's a certain amount of prostitution and drugs." The another major problem is theft. Drugs and prostitutes are available in the camp village that has grown up to serve mountaineers climbing the peak The information on different crimes committed by tourists do not come from the tourists respondents side but the data provided by Tourist Police Unit, Nepal Police Central Crime Data Section and other secondary sources show that there are number of crimes committed by tourists themselves. The hoteliers also mention that some of the tourists come Nepal with the intention of crime such as drug trafficking and prostitution. Many Nepalese girls are involved in prostitution because of their economic constraint and it is widely prevalent in Kathmandu and Pokhara. Apart from the crimes brought by the tourism development, almost all respondents say that Nepal is safe to travel and visit as tourist destination. Kunwar/Barmashkha: Tourism and Crime... 19

Conclusion Tourism industry has been a major source of employment and foreign currency earning thus directly impacting in GDP of the country. This has made this industry one of the most important sectors for the country’s development. It is therefore, tourism industry development should be in priority. Thus, good governance and effective security system are important factors to be involved for the development of safety and security of tourist and to address the crime committed by tourist in Nepal. Most importantly, educating local community about the benefit of safe environment in tourism development and importance of their role is much crucial area to be focused. Tourists can be victim of crime so host should help guests to make them aware and protect them from dangerous places and areas. There is a need of study regarding crime and tourism in order to minimize social effects of tourism. Though tourism is concerned with safety, surety and security, the above mentioned facts reveal that there are several incidents of threats and crime caused by tourism however Nepal has not lost her image of secured tourist destination in comparison to the other international destinations which is proved by above mentioned data but still security of tourists should be prioritized at the destinations for their sound and peaceful holiday experiences. The communities, authorities and entrepreneurs need to have partnership in educating and monitoring both tourist and the local community for deterring criminal activity in the society, whether it is crime targeted towards the tourist or those committed by tourist. There is a need of comprehensive security system that emphasis on networking among the related sectors in tourism development which would have been assistance for establishing peace and safe environment in the country.

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Acknowledgments Our deepest thanks go to all informants who participated in the in-depth interview for sharing their experiences and key informants for their support and cooperation. Our 22 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) sincere gratitude goes to Rishikesh Lamichhane for making layout designing and SP Niraj Shahi, Nepal Police for providing the data recorded at the Nepal Police. Finally, our thanks go to other police officers for providing information without which this article could not be completed. Similarly, we express our sincere thanks to those who provided us valuable information regarding subject matter. Interrelationships between Tourism, Security and Peace: Towards the Conceptual Understanding

Pranil Upadhayaya*

Abstract Tourism is said to be a peace industry. Tourism requires tourists to reach tourist destinations, where the products or services are created and made available for consumptions in peaceful environment. Incidences of insecurities (e.g. conflict, war, terrorism, crime, social and political unrests) are deterrents (“distractive”) for visitors and insecure conditions make a tourist destination unattractive and also vulnerable. Tourism is sensitive to conflict and insecurity and a country’s prospects of developing a strong tourism industry remain dismal in the absence of security, peace and stability. There are both internal and external securities influencing factors. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that there is some scale of mainstream global tourism rooted at security consequences (e.g. thana tourism, war tourism, etc.).This shows both negative as well as positive relationship between tourism and security. This paper, through secondary information based case studies of security affected destinations, underscores that the tourism is sensitive to conflict and insecurity and a country’s prospects of developing a strong tourism industry remain dismal in the absence of political stability, security and peace. Tourist destinations are likely to have fewer options and be less appealing to tourists if they are insecure or close to a conflict. Thus, this industry tends to thrive more in peace rather than conflict. It reveals about the reactions/coping strategies of tourist destinations to the security induced incidents to control the negative impacts of insecurity on the peacefulness of tourism. It concludes that tourism, security and peace are conceptually interwoven phenomena. Keywords: tourism, security, peace, interrelationship

Introduction Tourism is a sector with multidisciplinary, comprehensive, and complex nature, scope and characteristics (Kottler, Bowen, & Makens, 2002). There is not one agreed definition of tourism and it is ever evolving in its discourse. The existing varied definitions of tourism (which is commonly known as “traveling for recreation”) from various perspectives

*Dr. Upadhayaya is a visiting fellow at Nepal Centre for Contemporary Research (NCCR) and a lecturer on travel and tourism management. 24 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) like economic, technical, experimental, psychological, conceptual, and holistic, etc. may differ in terms of time frame of tourists’ travels, purpose of their visits, the impacts that both a tourist and the industry have on the host’s socio-cultural, economic and physical environments (Bhatia, 1991; Burkart & Medlik, 1981; Davidson, 1998; Jafari, 1977; Kunwar, 2010; Shrestha, 2008; Theobald, 2001). However what common in all these definitions of tourism is that there prevails “inseparability” as one of the inescapable structural characteristic of tourism. The essence of the ‘inseparability’ underlines that services offered and accepted (production and consumption) is largely simultaneous in tourism and hospitality industry. In this context, tourism is totally different from the sale of consumer goods, which normally takes place even after several days or months of production. The consumers (tourists in their varied categories like holiday, business, common interests or transit) come to the tourist destinations, where the products or services are created and made available for consumptions. What more remarkable is that the flow of tourists and requirements of tourist products from tourist generating (guest) countries to receiving (host) countries are also largely influenced if either country is affected with security related any types of incidences like war, terrorism, crime, riots, vandalisms, social and political unrests. There are in fact security related risk assessments by tourists in their various stages of travel (e.g. destination choice stage, in-between stage, on-site stage and pre-next trip period) and subsequent negative implications on travel decisions and executions. Although some positive relationships between tourism and insecurity is yet undeniable due to the presence of ‘war’ or ‘thana’ or ‘dark’ tourism where few allocentric (“risk takers” or “war or terrorism spotters” ) tourists like to witness and enjoy human tragedies, deaths, disasters and sufferings in search of excitements. However, the occupancy of this category of tourism in mainstream global tourism at present is very low. This situation underscores about some strong conceptual interrelationship between tourism, security and peace. In these interrelated conceptual backgrounds between tourism, insecurity and peace; this paper divulges that there are both positive and negative relationships between tourism and security. In this context, this paper aims to interrelate tourism, insecurity and peace through a number of security inflicted global tourist destinations. It finally underscores that tourist destinations and tourism enterprises are compelled to apply coping strategies to prevent and reduce the negative impact of such security incidences on tourism.

Methodology Methodologically, this paper is based on the review of secondary source of information to know security influence on the peace image of tourist destinations. It also used content analysis to retract the coverage of various tourism, security and peace related instances. The content analyses of such coverage reveal that there are negative as well as positive relationships between tourism and security and both support and criticism on the relationships between tourism and peace. Upadhayaya: Interrelationships between Tourism... 25

Interrelationships between tourism and security The interrelationships between tourism and security have been interpret-rated largely negatively. This is because as a universal phenomenon falling under the integral part of globalization, tourism seeks peace, stability, and tranquility in guest, host and also transit destinations for its operations, managements, and growths (Hall and O’ Sullivan, 1996; Mihalic, 1996; Tarlow, 2006; Teye, 1988). Apart of attractions, proper accommodations, accessibility (convenient and easy access), and attractive tourism packages considering cost comparisons; safety and security are dominantly non-compromise-able elements for the tourists’ visitation decisions (TTH, 2004). Tourism which is also called as a peace and development industry cannot thrive in insecure environment (Bhattarai & Dahal, 2007). However as a matter of fact and surprise that there are not only negative but also positive relationships between tourism and security. The interpretation of the positive relationship between tourism and security highlight there major instances with coupling positive relationships between tourism and security as follows. a) Tourism under war b) Tourism of war c) War as tourism First, war as a severe security incidence has a negative influence on tourism demand (tourism under war). However, the safer countries which are not involved in war related hostilities might gain visitors lost by the more dangerous destinations caught under war (Mansfeld, 1996). There are positive substitution effects as long as the neighbor tourist destinations are not themselves seen as directly effected of the events of violence. Example includes the positive effects of conflict (two military coups) of Fiji on Soloman Islands in 1987, and North Queensland and the Lebanese conflict (1976-92) on Cyprus with the redirection of tourist flows (Scott, 1988). The second coupling relationships between tourism and war (tourism of war) states the positive implications of war as there could be creation of a new kind of tourists (“war spotters” or “conflict or war tourists” as risk seekers in search of excitement) who are interested to view and enjoy war including both warring parties. In the case of war, the war itself with its entire dimension becomes part of the tourist product. Pitts (1996) offers its example in Mexico where tourists were spotted that came to view Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional’s armed rebellion against Mexican government in San Cristobal, Chiapas region during early 1990s. There can other more verities of tourists like journalists, researchers, and human right activists in this category of tourists. The third dimension on the positive relationship between tourism and war (war as tourism) involves tourism sector also selling “war horrors” and “tragic occurrences”. The social involvements of war separates it from violent crime, war leaves heritage to become permanent tourism marker, war gives special meaning or memory to places or events linking warfare to tourism, and memorabilia constitutes large category of attractions around the world. There are a number of examples of this coupling positive relationship between tourism and war like battle fields of World War II, Gisozi Memorial Centre in 26 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Rwanda, the ancient walled city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, World Trade Centre in U.S.A., etc (Smith, 1996). The recent popularity of Vietnam as tourist destination with Cu Chi tunnel and other war held areas are added verifications. The coupling relationship between tourism and war as viewed by Smith from the example of Rwandan war can go beyond war places and also touch with people who could survive. Those people who could survive amidst the war can be the trilogy of life "before the war", "during the war" and "after the war" and exciting attractions for adventure seekers tourists. Wars reinforce group identity and foster nationhood and pride, and hold up to public view of social, political and economic aspirations and their fulfillment. Smith envisioning tourism and war as a viable tourism alternative mentions: We honor the living as we honor the dead. Tourism becomes enmeshed in all these activities. Scarcely a town exists in Western Europe, North America, or Australia and New Zealand (also in Latin and African communities as well) that does not have a World War I marker, inscribed with the names of the war dead, placed conspicuously in the town square. Many such monuments are pointed out by local guides. As the visitor moves out from the local scene, the array of potential tourism sights and sites related to the military and war seems almost endless. The reasons are simple but clear: we honor the event, the place and the person who created each tiny segment of our scared history. Remembrance and commemoration are the essence of the past that fashioned today. Tourism to war-related sites is honorific, not maudlin; and by our roles in the global society (Smith, 1996, p. 263). However these war or terrorism or armed insurgents related tourist attractions can attract only a small minority of travelers who are interested to experience “danger” and are not put off by conflict, terrorist threats, and other violent events. In spite of those positive aspects on the interrelationship between tourism and security incidences as exemplified in context of war, today’s mainstream global tourism in summative is highly vulnerable to human led security incidences like terrorism, war, crime and other political and social unrest related social turmoil and violent security incidences (Faulkner and Russell, 1997; Mihalic, 1996; Neumayer, 2004; Pizam & Mansfeld, 1996; Tarlow, 2006). Generally, the state of war or terrorism means a “dis”-attractiveness – in some cases tourist demand drops, in extreme situations, to zero (Mihalic, 1996, p. 232). Hall and O’ Sullivan (1996) state that tourism is irrevocably bound up with the concept of security which is now seen as not only for the safety of tourists but also for local tourism industries, destinations and the people who are dependent on the business of tourism.

Interrelationship between tourism and peace There has been expontial growth of tourism in present peace time in the world. The international tourist arrivals grew from 25 million in 1950 to more than 1 billion in 2012 (UNWTO, 2012a) (Figure 1) which has ascertained tourism as one of the most remarkable socio-economic phenomena. Upadhayaya: Interrelationships between Tourism... 27

Figure 1: International Tourism Arrivals with forecast: 1950-2020

Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2012

The terminology peace time reveals that for nearly 60 years since the Second World War, there has not been any direct military confrontation among the world’s major powers. The aspect of peace time has been marked by a number of scholars who mention that peace entails broadly as the stopping of violence, injustice and warfare and the absence of war, acts of terrorism and random violence and protection of global security (Salazar, 2006; Haessly, 2010). Peace researchers use the terms like non-war, mutual deterrence, one-sided dominance, a truce or a ceasefire for the peace time. It has also been described as a state of readiness within and between countries not currently engaged in armed conflict (Haessly, 2010). Most of the world has been living life in peace in this perspective. The UNWTO has also forecasted that the international tourism will cross the target of 1.5 billion international arrivals by the end the year 2020. In this context, tourism has become remarkable socio-economic phenomena not only due to its growth induced by the atmosphere of growth trend but also due to all round positive implications on economy, environment and society in general (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006). “Tourism as a force for peace” has been relayed by the industry, consultants and some academicians in recent time. The relationship between tourism and peace is reflected largely in these major spheres (economy, environment or environmental resources and society). Economically, travel and tourism is the biggest industry on the world on any economic measure including capital investment, employment creations and tax contributions in present peacetime (Theobald, 2001). The contribution of the travel and tourism economy to employment arose to 240 million jobs in 2010 which was 8.4 percent of total employment, or 1 in every 11.9 jobs (WTTC, 2009). It is one of the major export sectors of developing countries, and is the primary source of foreign exchange earnings in 46 out of the 49 least developed countries (UNWTO, 2010). Environmentally, tourism has potential to create beneficial effects on the environment by contributing to environmental protection and conservation (http://www.unepie.org/pc/ tourism/sust-tourism/economic.htm). It is a way to raise awareness of environmental values and it can serve as a tool to finance protection of natural areas and increase their 28 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) economic importance. Environmentally ecotourism is today considered as a noble cause for environment preservation, natural heritage conservation and utilization of environmental friendly technology. Socio-culturally community based village tourism and reality tourism are considered as the “giant communication generators” which facilitate cross-cultural interactions, exchange and mutual understanding between hosts and guests and build global friendship and peace. The tourism management processes in community based tourism allow both guests (tourist) and hosts (tourism service providers at grass root levels) to know each other, to work with each other, and to learn to appreciate each other’s culture and by doing so come to appreciate each other. Furthermore, tourism can offer one potential tool for bringing about social change. Lean (2009) mentions that tourism can be a powerful vehicle for changing people’s thinking and behavior both during travel and upon their return home. Indicating the transformative travel under the sustainability ambassador concept, that inspires environmental sustainability, he opines: The concept of sustainable travel should focus both delivering benefits to host communities at destinations as well as inspiring enduring changes of behavior that ensure the health and wellbeing of the individuals and their economic, socio-cultural, and ecological environments. The operators of tourism, especially those who claim to be contributing to sustainability and wellness, have an important, though complex, role in transforming the behaviors of tourists to ones more amenable to sustainability both during the experience and particularly when they return home (Lean, 2009, p. 191 & 204). The operators of tourism must recognize the link between their client’s wellbeing and their economic, socio-cultural and ecological environments, on a local to global scale. These changes of action will help deliver individual and global wellness. These remarkable socio-cultural, economic and environmental phenomena of tourism are associated with peace-building. Tourism as a force for peace has been a popular positive message relayed by the academicians, consultants, industry in recent years. UN has identified creating peace through tourism as an important means to create peace in the world (UNWTO, 2012b) and dedicated a number of summits, conferences, and declarations in the interrelationship between tourism and peace. A number of the tourism experts, world leaders, policy makers, international summits, declarations, charters, protocols, conventions, etc. are there which have expressed wishes and desires on positive relationship between tour and peace. The relationship between tourism and peace has also been endorsed by a number of institutions and associations. Such initiatives as mentioned in a chronological list in table 1 support the notion of the conceptual understanding on the positive relationship between tourism and peace and support the notion of peace through tourism envisioning the strong role of tourism for peace. Upadhayaya: Interrelationships between Tourism... 29

Table 1: A list of international initiations in inter-linkage between tourism with peace

S. No. Year /Date Events Theme/Objective/Call/Award 1. 1929 The inaugural meeting of the British “Travel for Peace” Travel Association 2. 1945 Bermuda Principle “The promotion of international travel as a means of promoting friendly understanding and goodwill among people” 3. 1948 The UN Declaration of Human “Travel as a human right” Rights 1963 International Bureau of Social “Social tourism movement and Tourism peace” 4. 1966 International Covenant on “Human right status to travel” Economic, Social & Cultural Rights 5. 1967 United Nations The declaration of the year 1967 as UN International Tourism Year with the slogan “Tourism: Passport to Peace” to promote international understanding through tourism

6. 1975 The Helsinki Accord “The promotion of world peace through tourism”

1980 The World Tourism Conference in “World tourism can be a vital Manila force for world peace” 7. 1985 World Tourism Organization “Tourism should, by their (WTO) Tourism Bill of Rights & behavior, foster understanding Tourist Code and friendly relations among people, at both the national and international levels, and this should contribute to lasting peace.” 8. 1988 International Institute of Peace “Every traveler is potentially through Tourism an ambassador for peace” 9. 1999 WTO-OMT’s Global Code of “Tourism as a vital force for Ethics for Tourism peace and a factor of friendship and understanding among the peoples of the world” 30 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

S. No. Year /Date Events Theme/Objective/Call/Award 10. 2000 UN organized first global summit ““Outcome with a note as on ‘Peace through Tourism’ Amman Declaration in November 2000” 11. 2001 Post 9/11 meeting of the World “WTO Secretary General Tourism Organization General Francesco Frangialli called on Assembly in Seoul, South Korea the eradication of violence for tourism to prosper and said that “tourism could play a role in generating peace and economic development”.

Source: Author’s compilation from various sources

However, it is also not denied that there are criticisms on the recognitions of the positive relationships between tourism and peace. The opponents of this view on the positive relationship between tourism and peace reveal that tourism has very little influence on peace and security issues, at least at the macro level, and that tourism is far more dependent on peace than peace in on tourism (Din, 1988, Hall, Timothy & Duval , 2009; Higgins-Desbiolles, & Blanchard, 2010, Litvin, 1998; Richter in Burns and Novelli, 2007). A review of the growth trends (Figure 1) and security related issues of modern global tourism especially after 2nd world war also ascertain these negative relationships between tourism and security which has largely affected the state of peace for tourism. The growth trends of the international tourist arrivals in last six decades are remarkable, however not very smooth and consistent. These are negatively affected at some points due to both economic recessions and security related incidences. There were notable threats posed to tourism by the safety and security related various risks, uncertainties and crises. The rhetoric of tourism as a force for peace is confronted by varied nature of security related threats. Such threats are both internal to tourism and factors emerging from wider external environments (Hall et al., 2009; Mansfeld & Pizam, 2006). The paragraph below offer tips as how the relationship between tourism and peace is largely affected by internal and external peace influencing factors.

Internal factors (as weakness) of tourism: a) Intra-organizational conflicts between management and labor occasionally resulting with some kind of mild violence. b) Inter-organizational conflicts on various business management and operational issues or even due to the lack of common agenda among tourism stakeholders to steer the local tourism industry c) Lack of equity and justice within the existing structure of tourism and community oppositions which may result with violence. Upadhayaya: Interrelationships between Tourism... 31

External factors (as threats) to tourism: a) Natural disasters related security incidences (e.g. hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, earthquakes, avalanches, etc.) b) Man-made incidences (e.g. terrorism, war, crime, and political and social unrests) c) Health related epidemics and hazards, (e.g. SARS, foot and mouth diseases, etc.) The review of literatures (Beirman, 2003; Hall et al., 2009; Mansfeld & Pizam, 2006; Neumayer, 2004; Sönmez, 1998; Sönmez, Apostolopoulos and Tarlow, 1999; Thapa, 2009) reveal that the security related an absolute majority of these factors have some degree of negative consequences on affected tourist destinations, host communities, and tourism industries. Most of these studies address terrorism or political turmoil and its effects on tourism. These studies on tourism and terrorism research commonly emphasize the negative economic impacts on the sector and conclude that tourism is highly vulnerable to the eruption of violent conflicts on tourist destinations and it cannot prosper in the absence of security. A short list reflects the negative implications and vulnerability to tourism caused by insecurity. Table 2: Instances of negative implications of security incidences on tourism

S.No. Security incidence at Years Consequences on international tourists tourist destination arrivals and other implications with the deterioration of peace image 1. Croatia-Serbia war in 1985 8.35 million Balkan region 1990 7.05 million (-15.57 % ) 1995 1.23 million (-82.55 % ) 2. Islamist terrorist 2000 44 million organization Al-Qaeda led 2001 39.8 million (- 9.55 % ) terrorist attacks at World trade Centre in New York 2001 A total of 25 % drop in international and Pentagan in tourists’ arrivals in last quarter in 2001 Washingtoon DC, U.S.A. in comparison to the same period in 2000. There was the most severe impact on traveler confidence within the U.S.A. itself. U.S. hotel occupancy levels nationally fell by 26 % compared with the same period in 2000. 3. The launching of US 2001 Aroused heightened safety concerns military attacks against about travelling anywhere within the Afghanistan Middle East and Central Asia. Tourism to Europe, the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent fell under a cloud. 32 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

S.No. Security incidence at Years Consequences on international tourists tourist destination arrivals and other implications with the deterioration of peace image 4. The Communist Party of 2001-2005 International tourist arrivals to Nepal Nepal (Maoist) insurgency declined from 2,234,304 in the period induced security incidence 1996-2000 to 1,735,532 in 2001-2005 in Nepal which was lesser by -22.32%.

Source: Compiled from Beirman, 2003 and Mihalic, 1996

Hall et al. (2009) justify this weak perspective of tourism for peace by reviewing the surprising quiet industry voices against the US invasion to Iraq in 2003. They conclude that the tourism and supranational tourism organizations have little influence on peace and security agendas although such agendas are important for tourism. It is particularly at the micro-level only; an appropriated designed and implemented tourism may serve as means to ward off potential future insecurity created by community oppositions and conflict over resource and environment security. The negative consequences caused by such security related threats to tourism are not only confined to particular tourist locations where such security incidences take place, but even go beyond the area in adjacent places due to the “spillover” effects of such security incidents on tourism. There is negative spillover effect on tourism of neighbor countries if the neighbor countries are popular add-on holidays. In early 1990s, Persian Gulf Wars under the ‘Operation Desert Storm’ were confined to very specific geographic areas in Iraq and Kuwait, yet these wars symbolized political unrest for their entire regions in the middle east and countries like Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirate which experienced a sharp drop in tourist arrivals even though they were not all equally affected (Hollier, 1991). The “generalization” of perceived risk with the induced image of the insurgency in the war-affected section of Afghanistan during the international war on terrorism led by U.S.A. in 2001 as well as military buildups among the neighboring “nuclear power” countries (India and Pakistan) has had an adverse impact on tourism in the surrounding region in West and South Asia regions including Nepal (Thapa, 2009). Even normally secure destinations can suffer when security is threatened by various types of security related incidences like terrorism, war, crime-related incidences, civil and political unrests in broader scale (Richter & Waugh, 1986). Furthermore, any form(s) of security incidences (conflict and violence) in generating or receiving country equally negatively affect both guest and host countries due to the “inseparability” nature of guests and hosts in tourism. The security incidents in both of these countries are regarded by media as important news generators which (media) can also create generalization effect (Upadhayaya, 2012). The unrealistic and exaggerated media information dissemination deteriorates the peaceful image of tourist destinations. Kotler et al. (1993) defined image as the sum of beliefs, ideals, and impressions people Upadhayaya: Interrelationships between Tourism... 33 have toward a certain destination. There is direct relation between the peaceful image of the security affected tourist destination and the level of demand generated by tourists to visit it (Avraham, 2006). As a matter of fact, the negative peace image in a tourist destinations emerges in the wake of security incidents is a result of two major forces operating simultaneously: the media and the governmental travel advisories (Avraham, 2006; Baral, Baral, & Morgan, 2004; Beirman, 2003; Hall & O’ Sullivan, 1996). The foreign diplomatic missions are largely based on media news. These actors jointly document the majority of crisis around the world, bring it to tourists by conveying the information, and play an influential role in shaping tourists’ opinions, perceptions, awareness, and attitudes in building destination image and deciding on risk (actual or perceived) to travel towards security sensitive destinations which are caught by violent and non violent conflicts (Hall & O’ Sullivan, 1996). Tourist destinations react to such security incidences by applying context specific coping strategies to prevent and reduce the negative impact on tourism. Copings strategies in tourism are about the management of various tourism crises (including image crisis caused by negative media hype and travel advices) that emerge in the wake of various types of security incidents and mitigate the damage by proper policies and appropriate steps during the preventive (proactive or pre-crisis), reactive (while the crisis is occurring) and recovery (restoration/post-crisis) levels. As reactions to the crises caused by security incidents, copings by tourism sector are related with developing appropriate strategies to control the negative impacts security incidents have on the tourism system and peaceful image of tourist destinations (Mansfeld & Pizam, 2006). a) Generally tourist destinations use a combination of following strategies at recovery level (on the aftermath of security incidences). b) Conduct intensive destination marketing campaigns (also isolated marketing) to convince normality (even by obtaining grants from government to finance promotions) c) Try to obtain financial assistances (i.e. subsidized loans, rebate on interest, tax holidays, grants, etc.) from government to recover faster d) Involve in media campaign to create positive destination image, customers’ perception and confidence e) Engage their local community in the effort of recovery Tourism enterprises generally employ one or combination of following strategies at reactive level. a) Laying-off employees to reduce operational costs b) Reduction on price (with incentives) to retain tourism demands c) Identify and develop new market segments (e.g. Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition) d) Develop new tourism products and destinations 34 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

e) Organization of special events f) Postpone major expenditure on maintenances and renovation

Tourist destinations at these all three levels (during the pre-crisis, while the crisis and in post-crisis) levels of security incidences attempt to improve the images and public perception of destinations (Avraham, 2006). The private sector (i.e. tourism industry) attempts eradicate or prevent or mitigate the negative consequences on their properties and profitability. On the other hand, the public sector (i.e. government) is largely concentrated on the safety and security of the tourists at host destinations or at transit routes. Amidst the separate efforts, sometimes there is strong cooperation between these two sectors of tourism for concerted actions to reduce or prevent the consequences of security incidences on tourism. A statement released by the World Travel and Tourism Council in post 9/11 incidences held in New York and Washington on October 12, 2001 is relevant in context of the need and importance of the cooperation and collaboration among all parties to cope with the consequences of the security incidences on tourism. It states: In the wake of the terrorist attacks against the United States we call on a multi- governments and private sectors partnership to ensure that measures to strengthen security are effective, harmonized internationally and applied globally, helping to restore consumer confidence in travel and tourism. (Beirman, 2003, p. 57). Such partnership actions are sometime even joined by local communities and tourist themselves in coping together to such security incidences on tourism sector.

Conclusion Tourism, security and peace are conceptually interwoven phenomena. Security element not only influences economic and political confidence of tourist destinations but also individual tourism decision-making in wider environment. Tourism industry is highly vulnerable to changes in the global security environment. Security threats are generated not only from the military action but also from other global issues like political uncertainty, environment change, resource scarcity, crime, terrorism, vandalism, health effects, bio- security issues, social and environmental issues and challenges to sustainable development. Safety and security incidents continue to occur at tourist destinations regardless of the efforts made by the private and public sector to prevent them. Security risk concerns have ripple effect as one event of insecurity may influence the wider region and also entire security system. Occasionally security related incidences can be also attractions for conflict or war tourists in tourism. However, there is negligible occupancy of such kinds of the attractions for tourism in the mainstream global tourism trends. Insecurity is generally appositive to tourism as the presence of continuous insecurity is strong deterrent (“distractive”) for visitors and generally makes a tourist destination vulnerable. Thus, the tourism industry tends to thrive more in peace rather than conflict. Management of image (and perception) and risk induced state of crisis is the preliminary important work that destinations conduct as the part of reaction to security incidences. Furthermore, destinations Upadhayaya: Interrelationships between Tourism... 35 are also proactive in formulating some strategies for disaster management for the tourism and hospitality industry. Kunwar (2009) states that security, knowledge management, sophisticated communication system, and coordinated team approach are effective coping measures in this regard. These reactions or coping strategies allow tourism business actors to increase individual security, mitigate the negative impacts on individual costs, continue generating profits and make a living, despite a security incidences being held close by.

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Sandeep Basnyat*

Abstract The post-conflict peace process of Nepal is passing through a fragile transition phase which has imposed a number of new structural challenges to the tourism sector to grow and sustain smoothly. Because of the uninterrupted state of these internal conflict-related challenges, the rate of growth in annual tourist arrivals, their average length of stay and the revenue earned from tourism in the post-conflict years, especially from 1999 to 2002 has been affected. However, the scenario has started changing since 2006. The overall trend in tourist arrivals has been found increasing despite Nepal passing through post conflict situation where the fighting between the Maoists and the government security forces were taking tolls in lives of hundreds of civilians all across the country. With the cooperation and assistance of the local people, civil society, private sector tourism entrepreneurs and other stakeholders, government of Nepal was not only successful in maintaining a steady flow of tourists, but also able to increase the absolute number of tourists coming into Nepal significantly. This paper has investigated the post conflict tourism situation in Nepal and tourism improvement, development and management strategies of Nepal. Keywords: Post conflict tourism, tourism management, strategies, tourism policies.

Introduction Plethora of literatures and studies have demonstrated that compared to conflicts defined as war, for example, the last decades have seen a shift towards less organized, less political and more localized forms of violence that are focused towards domestic and social instability, crimes and violence. This is because the post-war and ‘post-conflict’ societies display high levels of instability, fragility and inequality (Licklider 2001:697f) and are characterized by different, overlapping and interacting processes and dynamics. Hence they constitute a social space shaped by a variety of actors, dynamics and power relations and not just a change in conflict intensity (Licklider 2001:697f). In addition, even in cases with patterns of stabilization, armed conflict or war can still go on in some geographical regions. Empirical studies carried out by researchers have * Sandeep Basnyat is a facutly of economics at Ace Institute of Management, a tourism researcher and a freelance economist. Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 39 shown that very often, violence does not end with an armistice or a treaty and the structural causes of conflict often live on in spite of peace settlements. Violence and insecurity in post-conflict environments prove to be adaptive and often very resilient. Thus post-war or post-conflict situations are characterized as “neither war nor peace” (Richards 2005) or “no peace, no war” (Mac Ginty 2008) contexts where the use of violence might have been reduced but is nevertheless an option or a strategy for some actors. The post-conflict peace process of Nepal is passing through a fragile transition phase which has imposed a number of new structural challenges to the tourism sector to grow and sustain smoothly (Sharma & Upadhayaya, 2008). A Post Editorial (2008) covering a report issued by UN World Food Programme (WFP) states that there were a total of 755 banda (closures) and strikes in the year 2008 in Nepal. Nepal saw 125 days of banda (closures) in various parts of the country called by various political and non-political groups in 2010 (Adhikary, 2010). Because of the uninterrupted state of these internal conflict-related challenges too, the rate of growth in annual tourist arrivals, their average length of stay and the revenue earned from tourism in the post-conflict years, especially from 1999 to 2002 has been affected. In absolute number, the tourists arrival in Nepal in 2002 was merely 275,468 (MoCTCA, 2013). However, the scenario has started changing since 2006. In 2011, Nepal received 735,965 tourists, and the number increased to more than 800,000 in 2012 (MoCTCA, 2013). According to the WTTC, Nepal is expected to attract approximately 1 million international tourists in 2013 (UNWTO, 2013). In this context, this paper aims to investigate how post conflict violence has affected tourism industry in Nepal and what are the strategies that Nepal has implemented to counter such challenges to develop the tourism industry.

Previous works There has been much research into the recovery of countries post conflict that focus on all sectors of the economy, not just tourism (Sorensen, 2004; Kreimer, 1998 & 2000; Rathmell, 2005; Coyne, 2005, Del Castillo, 2001). There is also a plethora of tourism specific work, including the literature by Bhattarai et al (2005),"Tourism, Terrorism And Turmoil In Nepal" where he addresses the issues the tourism industry faced during the Maoist Insurgency. Blake and Sinclair (2003) has examined the potential and actual policy responses post ‘9/11’ in the US. Similarly, Bern and King (2006) has studied the key elements of a crisis recovery strategy (CRS) in Fiji post the military coups. Finally, Beirman (2003), in a longitudinal literature explains the concept of tourism recovery and the role of different components of the tourism industry in the recovery process with a comparative assessment of three Southeast Asian tourism recovery campaigns including Bali post the October 12, 2002 Bombing. However, there is not much literature on tourism and conflict in Nepal. Among the few publications (Bhandari, 2004; Bhattarai, Conway and Shrestha, 2005; Bhattarai and Dahal, 2007; Grandon, 2007; Karki and Seddon, 2003; Shakya, 2009; Upadhayaya, 2008a, 2008b, 2009; Upreti and Upadhayaya, 2009; and various issues of Nepal Travel Trade Reporter), most are newspaper articles, policy briefs, and discussions in national seminars, 40 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) while very few are based on scholarly research. Most focus on the impact of political violence on tourism and are based on case studies (e.g. the potential of adventure tourism, home stay projects, etc.). Some of these publications mention business losses- subsectors, in particular, and generally hold the government responsible for not being able to proactively manage the crisis in tourism. However, these publications do not cover fully, the impact of conflict or post-conflict on tourism from both the negative and positive perspectives, and a literature gap exists concerning information on the strategies applied by the tourism stakeholders to cope with the conflict-induced impacts on tourism. In this context, this research has not only attempted to bridge the literature gap by providing an academic model for the study of post conflict violence and its impact on tourism in Nepal, but also provided a practical framework for application to the Government and non-government organizations as well as the international community, while contributing to their understanding, and thus, carrying out of activities in other post- conflict countries using the experience of Nepal.

Research Design and Methodology The research methodology that has been used to conduct this study were mostly qualitative. To understand how post conflict violence has affected tourism industry in Nepal, this research has made use of three stage analysis. Stage 1: Identification of violence, their effects and areas Stage 2: Actors involved directly or indirectly in the violence, their nature and interrelationships Stage 3: Dynamics of violence and their impact in tourism industry

Stage 1: Identification of violence, their effects and areas Identification of violence, their effects and areas were done by comprehensive review of published and unpublished literature, reports and data and an in-depth field survey. Primary information were collected from tourist destinations of Nepal. Information were be collected through non-random (purposive and snowball) sampling and focus group discussions held with representatives of the tourism sector including visiting tourists.

Stage 2: Actors involved directly or indirectly in the violence, their nature and interrelationships Actors involved directly or indirectly in the violence, their nature and interrelationships were studied using two separate frameworks; (a) Actors with direct involvement in violence, (b) Actors in the interlinked composition. Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 41

(a) Actors with direct involvement in violence:

Source: Kurtenbach, S., & Wulf, H. (2012). Violence and Security Concerns in Post- Conflict Situations.

Security gap emerges in relation to former combatants when there is no guarantee of their physical safety at the moment of handing over their weapons or leaving a territory under their control. If a peace accord does not address the related vulnerability and insecurity, there is a real danger of failure (Kurtenbach, & Wulf, 2012). Spoilers are mostly the ones who are the first to lose out when the war ends. They can be ex-combatants who attempt either to prevent the signing of a peace accord or influence its content, or to change some of its provisions in the aftermath in order to better their own bargaining position. These are actors who can veto the implementation of peace accords and make concessions, e.g. with respect to the prosecution of human rights violations (Kurtenbach, & Wulf, 2012). Continuity of root causes of war as a source of continued or new violent conflict is mostly but not exclusively related to ex-combatants. Examples abound where structural conflict causes are related to engrained inequality or marginalization that cannot be overcome instantly, such as social inequality or discrimination based on ethnicity (Kurtenbach, & Wulf, 2012). Spatial shift of violence is highly relevant for post-war and post-conflict societies because most wars lead to rapid urbanization as people seek refuge or are displaced by violence. While cities may be a safe haven during war and armed conflict, this seems to change after war and armed conflict end. The reasons for this are manifold: state institutions responsible for social services and the provision of security are mostly absent in slums, and this provides opportunities for other actors (e.g. organized crime) to step in. The high density of urban spaces is another risk factor for violence. And last but not least, war and violent conflict change social relations, e.g. providing opportunities for women and youth to escape traditional gender- and age-based hierarchies. The rollback process after wars and conflicts end is highly conflict-prone (Kurtenbach, & Wulf, 2012). 42 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Consequences and legacies of war and conflict increase the risk of violence in these societies too. There is a high level of firearms circulation that does not necessarily increase violence but constitutes a problem, given the lack of functioning state and non-state mechanisms of violence control and sanctioning. This leads to a high level of privatization and diffusion of violence. At the same time, violence shifts from the political sphere into society. The main actors are not merely gangs of former ex-combatants who secure their daily survival using their gun, lacking other options (and capabilities). The main actors also include criminal groups that might not have been directly involved in the war but have benefited from the (post-)war power vacuum. In addition, the increase in domestic violence in almost every post-war society is rooted in these developments (Kurtenbach, & Wulf, 2012).

(b) Actors in the interlinked composition

Source: Kurtenbach, S., & Wulf, H. (2012). Violence and Security Concerns in Post- Conflict Situations.

Personal interviews and focused groups discussions in specific tourism areas of Nepal were held with the above actors in the interlinked composition to identify the nature and form of violence, involvements of actors, causes and consequences of violence along with the direct and indirect roles of various interlinked actors in the incidences (Kurtenbach, & Wulf, 2012).

Stage 3: Dynamics of violence and their impact in tourism industry Since most post-war and post-conflict environments are shaped by high levels of uncertainty towards future developments, making sound analysis of context is a necessity for understanding their impact on external sectors including tourism. From a conceptual point of view, it is important to look the formal end of war or armed conflict as just one of the factors shaping post-war and post-conflict spaces. Hence the analysis of the context, Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 43 causes of violence in those contexts and relationships with the actors is a necessary basis for analyzing post conflict scenario and its effect on tourism. To investigate how post conflict violence has affected tourism industry in Nepal, the research followed the following framework:

Context Profile Dynamics Dynamics

Actors Causes Dynamics

Source: Fisher et. al.,(2005). Working with Conflict: Skills & Strategies for action

A context profile provided a brief characterization of the context within which the analysis was done. Some of the questions that the research focused on : What is the political, economic, and socio-cultural context? What are emergent political, economic, ecological, and social issues? What specific conflict prone/affected areas can be situated within this context? Is there a history of conflict? (Fisher et. al.,2005) Analysis of conflict causes was done by identifying factors which contributed to people’s grievances; and further described as: (a) structural causes – pervasive factors that have become built into the policies, structures and fabric of a society and may create the pre-conditions for violent conflict; (b) proximate causes – factors contributing to a climate conducive to violent conflict or its further escalation, sometimes apparently symptomatic of a deeper problem; (c) triggers – single key acts, events, or their anticipation that will set off or escalate violent conflict. Protracted conflicts also tend to generate new causes (eg weapons circulation, war economy, culture of violence), which help to prolong them further (Fisher et. al.,2005). Actors People are central when thinking about post-conflict analysis. It refers to all those engaged in or being affected by conflict. This included individuals, groups and institutions contributing to conflict or being affected by it in a positive or negative manner, as well as those engaged in dealing with conflict. Actors differed as to their goals and interests, their positions, capacities to realize their interests, and relationships with other actors (Fisher et. al.,2005).

The Post Conflict Situation The term ‘post-conflict situation’ or ‘post-conflict’ is usually used when a war or violent conflict has ended – be that in the form of an armistice, a peace treaty, military victory, a negotiated settlement or an external intervention. But even in these contexts, violence and insecurity may be as endemic as in contexts of open armed conflict and 44 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) more generally in fragile situations (Leonhard & Wulf, 2010). However, there is no accepted definition of what constitutes a situation, country or society of ‘post-conflict’. Practitioners in post conflict areas face specific challenges of working in countries where a war or armed conflict ended, most of them emphasize the difficulties in differentiating between these countries and those in conflict (Leonhard & Wulf, 2010). Among other challenges in these contexts, such as conflicting priorities or a lack of integrated approaches (Kurtenbach, 2009), development cooperation have expressed the concerned that they faces the problem of how to cope with dynamic and high levels of insecurity that cannot be reduced to the problem of backslide into war or armed conflict. Hence, the widespread term of ‘post-war’ or ‘post-conflict’ contexts used currently in academic and policy debates is a misnomer since violent conflict continues to play an important role even after conflict settlements have occurred (Kurtenbach, 2009). Nevertheless, what we mean when we talk about post-war and post-conflict contexts depends to a high degree on our understanding of war and armed conflict. These terms are far from being defined on the basis of a shared understanding of the factors involved. For example, the term ‘trade wars’ does not imply the use of any violence. As a consequence, it is necessary to understand how our framing of violence shapes our understanding of violence in and after contexts categorized as war or armed conflict. Therefore, a growing number of reports and analyses have addressed the related problems, the most recent being the World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development. While most of these investigations focus on specific problems related to the overall topic of security and development, they all struggle with a common set of problems and challenges (Kurtenbach, 2009). As a consequence, most post-war and post-conflict environments are shaped by high levels of uncertainty towards future developments, making sound analysis of context a necessity for external actors supporting change and reform for poverty reduction and sustainable development. From a conceptual point of view, it is important to look at conflict and war as processes that are neither static nor one-dimensional, but shaped by specific and changing dynamics that influence the interests at stake as well as the outcomes. The formal end of war or armed conflict is just one of the factors shaping post-war and post-conflict spaces (Kurtenbach, 2009).

Post Conflict Tourism in Nepal Since opening the country to outsiders in 1950, Nepal has acquired a unique identity as a popular tourist destination and the number of tourists coming into the country has increased consistently. However, the decade-long armed conflict, termed a “ People's War”, waged by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) with the aim of transforming the socio-economic and political structures of Nepal, became a turning point that shattered the tourist destination image of Nepal. The conflict resulted in not only the breakdown of peace and harmony in the country but also in the loss of 15,000 Nepalese lives. In addition, some 200,000 people were internally displaced (INSEC, 2007). In November 2006, after considerable death and destruction and several failed attempts at ceasefire and negotiation, the Government and the Maoists signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which formally ended a decade long conflict led by Maoists. Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 45

Since then, technically, Nepal entered into a post-conflict situation. The following table shows the tourist arrivals in Nepal from 1996 to 2012. As seen from the table, the tourist arrivals in Nepal has started to slow down from 1996 up until 1998 and from 1999 there have been significant drop in the arrivals data until 2002. It was only after from 2003, the slow pace of tourism arrivals has taken. From 2006, it is clearly seen that tourist arrivals has significantly increased after the ceasefire agreement between Maoists and the Government of Nepal (MoCTCA, 2013).

Tourist Arrivals data in Nepal from 1996 to 2012

Year Number of Tourists Annual Growth Rate (in %) 1996 393,613 8.3 1997 421,857 7.2 1998 463,684 9.9 1999 491,504 6 2000 463,646 -5.7 2001 361,237 -22.1 2002 275,468 -23.7 2003 338,132 22.7 2004 385,297 13.9 2005 375,398 -2.6 2006 383,926 2.3 2007 526,705 37.2 2008 500,277 -5 2009 509,956 1.9 2010 602,867 18.2 2011 736,215 22.1 2012 803,092 9.1

Source: Nepal Tourism Statistics, 2012, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Government of Nepal

Similarly, the following figure shows the trend in tourist arrivals in Nepal from 1996 to 2012. As seen from the figure, there is a slowly increasing trend of tourist arrivals in Nepal from 1996 to 1998 and from 1999 to 2002, there has been a dramatic decrease in 46 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) the trend. The trend has taken momentum from 2002 and from 2006 it significantly increased up until now. The overall trend in tourist arrivals has been found increasing despite Nepal passing through post conflict situation where the fighting between the Maoists and the government security forces were taking tolls in lives of hundreds of civilians all across the country.

Tourist Arrivals trend in Nepal from 1996 to 2012

Source: Nepal Tourism Statistics, 2012, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Government of Nepal

The above data and figure shows that the post conflict tourism in Nepal has been slowed; however, not very much affected despite there were several reported cases of casualties in tourism areas. For example, Upadhayaya, P.K et all have mentioned that the Maoist cadres initiated the extortions (forceful tax collection) from Free Independent Travelers (FITs) at the entrances to every popular trekking route in Spring 2001. Similarly, in 2002, Begnas Lake Resort in Pokhara in September and Gaida Wildlife Camp in Chitwan National Park in May were bombed with heavy losses. Both properties were closed for more than a year (Upadhayaya, 2011). In October 2002, Maoists exploded bomb at the visitor centre of Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) at Ghandruk (a popular tourist village famous for the indigenous Gurung culture) of which the king was the chief patron. In March 2003, armed attack was organized on Lukla airport, main gateway to the Everest region in eastern Nepal, resulting in a temporary suspension of flights. The aim was to weaken the government and its source of income from the busiest tourist airport in eastern Nepal. A series of bombs exploded outside the compound of Soaltee Crown Plaza in Kathmandu, Gorkha Hill Resort in Gorkha, and Fishtail Lodge in Pokhara in 2004. Similarly, the same year saw a forceful shutdown of 12 big multinational and hotel companies mostly owned by the Ranas and Shahs including Fishtail lodge in Pokhara, Hotel Sherpa, Mall, and Soaltee Crown Plaza in Kathmandu, and Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge in Chitwan. In January 2006, Maoist-affiliated labor and traders' unions of Hotel Yak and Yeti, a five star hotel in Kathmandu started a non-cooperation movement. The unmet demands for fair wages, permanent status of temporary employees, and other conditions resulted in closure for nearly eight months (Upadhayaya, 2011). Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 47

Even after the ceasefire agreement between Maoists and the government 2006, Nepal saw several post conflict casualties. Upadhayaya, P.K mentions in his article Peace through Tourism: A Critical Look at Nepalese Tourism that in 2008 itself several incidents occurred in businesses related to tourism industry. For example, the owner of Hotel Maharaja in Kathmandu was physically attacked thrice by labor union members. Hotel laborers affiliated with the CPN-M took out a rally in Pokhara demanding implementation of Minimum Wage Act. All Nepal Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union (ANHRWA) members of hotels in Pokhara halted work for three days on minimum wage row deal demanding a flat increment of Rs 1,300 for all in minimum wage given to hotel workers (Upadhayaya, 2011). ANHRWA affiliated to CPN-M restricted the entry of tourists for a day in Nagarkot, a hill spot with 42 hotels situated 32 km northeast of Kathmandu. The agitators demanded that their 15-point demands be met and closed the hotels for four days. Tourists were forced to make a hasty retreat due to the prevailing uncertainty. Hotels in Chitwan remained closed for weeks owing to the disputes between the hotels owners and the workers representing Nepal Free Hotel Workers Union affiliated to the General Federation of National Trade Union (GFONT). The workers' demands were to start levying 10% service charge on wildlife tourism package that includes elephant ride, boat ride, jungle safari, jungle tour, canoeing, bird watching and fee entry to the national park (Upadhayaya, 2011). Upadhayaya mentions that in 2009 More than a dozen workers were seriously injured in an inhuman attack with weapons by the management of Hotel Beijing China in Jyatha, Kathmandu during peaceful demonstration and continuous negotiation with the management regarding the implementation of Labor Law. Similarly, warning to go in strikes by the members of Chitwan National Park Middle Region management committee, forest conservation committee and other local stakeholders on the issue of the reopening of 7 resorts located inside the Chitwan National Park which were closed on July 16 after the expiration of their operating licenses. In 2010, the members of Upper Mustang Youth Society and other local inhabitants were dissatisfied and threat to bar tourists from entering Upper Mustang from October 2010 (Upadhayaya, 2011).

Tourism Management Strategies Management of tourism activities had been a tremendous task for the government of Nepal amidst the ongoing conflict due to Maoists insurgency. However, with the cooperation and assistance of the local people, civil society, private sector tourism entrepreneurs and other stakeholders, government of Nepal was not only successful in maintaining a steady flow of tourists, but also organize nationwide campaigns such Nepal Tourism Year 2011. Followings provide a glimpse of policy and activities conducted for successful and sustainable management of tourism. The concept of tourism management in Nepal has emerged to manage and develop the tourism industry of Nepal by cashing the expertise view, experiences and commitment of government with public private venture. For that Nepal tourism board continued the promotional activity with public private venture internally and externally. Campaigns such as Visit Nepal Year 1998, Destination Nepal Campaign 2001 and Nepal Tourism 48 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Year 2011 have continued to promote Nepal in international arena through its line agencies such as Nepalese diplomatic missions abroad, I/NGOs, airline, and national and international media, NRN community and Nepal’s friends and well-wishers (NTB, 2066-67).

Main objectives of the tourism policies and strategies of Nepal • Establish Nepal as a choice of premier holiday destination with a definite brand image. • Improve and extend tourism related infrastructures in existing and new tourism sites. • Enhance the capacity of service providers. • Build community capacity in the new areas to cater the need of the tourists. • Promote domestic tourism for sustainability of industry. • Achieve one million international arrivals. • Encourage additional investment on tourism infrastructures by 50%. • Maintain the record of domestic tourism. Source: Nepal Tourism Board, Annual Report, 2066-67, Nepal Tourism Year 2011 Campaign

With the badge of adventure destination glittering and the adage “Atithi Devo Bhava” (Guests were Gods) embedded in Nepalese culture, the portfolio of tourism products never cease to mesmerize the visitors. The unparallel cultural, geographical, ethnic and bio diversities of the country allure visitors to Nepal time and again which truly substantiates the spirit of Nepal tourism brand ‘Naturally Nepal, once is not enough!'Ê(NTB, 2066-67) Nepal among one of the major tourist destinations in the world, is also the center for numerous adventure activities such as trekking, mountaineering, rafting, mountain biking, Para-gliding, jungle safaris etc. To primarily focus on the tourism sector and to promote Nepal internationally, government of Nepal's prime objective of had been substantial growth of the tourism industry attracting more than a million tourists. It had become obligatory to revive Nepal’s image as the prime tourist destination since peace & stability had been re-stored in the country. Thus, to further address this issue also, the ambitious campaign of ‘NTY 2011’ was announced in the wake of historical transformation and Finance Minister Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai announced it during the budget speech on 19th Sep’2008. The national campaign of ‘Nepal Tourism Year – 2011’ aimed to once again rejuvenate the Nepalese tourism industry and establish it as the country’s economic backbone (NTB, 2066-67). Focusing on the magnitude of such campaign, government had adequate plans and thought-out strategies. A main organizing committee under the convener ship of Hon’ble Minister for Tourism & Civil Aviation together with the Joint convener ship of the Hon’ble vice Chairmanship of National Planning Commission had been formed. This main organizing committee had 61 members that includes various line Ministries & Departments, Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 49

Chief of District Development Committees, Metropolitan, Sub-Metropolitan cities & Municipalities, presidents of travel trade as well as other related associations & institutions. There were other invitees from various institutions/organizations (NTB, 2066-67). The first meeting of the main committee was held in Kathmandu during 18th Jan’2009 where a proposal was forwarded to form various functional sub-committees in order to work-out specific strategies, programs, activities as well as budget. Similarly in all of the 5 development regions, different sub-committees were also formed. ‘Nepal Tourism Board’ was entrusted as the ‘Secretariat’ of ‘Nepal Tourism Year-20011’ and the Chief Executive Officer of NTB (Nepal Tourism Board) had been designated as the Member- Secretary of the committee. Related promotional activities for this campaign were announced through a press conference (NTB, 2066-67). All of the respective Terms of Reference, Calendar of Events, Schedule of Programs, Action Plans & Budget for implementation were carried out by the sub-committees. Private sector travel trade, tourism related institutions & individuals had also been encouraged by the secretariat for a voluntarily contribution though participation at the desired sub-committee. The invited members of the committee were as below (NTB, 2066-67): Representatives of Adventure Sports Tourism Society, Association of Media House, Association of Trans Himalayan Tour Operators, Nepal Municipality Association, District Development Committee Association, Village Development Committee Association, Computer Association of Nepal. Here, several strategies were prepared by the government to make the tourism year successful, as follows: • Focusing marketing and promotion activities on regional and emerging markets • Exploration of new tourism potential market segments • Highlighting the tourism brand: Naturally Nepal; Once is not enough! • Enhancement of air connectivity with the regional, emerging and potential markets • Lobbying with the government for sufficient budget allocation to improve and expand tourism related activities infrastructures in existing and new tourism areas. • Attract and encourage private sector for investment in tourism sector • Capacity building of human resources involved in tourism • Lobbying with the government for effective intervention in domestic tourism development e.g. Amendment in the Transportation Act. • Promotion of Domestic Tourism by endorsing Leave Travel Concession ( LTC) by the government. • Organize major sports/events in association with tourism associations and stakeholders throughout the NTY 2011. (At least one event in a month) NTB (Nepal Tourism Board) aligned the following programs & activities for the promotion besides functioning as a secretariat of ‘NTY 2011’ (NTB, 2066-67). 50 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

1) Promote ‘NTY 2011’ in 12 prominent travel trade fairs in the major source markets like Europe, Australia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand & Malaysia as well as highlight ‘NTY 2011’ highlighted in the country focused programs being organized in Europe, Australia, China, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and South Korea. These major source markets were visited by a high level delegation along with Nepalese travel trade, interacting with local media and travel trade for effective promotion. 2) During the UFTAA Congress, being organized by NTB & NATTA in November 2010 in Kathmandu, ‘NTY 2011’ were promoted. 3) Corporate houses in the source markets were approached and invited to hold meetings, conferences and exhibitions (MICE). 4) On all the promotional gateways of NTB, NTY 2011 were highlighted. Private sector travel trade, at home and abroad, were requested to promote NTY 2011. 5) Promotional affiliations were developed with Non-Resident Nepali Associations, Friends of Nepal, International Travel Trade Associations and Corporate Houses. 6) Artists, mountaineers, actors & other celebrities were invited for further promotion. 7) From source countries like China, India, South East countries, Bangladesh and Europe, NTB (Nepal Tourism Board) 300 international journalists were invited for FAM tour to highlight ‘NTY 2011’ in the international media. NTB is under process in sighing in MOU with international airlines flying to Nepal to promote Nepal internationally. 8) New posters & related brochures were designed with a new web-site for NTY’2011 soon to be launched. 9) Upgrade of the Felicitation Desk at airport making it tourist friendly. A special focus on Community tourism and Home Stay to diversify tourism movement into potential tourism whereas of the country such as in Shree Antu Danda, Basantapur werea, Khaptad, Rara, Gorkha etc. 10) NTB will develop trekking trails in the Mid-Western & Far-Western development regions in association with communities, local bodies and related institutions. 11) Training programs were organized in new tourism areas 12) NTB will review and revise the existing Tourism Marketing Strategy 2005-2020 in line with the targets declared by the government. Apart from NTB’s above plans, the following plans were also included: Visa Fee Waived: To allure and draw the highest possible amount of tourists, the Tourism Ministry waived the visa fee in 2011 for those tourists who visit Nepal more than once during the year 2011. Better Air Connectivity: To encourage more visitors to Nepal, the national flag carrier (Nepal Airlines) extended its air-service from Riyadh, Lhasa, Gwanjhau, Frankfurt and London into Nepal by the end of 2011. From March 2011, flights to and from Mumbai, Shanghai and Tokyo started. Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 51

Infrastructure Developments in TIA (Tribhuvan International Airport): Various infrastructure developments had been planned to uplift the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). These include; Discounts granted for landing and parking except during the peak hours, construct a Ground Support Equipment Parking area Extension, implementation of ‘Common Users Terminal (CUTE)’ etc. Mountaineering: Since mid August’2008, Mountaineering expeditions had been receiving a discount on the mountaineering royalties, this policy will continue for another 5 years. To develop tourism in Terai, a plan to promote Terai region was also underway. Promotional Packages: The government launched special promotional packages in the USA, Europe, Japan, Australia, South-East Asia, Middle-East Asia and neighboring China & India through high level Nepalese delegation teams. Promotional Activities: For the further promotion of ‘NTY-2011’ various international promotional activities were carried out by the Nepal Tourism Board that includes ‘sales missions’ and ‘road shows’ in the countries where the possibilities of tourism is high. Likewise FAM tour of international journalists to Nepal, high level delegation to different countries to interact with the travel trade and media there. Tourism facilities: Further tourists facilities were added with improved capacity of hotels and other required services for tourists as well as creating community capacity to meet the needs of tourist and promoting domestic tourism also.

Implementation of Effective Marketing Plan Nepal is a well-known tourism and holiday destination. It is famous for its natural scenery, unmatched cultural diversity, hospitality, unique lifestyles and beliefs, art, unparalleled scenic views, art and craftsmanship, magnificent world famous mountains and other numerous specialties. Undoubtedly, Nepal certainly is blessed with natural resources and had the prospects of further tourism development. Recently on February 26, 2010, the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) in association of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) launched the “Nepal Tourism Year 2011(NTY2011)” campaign. It was a three years program purposely started to promote the tourism sector of Nepal which targets to bring at least one million international tourists in Nepal by the year 2011 and create better opportunities of employment and revenue generation. Basically, the concept of the NTY 2011 was to capture the scattered opportunity among the different available resources. For this the MoTCA had entrusted its technical feasibility to the NTB, a Public Private Partnership organization established with the main aim of tourism promotion in Nepal (NTB, 2066-67). During the official launch, the program was actively participated by major political parties, and all the participants of the programs including members of the Constitution Assembly, entrepreneurs, journalists and others showed their solidarity to support the program by every means possible. Likewise, highlighting the NTY 2011 program the government had already proposed the construction of a new international airport in Bara and upgrade and facilitates in the current airports. In addition, Ministry is searching for new trekking routes and looking to invest on proper infrastructure development. The 52 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Nepal Tourism Year 2011, Marketing Action Plan (MAP) incorporated the following policy guidelines (NTB, 2066-67). 1. “Quality Destination” brand must be developed with the quality factors of simple, convenient and safe, and should highlight its uniqueness. 2. Focus on achieving economic growth by: • Retaining market share • Expanding into new markets • Highlighting value for money. This is one of Nepal’s key destination strengths and a key marketing attribute. • Highlighting Nepal’s vast range of quality product and services that offer tremendous value for money, especially luxury products and services and activities that enhance the value perception of the destination • Enhancing the capabilities of NTB’s strategic partners to generate increase in tourism revenue. • Domestic tourism also hold a huge part of tourism so it should also be focused and well targeted 3. Use effective tool of famous land mark to highlight issue like global warming and pollution in a widespread international awareness in the key markets with proper themes and marketing strategy

International Marketing – Promotion of Quality Tourism The marketing plan focused on ‘quality’ rather than ‘quantity’. It means attracting ‘quality’ visitors to a ‘quality’ destination. The number doesn’t matter here ‘Quality visitors’ were defined as individuals who were socially and environmentally aware, and were responsible. Getting qualitative tourists can certainly make a difference rather than having huge numbers instead which can prevent the tourist destination from being exploited and ravaged. As a result, they were more likely to have a longer average length of stay (NTB, 2066-67). The brand must be consistently hit the targeted market with proper approaches with an effective brand strategy. Cheap destination, quality, standards were the Nepal’s key destination strengths. Other key attributes, particularly the friendliness of the Nepalese people and destination diversity were consistently highlighted under the “Nepal Tourism Year” theme. To help establish a clear brand identity for each of the regions, destination should be highlighted with its prominent features. This makes it easier for visitors to form a vivid mental image of the destination and helps them to remember its most distinctive characteristics (NTB, 2066-67). Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 53

International marketing activities targeted for NTY 2011 S.N. Programs and activities Partner Target groups 1. Trade Fairs Tourism Associations, International Travel Trade Professionals Airlines, Hoteliers, Travel / Tour keen to sell Nepal, /Adventure Operators, New Potential Travelers Tourism Product areas to Nepal, Airlines Idustry, and Media Professionals etc. 2. Sales Missions/ Road International Travel Tourism Associations, Airlines, Shows, Media and Tour Trade keen to sell Hoteliers, Travel / Tour Operators Meet/ Press Nepal, and Media Operators Meet/ Media Briefings Professionals 3. Joint Promotion Airlines, Nepalese diplomatic consumers and travel missions abroad and Non- industry segments Resident Nepali as well as Nepali Student Associations abroad and various other national / international corporate houses, non- government organizations

Source: Nepal Tourism Board, Annual 2066-67

E-marketing E-marketing is a dynamic tool which includes various marketing resources that are easily available in the World Wide Web (WWW). It includes social networking, search engine optimization techniques, blogs and online advertisement. The prospect of E- marketing is very high where it had literally made it possible to connect anywhere in the world. It’s a low cost but very effective and strong tool which can give efficient directions to the marketing plan. Similarly, the Search engine optimization technique can certainly bring the brand information and brand upfront. The importance and effectiveness of e- marketing in the campaign can make a difference but it depends upon how well it had been used. Likewise, social networking sites like face book and twitter were very effective in creating a broad network and channelizing the define information to a bigger mass within the easy of your comfort. The only thing that needs to be considered is regularly update ad quality information must be uploaded (NTB, 2066-67). Participate in international travel trade shows NTB further participated in international travel trade shows abroad and further promote the NTY 2011 with better brochures, documentaries and other relevant materials. Though it’s an orthodox method and is very much cost ineffective so it should be controlled and had very limited results. 54 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Organize and participate in international road-shows The Marketing Plan incorporated policy guidelines of the MoTCA, and further developed a State Enterprise Plan for proper development. Establish tourism policies and pursue tourism promotion and development and marketing strategies in line with the sufficiency economy principles to create a better balance between development and marketing to ensure sustainability (NTB, 2066-67). • Embrace principles of sustainable tourism development • Enhance the value perception of Nepalese tourism products and services by balancing the price-value equation. This is fundamental to achieving Quality Tourism. • Establish clear brand identity for each of the provincial clusters presented as tourism products in order to create a positive and long-lasting impression and memorable experience • Policy Guidelines Established by the Board of Directors of the Tourism Authority of Nepal • Tourism is a key economic driver. Recognize the very significant role that tourism plays in providing peoples in all regions of the Nepal with better quality of life. • Promote sustainable tourism growth by leveraging the strengths of the destination and the “Nepal” brand • Achieve a balance between economic and social benefits — demonstrate respect for the environment, foster environmental awareness and promote a sense of pride in the nation.

Public Relations and Publicity activities targeted for NTY 2011 S.N. Programs and activities Partner Target groups 1. Publicity through print Travel Trade Associations, Tour International Travel and electronic Operators, Nepali diplomatic Trade, Nepali and promotional materials missions abroad, Nepali and international media, International media potential travelers to Nepal IInternational Travel 2. Public Relations National and international media, Trade, Nepali and Nepali diplomatic missions international media, abroad, foreign diplomatic potential travelers to missions in Nepal, Honorary Nepal, authorities of PRRs of Nepal Tourism Board the source markets Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 55

S.N. Programs and activities Partner Target groups 3. Crisis Management Tourist Police and other security International Travel agencies in Nepal, Himalayan Trade, Nepali and Rescue Association and other international media, Travel Trade Associations, tourists traveling in Airlines etc. Nepal, potential travelers to Nepal, authorities of the source markets

Source: Nepal Tourism Board, Annual Report 2066-67

Organize and participate in domestic marketing and awareness activities One of the major responsibilities of NTB through Tourism Products and Resources Development (TP&RD) Department is to identify new tourism product areas and promote them nationally and internationally. It also develops the human resources in tourism areas through capacity enhancement, training and awareness programs. Similarly promotion of sustainable tourism development in the country through conservation and preservation of natural and cultural heritage had also been in its focus. These activities were of the highlights during NTY 2011 (NTB, 2066-67).

Domestic marketing activities targeted for NTY 2011 S.N. Programs and activities Partner Target groups 1. Tourism Resources Central and Local Government Nepali and Development Support ( Bodies, Tourism Sites and Sites International Travel Hardware and Software Management Committees, Trade, domestic and support) INGO/ NGOs etc. International tourists. 2. Tourism Facilitation Central and Local Government Nepali and Support ( Events and bodies, Travel Trade International Travel Festivals, Community Associations, Trade Trade, domestic and based and Sustainable Associations, Tourism Sites and International tourists Tourism) Site Management Committees, Communities, INGO/NGOs etc. 3. Human Resource NATHM, CTEVT, Local Communities, Development Bodies, Tourism Colleges, employees of Travel Trade Associations, Trade tourism service Associations, Communities, providers, tourism INGO/ NGOs etc. students and youths Source: Nepal Tourism Board, Annual Report 2066-67 56 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

References Adhikari, A. (2010, December 31). 2010 turns into ‘The Year of Banda’. The Kathmandu Post, p. 04 Ale, M. (2009). Tourism for Peace – 2010 Reviving Shangri-La. A concept paper submitted to Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal Tourism Board, the Netherlands Development Organisation, and United Nations Development Programme. Kathmandu: Megh Ale. Alluri, R.M. (2009). The Role of Tourism in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding in Rwanda. Bern: Swisspeace. Beirman, D. (2003). Restoring Tourism Destination in Crisis. Wallingford, Oxon: United Kingdom. Bhandari, K. (2004). Nepalese tourism: Crisis and beyond Nepal?s endeavor for tourism recovery. Tourism. An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 52(4), 375-383. Bhattarai, B. (2003). The nature of Underdevelopment and Regional Structure of Nepal – A Marxist Analysis. Delhi: Adroit Publishers. Bhattarai, K., Conway, D., & Shrestha, N. (2005). Tourism, Terrorism and Turmoil in Nepal .Annals of Tourism Research, 32(3), 669-688 Bhattarai, B. M., & Dahal, B.M. (Eds.). (2007). Report on Peace and Press: Vital Forces for Tourism Development. Kathmandu: Nepal Travel Media Association (NTMA). Dahal, D. R. (2006). Civil Society Groups in Nepal: Their Roles in Conflict and Peace Building. Kathmandu: UNDP Edumnds, L.O. (2011). The Development of Tourism in Post Conflict Destinations: An Academic Literature Review. Adlib consulting. Fisher et. al.,(2005). Working with Conflict: Skills & Strategies for action. United Kingdom: Zed Books. Hall, C.M., Timothy, D.J., & Duval, D.T. (2009). Security and Tourism: Towards a New Understanding? In Hall, C.M., Timothy, D.J., & Duval, D.T. (Eds.), Safety and Security in Tourism: Relationships, Management and Marketing (pp. 1 – 18). Mumbai: Jaico Publishing House. INSEC. (2007). Nepal Human Rights Year Book 2006. Kathmandu: Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) Karki, A., & Seddon, D. (2003). The People’s War in Nepal Left Perspectives. Delhi: Adroit Publishers. Kurtenbach, S. (2009). The Role of Development Cooperation in the Context of Peace Negotiations and Peace Agreements. Study commissioned by GTZ/BMZ for INCAF Kurtenbach, S., & Wulf, H. (2012). Violence and Security Concerns in Post Conflict Situations. Duisburg: Institute for Development and Peace (Research and Advisory Project. Instruments and Procedures of German Development Cooperation in Post- Conflict Situations“ - Project Working Paper No. 3 Basnyat: Post-Conflict Violence... 57

Leonhardt, M., & Wulf, M. (2010). Erfahrungen mit den gängigen Instrumenten und Verfahren der EZ in Post-Konflikt-Situationen. Die Problemsicht der Akteure. Duisburg: Institut für Entwicklung und Frieden (Forschungs- und Beratungsprojekt: „Instrumente und Verfahren der deutschen EZ in Post Konflikt-Situationen – Internes Projektpapier Nr. 1). Licklider, R. (2001). Obstacles to Peace Settlements, in: Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela et.al (eds.), Turbulent Peace. The Challenges of Managing International Conflict. Washington D.C. 2. Ed. Crocker et al. 2001, S. 697-718 Mac Ginty, R. (2008). No War, No Peace: The Rejuvenation of Stalled Peace Processes and Peace Accords. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) (2013). Nepal Tourism Statistics 2012. Kathmandu: Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. Nepal Tourism Board (NTB). (2066-67). Annual Report. Kathmandu: NTB, Sharma, S., & Upadhayaya, P.K. (Eds.). (2008). Report on the proceedings of National Workshop on Post-Conflict Tourism in Nepal: Opportunities and Challenges. Kathmandu: Human and Natural Resources Studies Centre, Kathmandu University and Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South. Tarlow, P.E. (2006). A Social Theory of Terrorism and Tourism. In Y. Mansfeld., & A. Pizam (Eds.), Tourism, Security and Safety (pp. 33 – 47). Oxford: Elsevier. Thapa, B. (2009). Tourism in Nepal: Shangrila's troubled times. In Hall, C.M., Timothy, D.J., & Duval, D.T. (Eds.), Safety and Security in Tourism: Relationships, Management and Marketing (pp. 117 – 138). Mumbai: Jaico Publishing House. Upadhayaya, P.K. (2008a). Role of Tourism in Conflict Mitigation and Peace Building: A Case study of Nepal. Unpublished PhD research proposal. Kathmandu University. Nepal. Upadhayaya, P.K. (2009). Post Conflict Tourism in Nepal: Challenges and Opportunities for Preventing Latent Conflict. The Gaze Journal of Tourism and Hospitality, 1(1), 28-42. Upadhayaya, P.K. (2011). Peace through Tourism: A critical look at Nepalese tourism. Nepal Tourism & Development Review, 1(1), 15-40 Upadhayaya, P.K. (2010). Labor Disputes in Tourism Sector: A Critical Look in Nepalese Tourism During and After Armed Conflict. Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education, 1(1) 2011: 27- 52 Upadhayaya, P. K., Müller-Böker, U., & Sharma, S. R. (2010). Tourism amidst Armed Conflict: Consequences, Copings, and Creativity for Peace- building through Tourism in Nepal. The Journal of Tourism and Peace Research. 1(2), 22-40. Upreti B.R., & Upadhayaya P.K. (2009). Armed Conflict and Tourism: Cost and Consequences in Nepal. In A.C. Settle., I. Niazi., S. Siddiq., & U.T. Haroon (Eds.), Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia Issues and Challenges of Globalization (pp. 235 – 261). Lahore: Sang-E-Meel Publications (Sustainable Development Policy Institute). UNWTO (2013). Tourism Highlights – 2013 Edition. Madrid: UNWTO Prospects of Ecotourism in Khopasi, Nepal

Biswo Nath Ulak*

Abstract Khopasi is one of the ancient settlement of Nepal that demonstrates the earlier artifacts found in different times at different places. It is believed that one of the indigenous Nepali tribe “Kirats1” could have chosen Khopasi as the best place to settle permanently ending their nomadic life and began to tilt the land. Favourable climate promoted the agriculture and livestock farming for their sustainable livelihoods. The Kirats had cultivated the fertile land at Khopasi producing grain and wool from the pasturing at Pasthali, and they learned producing of woolen materials and trading of those products. Improvement in livelihoods and socio-economic status encouraged the Kirats in community culture and led them into political empowerment which strengthened their power to drive out the Ahir Dynasty from Kathmandu Valley extending their geographical territory (kingdom). After the Kirats, Lichhavis2 had strengthened their culture, governance and domestic tourism "travelling to Kailash". The natural beauty and resourceful hinterland have attracted the local entrepreneurs to increase ecotourism activities in this area at present. Khopasi can be developed as a new tourist industrial estate promoting to growing tourism businesses at its vicinity complying with tourism tools. This could be good means of managing natural and other resources of valley for the sustainable development shifting with cultural and climate changes. Keywords: Ecotourism, cultural heritage, embryonic of tourism, tourism engineering

Introduction Tourism is a collection of activities, services and industries that provides a travel and trekking experience, including transportation, accommodations, eating and drinking, sightseeing, retail shopping, various entertainment activity and facilities and other hospitality services provided for individuals or groups traveling away from home. The sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host governments and host communities in the process of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors.

* Biswo Ulak has done Master in Political Science from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu Nepal. Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 59

It is evident that tourism has been one of the rapidly growing industries in the world. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) claims that tourism is currently the world's largest industry with annual revenues of over $3 trillion dollars (http://www.prm.nau.edu/prm300/what-is-tourism-lesson.htm). As its expansion through the world it has also created environmental problem, which posed as a global threat too. The environmental problem in many cases caused the serious ecological imbalances. So the global tourism industry felt for the new approach in the field and consequently the concept of ecotourism emerged. The term 'ecotourism' is defined as traveling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with specific objectives such as studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery with its flora and fauna, as well as any existing cultural manifestations (both past and present) found in these areas (Lascurain, 1987). The concept of ecotourism that evolved in the past thirty five years as the conservation community, people living in and around protected areas, and the travel industry witnessed a boom in nature tourism and realized their mutual interests in directing its growth. It provides opportunities for visitors to experience powerful manifestations of nature and culture and to learn about the importance of biodiversity conservation and local cultures. At the same time, ecotourism generates income for conservation and economic benefits for communities living in rural or remote areas (Patrovska, 2009, p. 259). It is a "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people." (TIES3, 1990). Ecotourism is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel. This means that those who implement and participate in ecotourism activities should follow the following ecotourism principles: Minimize impact in environment; Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect; Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts; Provide direct financial benefits for conservation; Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people and Raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climate (http://www.ecotourism.org/what- is-ecotourism). Ecotourism is defined as a “purposeful travel to natural areas to understand the culture and natural history of the environment, taking care not to alter the integrity of the ecosystem, while producing economic opportunities that make the conservation of natural resources beneficial to local people” (McCormick, 1994). Ecotourism is taken as the leisure life for the busy people, people from polluted urban centre and scholars to study on nature. The visitors will understand the importance of vegetation, fresh air and value of life. This will be an opportunity to the people becoming nature friendly returning to their home. According to Chesworth. Ecotourism has six characteristics. These are: a) ecotourism involves travel to relatively undisturbed natural areas and/or archeological sites, b) it focuses on learning and the quality of experience, c) it economically benefits the local communities, d) ecotourists seek to view rare species, spectacular landscapes and/or the unusual and exotic, e) ecotourists do not deplete resources but even sustain the environment or help undo damage to the environment, and f) ecotourists appreciate and respect local culture, traditions, etc. (Nihalani, 1995, p.2), 60 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Nepal is a small but beautiful country where tourism can be a very important industry for this country. It has the highest mountain, Mt. Everest, the ever flowing Himalayan Rivers, glaciers, large lakes, green valleys, and lovely waterfalls, the national parks in the Terai and Himalayan range are the major attractions for tourists. Lumbini, the birth place of Gautam Buddha, natural beauties are important for tourist industry. The tourists of different kinds will come to Nepal. Some will come to see the natural beauties, some to study its historical and religious places. Tourism reaches into the varied aspects of Nepalese life and its benefits are encompassed by diverse sectors directly and indirectly. It generates employment opportunities and helps in the promotion and conservation of the art and culture. The tourism industry is one of the foreign currency earners in the country and thus makes a significant contribution to the economy. Government of Nepal has been actively promoting tourism in Nepal and has always encouraged the private sector for their involvement and participation. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation (MOCTCA) gives equal importance to conservation of natural, cultural and human resources (http://tourism.gov.np/ page.php?nav=13) In the context of Nepal, promotion of the ecotourism has been considered to be very vital in term of its diverse nature and culture. Tourism has grown in Nepal only after 1950. For long, Nepal's tourism was associated with travel to remote areas for mountaineering and trekking. In recent years the sector has also been influenced by new trends, i.e. ecotourism. Ecotourism is related with nature travel in rural, remote and protected areas. Therefore the need to explore the current status of ecotourism and its growth in the country has been realized. Tourism related studies and researches have recommended numerous places across Nepal for the development of ecotourism. The Khopasi vicinity in Rosi valley of Kavre district next to Kathmandu valley is great potentiality for the purpose. The beautiful natural surroundings with varieties of landscape of Khopasi and its surroundings is one of the magnetism for outsider visitors to their relaxation life. The live culture of different ethnicities and farming as well as friendly people of this area are main resources for contributing to development of the tourism industry. Tourism enterprise in Khopasi area has to improve and strengthen for the satisfaction of hosts and guests with mutual benefits to both the parties. Presently people from Khopasi area comprehend the ecotourism business would suitable to this place. In ecotourism the participation of local people is deemed to be vital and presently the local people of Khopasi are very enthusiastically and eagerly involved in the sector. Khopasi and its vicinity is the area where possibility and prospect for ecotourism is significant. The history of Kirats and Lichhavis civilization in Khopasi, which dated back to 1500 year, cultural heritage and natural beauty, flora and fauna and yet unexplored areas are the things required for the development of ecotourism.

Methodology The data and information has been collected from both primary and secondary sources. The secondary data and information are collected from books, journals, articles, internet Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 61 from different authors and writers. I have visited different libraries, web portal and review of literatures from different writers, conducted field visit of Khopasi, Pasthali and around and also focused on community and group discussions, which included interviews with individuals and groups in Khopasi, Pasthali and around for developing this paper. This study is an outcome of an empirical research and is mainly focused on major events and developments. This paper will be helpful for further research of Khopasi and identifying the technology used by ancestors. The Information, practices and guidance on culture, politics and climate change are accessed from national and internal literatures and web portal and compared information with local’s sayings. This study is focused on understanding of attitude and behavior of individual, community and their cultural effects to politics and climate. This research could support introducing learning and change pattern of communities for future planning complying future culture, politics and climate change. It is mainly focused on description and analytical review (Dahal, 2005, p.6) based upon the myth, local responses include the facts and figures from its references. Archeological evidences, the facts and figures mentioned in this paper will contribute and facilitate as a secondary data and information for the scientific research. The purpose of this study is to explore the linkage and impact amongst culture, politics and climate change in communities and societies of a specific geographical territory. This assignment expected to contribute in increasing tourists demand and support in climate change through the careful mobilization of culture and politics.

Khopasi A fertile land at the beginning of East No 1 of Nepal (from Kathmandu) is known as Khopasi, presently famous for rice and potato with the name of Panauti ko Chamal and Alu (rice and potato from Panauti). The present Khopasi is a small bazaar which resides just behind (west) the fertile land and foot hills of Devisthan hill. Khopasi falls at the Latitude: from 27.34'1"N to 27.34 and Longitude: 85.32'0" to 85.32 E and is located at a mean elevation of about 1517 meters above sea level with the moderate hills, greenery farming land drained by two rivers Rosi and Shalandu producing healthy air has many neuro-psychological benefits such as a deep, refreshing sleep, which increases the psychological and physical well-being by a positive attitude to life. The climate of Khopasi is sub-tropical with maximum of 30.6o C in April and -3o C in January and 74% annual average humidity. The average annual temperature is 16o C and 24o C and average annual rainfall is 1733 millimeters, most of rainfall occurs during June to August. Khopasi is ward no. 12 of Panauti Municipality under the political administration of Nepal. Panauti municipality is one of the biggest municipality (geographically) of Kavrepalanchowk District, Bagmati Zone, Central Development Region of Nepal. The geographical boundary of ward no 12 are; East and North - Rosi River, South - Shalandu River and West - Chalal VDC (Village Development Committee). The present population of the main bazaar is about 500 people with the majority of Newars and the population of ward No 12 is about 2500 with Brahmins, Chhetris, Sanyasis, Tamangs, Lamas, Bhujels, Rais, Khawas, Damais, Kamis and the Paharis (one of the indigenous group). In Newar there are different caste - Bajracharya, Batas, Dapchali, Duwal, Gochhe, Karanjit, 62 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Nagarkoti, Shakya, Shrestha, Paunju Prajapati, Udas, Ulak etc.; In Brahimins – Badal, Dhakal, Dahal, Ghimire, Guraigain, Koirala, Sapkota, Satyal, Sharma, Tiwari, Wagle etc.; in Chhetris – Basnet, Bhandari, Deuja, KC, Karki, Khadka, Mahat, Rawat, Silwal, Thapa etc. Sanyasi – Bharati, Giri and Puri; Pahari is the indigenous community and believed to have been dwelling in Khopasi since Kirats period. Khopasi is linked to big cities of Nepal with black-top road of 35 km from Kathmandu and located at South/East of Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. People can easily travel by direct public bus (vehicle) from Kathmandu old bus stand or the travel up to Banepa 24km and catch the local bus from Banepa to Panauti for 8km and Panauti to Khopasi 3km. They can easily approach to a good hospital of Banepa and Dhulikhel with 20 and 25 minutes drive respectively. The international/domestic airport is situated at distance of 1 hour drive from Khopasi without any traffic-jam. Banking services are easily available at Khopasi and Panauti. Only the regular bus service is available and taxi or paid private vehicle has to be arranged in advance. Traveling into this valley by vehicle can be made with multiple ways, i.e. travelling by vehicle from different route; a) Kathmandu – Banepa – Panauti – Khopasi, b) Gwarkho, Lalitpur – Luvu, Lakuri Danda – Behebar –Panauti – Khopasi, and c) Kathmandu – Dhulikhel – Kavre Bhanjyang – Pasthali – Khopasi. The motorable agri-road is opened from Khopasi to Taldhunda (south/east) linking to Bagmati River – link to Mahendra Highway at Karmaiya, Sarlahi District and Khopasi to Gotikhel, Thulo Durlung of Lalitpur District. It is at walking distance from Panauti -3km, Dhulikhel - trekking route with 6km, the famous Buddhist temple Namo Buddha – trekking route 4km, a beautiful adjoining village Pasthali – 1km, a nice village settlement of Khyaku and Balthali – 2km, a nice village trekking place Patikharka and Chalal are adjoining villages. The people in Khopasi and adjoining settlements are friendly and of welcoming nature to the visitors from outsides. Khopasi has all modern services of communication (phone, cell and internet), limited health facility, good education institutes up to higher secondary level.

History Khopasi people say, 'Kirats had stopped their nomadic life and settled in Khopasi with the favourable climate for farming and livelihoods where they had developed their custom and culture with stable life'. They established agricultural farming, cultivating at fertile land in Khopasi and livestock farming at pasture land in Pasthali. There was nice fruit forest4 around and along south-west to Panauti and a good human settlement was in Khopasi. This was the suitable place for human settlement as this place can provide food for livelihoods. Therefore, the Kirats were established here. The Limbus have an expressive legend about their origin. They claim to descend from a family of ten brothers who emigrated from Banaras (Kasi) of Hindusthan, their fatherland, and came to settling Nepal and Tibet. The brothers who established themselves in Tibet later rejoined those of Nepal, but their descendants maintained the normal division in Kasi-gotra and Lhasa-gotra (Levi, 1908, p.23). Khopasi could be the place where some of the Kirats brothers from Banaras resided. Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 63

Kirats gave the name of the place “Kurpasi”, meaning in Sanskrit is Kuppa=cloths and Ashak=sewing and the meaning of Kurpasi is residence of swindlers (Mahat, 2012, p.12). It is controversial if the meaning of Kuppa in Sanskrit is cotton as there is no evidence of production of cotton in Khopasi. But it can be justified saying there were swindlers. One of the indigenous caste, Pahari who make the best fishing net from allo5 (Himalayan Nittle) and have good skills making small household materials from bamboo and wood. Those products had good market in neighboring villages, cities and Kathmandu valley. Kirats ruled Nepal for a long period, so more than eighty per cent of local place-names are found related to Kirats languages, there seems adequate basis to maintain that these places had already become current, the questions of changing them did not arise. These names therefore continued to be used during the Lichchhavi period. Several of these names are still in use. These include Khopring-Khopa (Bhaktapur), Kurpasi-Khopasi, Shang-(Ssanga), Tegwala-Tygal, and Tenkhu-Teku. These settlements were known as Gram and imaginary marked with Tala (outskirts) for administrative division (Bajracharya, 1971, p.144) It is interesting that the name with the fertile land beside (East) Pasthali is known as Nepal Besi Phant (Nepal fertile plane land). It is believed the woolen materials were made in Nepal Bensi Phant. The meaning of Nepal in Sherpa language is Ne=wool and pal=home (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nepal). The place of name could have given in Sherpa language while producing the wool from that place (Nepal Besi Phant). Thus the name of place called “Nepal” at that time and later added the name “Besi Phant” when they turn this pasture land into cultivated fertile land for planting grains (rice and wheat etc.) for their food. A myth says, 'Khopasi was the kingdom of King Birat', and some people said that Khopasi was the summer palace of King Birat. Though the claims seem different, both of them indicate that there was existence of King Birat. His palace at Tallo (down) Bazaar of Khopasi along to Jilpu tributary and the then city was settled from Mayalboat to Pange Tole of Khopasi and people were settled at Pasthali, Ite, Batase and Sankhu. They said there were seven stone taps from Pange Tole to mid of Khopasi bazaar near to the palace. Similarly people said there were seven wells at Tallo Khopasi bazaar around the palace area. Four taps are existing, among them three taps are at Pange Tole and one tap was renovated (moved) by Kuldip Singh Mahat at Mahat pati in early 19th century (Mahat, 2012, p. 33) and three taps disappeared, one at near Shree Ram Higher Secondary School and the other at garden of Ram Jhupadi and one at Tallo bazaar behind Koirala Pati with the encroachment of land. Six well disappeared with encroachment of land and one well is still opened in private land of Gopal Prasad Guragain at Jilpu area. People say,' Pandava’s of Mahabharat had spent one year of Guptabas (hiding life in exile) in Khopasi from their thirteen year of Banabas (exile life in Jungle) (Mahat, 2012, p. 12). It is said, Pandava came crossing the Mahabharat range through Narayansthan mountain of Dhunkharka along Parthali to Khopasi. While Drapaudi came with the power of Parvati (Ganga – wife of lord Shiva), she brought the river on the way to Khopasi from Parthali, which was known as Shailendri (nick name of Draupadi in her exile life). Present 64 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) the name of river is known as Shalandu. The proof of hiding life of Pandava are – a) Draupadisthan (shortly it is known as Devisthan) – It is at mathllo gaun of Khopasi at the top of the hill with the Draupada Mai Temple, where Draupadi was waiting to Bhimsen’s return from Kinchak slain (killing), b) Panchakanya – it is at the configuration of Rosi River and Shalandu river where the Pandava hid their weapons, c) Pasthali – where Shahadev worked as cowherd looking after domestic animals of the palace, d) Mayalboat – there was the palace kitchen, where Bhimsen worked as cook, e) Kinchak slain place – It is just front of Thado pati (Inn) above the Bhanadari Gaun (now the place is encroached and cultivated) and f) the palace – It was along the side of Jilpu tributary at Tallo (down) Khopasi Bazaar, where Yudhisthir worked as king’s adviser, Arjun as music/dance teacher, Nahakul as palace groom and Draupadi work as queen’s maid. It is said the king Birat travelled to Panauti Triveni (Junction of three rivers – Rosi, Punyamata and Lilawati) on daily basis with the fourty horses’ cart for morning bath. The evidence of the cart road story is supported by the width and same level of the field just above (west) the present motorable road from Khopasi to Panauti. In the Kirats period a settlement which had a prescribed area and whose populations were larger than of a Grama (village) were called Dranga. A number of Grams comprised a Dranga. Such Drangas later developed into Desh (i.e. city) during the Malla period (Bajracharya, 1969, p.27). Khopasi also could be Dranga comprising Khopasi, Pasthali, Ite6, Batase and Sankhu Gramas. In the time of Kirats and Lichhavis the business centre also called “Dranga”. (Regmi, 1983, p. 80). Khopasi could be a Dranga as this was commercial centre for Lhasa (Tibet), Kathmandu and Hindustan (India) in Kirats and Lichhavis period even to Malla and Shah’s period which can be justified by custom office in Khopasi until 1951. Thakuri administration was continued in Khopasi after the departure of Kirats to Gokarna of Kathmandu. One of the renowned Administrator of Lichhavis dynasties in Khopasi was Amshuvarma, son of Manvarma from lunar race was the follower of Vaishanavism respect to Buddhism and strong devotee of lord Shiva established the Thakuri Dynasty in Nepal. He was good and competent administrator in the kingdom of King Shiva Dev I. It is believed that the Narasingh Moth at Pange Tole was the residence of Amshuvarma and his office was in Kailashkut Bhawan at Tallo bazaar of Khopasi. Amshuvarma reside in his residence with path-puja (praying) for whole morning and goes to Kailashkut Bhawan in the afternoon to furnish/perform his administrative duties (Mahat, 2012, p.15). Amshuvarma was not only a man of value but also a shrewd politician, a diplomat and a statesman who had married with the daughter of King Shiva Dev I (Shrestha, 1972, p.11). There was threat to Nepal from both sides South and North. Amshuvarma contracted matrimonial alliance with both sides giving his sister Bhoga Devi to Prince Sursen of Maukharibansiya, Kannyoj at South and Bhrikuti daughter of Udaya Deva7 to Tsrong Tsong Gyampo at North (Shaha, 1988, p.159). The coins were made in Khopasi in the time of Amshuvarma. A gold plate inscription, containing the word "Vidya" in the Kutila script, has been found in Khopasi (East No. 1). This indicates that gold and silver coins were minted during the Lichhavis period Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 65 according to the Karshapana system. Under that system, sheets of gold and silver were cut into pieces, each of which was inscribed with letters or symbols. Since these coins were made largely by hand, the services of many artisans were needed to bring them into circulation (Joshi, 1976, p. 41). The culture of good governance was established in the leadership of Lichhavis with decentralised administration and followed with Grama and Dranga of geographic division made by Kirats. Amshuvarma has introduced “Grampanchali” for local mediation and advised to bring in palace for non-resolved issues from Grampanchali. It can read as the decentralization8 of governance. This Grampanchali was continued in Khopasi until 1962 (Mahat, 2012, p. 11). King Shiva Dev I have delegated more power (autonomous) to Amshuvarma considering his performance and competency (Regmi, 1983, p. 64). Proof of the official decentralisation is an inscription on stone of 598 AD (Gomi Era 500, 20, 6 Vaishakh sukla) was found by Chandra Shamsher JB Rana in Khopasi during his hunting campaign and advised local people to put in safe place (Jayasawal, 1937, p. 9). The inscription clearly delegate the authority to administer Khopasi, therefore Amshuvarma must be residing in Khopasi before de-facto king from Shiva Deva I. In the inscription each citizen was ordered to bring fifty balls of white clay at inauguration of gate at journey to Kailash. It is confusing. Is it for Kailashkut building, not sure? The inscription mentioned Kailash journey. Is traveling to Kailash just above Pashupatinath Temple of Kathmandu? (Regmi,1983,p.111) or Kailash in Khopasi? People say, there was a Chaitya (temple) of Amitabh Buddha in Khopasi and the white clay were used for white plastering the Amitabh Chaitya? However, it can read the official order for domestic travelling (pilgrimage) was made in Lichhavis period. In a research paper of Bharatmani Jangam on “Hansagriha Dranga – Capital City of Amshuvarma” he tried to explain the Kailashkut Bhawan was in Hansagriha Drang. He could not identify where is the Hansagriha Drang? According to Dhana Bajra there was Hansagriha Dranga at Anantalingeswor area - South of Surya Vinayak of Bhaktapur and East from Luvu of Lalitpur (Bajrachaya, 1973, p. 485). There is no any settlement at the indicated place by Dhana Bajraya. The nearest settlement would be Khopasi. Amshuvarma moved to Gokarna palace after the Shiva Dev I time-off for meditation. Then the Khopasi went into shadow of political leadership and development was derailed. Khopasi was left as a business center with the responsibility of the local administrator. This was continued in different scale and mechanism, until the revolution of 1951 for Democracy in Nepal. King Avaya Dev Malla in 12th century had settled seven villages between Bhaktapur and Khopasi, they were, Sanga, Nala, Banepa, Dhulikhel, Chaukot and Panauti, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panauti ) but there is no name of Khopasi. This shows either Khopasi was developed than those seven villages or ignored with political biasness? People say, there were big settlement at Ite, Batase and Sankhu and people would be migrated with the attack from Udush (bugs- epidemic). There was a big used bricks inside the humps at Ite, kwon as Udushe Chaur (bugs ground - the writer also seen that humps of bricks and those bricks were used for many community development works). Now, the most of the ground turned into private land and cultivated. Another cause of destructions of city in Khopasi and Pasthali could be affected by the earthquake? There was big earthquake in Eastern Nepal on 7th June 1255 AD (http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal 66 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

/v6/n1/full/ngeo1669.html?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureGeosci). This could effect in the old settlement of Khopasi. Khopasi had produced best craftsmen and good architect from Kirats and Lichhavis dynasty. There would be nice and attractive buildings and temples etc. in Khopasi. We can imagine that from the architecture of Narasingha Moth, and other available leftovers. Paharis were/are the best craftsman and good artist of the area. They lead and participate in construction and renovation of building not only in Khopasi and around but also in Kathmandu valley. In 12th century Chinese Emperor Kublai Khan was impressed with the Buddhism from Green Star (Bhrikuti) and requested the then king of Bhaktapur Avaya Dev Mall to send some craftsmen and good artist to build Buddhist Chaityas in China. Bal Bahu Pahari son of Bal Dev Pahari, the Administrator of Khopasi of seventeen years, was selected to go to China mission leading a team of eighty skilled craftsmen and workers from the kingdom of Bhaktapur. The team has made many Chaityas, and Vihars in Beijing and different cities of China which were well accepted with good recognisation. Following the demise of Araniko, Chinese emperor had honoured him with the title ‘Hinghai’ posthumously (http://weeklymirror.com.np/index.php?action=news&id=2234). The Paharis of Khopasi claim, that their ancestors had built the Kailashkut and many buildings and temples in Khopasi around and Kathmandu valley. It can be believed as the evidence of Narasingh Moth in Khopasi, which would be erected/renovated before fifteen hundred years. King Shivade I was pleased with the completion of Kailashkut Building and tax freed to Khopasi people (Mahat, 2012, p.14). The Paharis were not only builders but also the best artist of this area who makes the colourful artistic Jhallari Chhata (big umbrella - bigger than garden umbrella) for goddess, wedding procession and cultural institute and people ceremony. There are many umbrellas made by Paharis from Khopasi for goddess and wedding (marriage) procession. People said many Jhallari Chhata, artistic wooden boxes and jewellerys were made by Pahari for dory to Bhrikuti (Mahat, 2012, p.14). This writer has seen Surya Bahadur and Sanu Pahari used to make such umbrella until 1970. It will be better to conduct a separate research on the dory of Bhrikuti and the art made by Pahari identifying the art and skills matching with Khopasi and Lhasa (Tibet). It is believed that there used to be businesses in good amount from Khopasi to Lhasa (Tibet) and Hindusthan (India) of the product of these areas as well as trading of material from Hindusthan and Lhasa. Trade and commerce flourished during the Kirats period. Khopasi had trade relations with Kathmandu, Lhasa, China and Hindustan. Nepal exported mainly wool and wooden materials and herbs. People say, Thakuri from Magadha were brought (ancestor of Anshuvarma) for best management of business as well as to expand their business with Hindustan and Lhasa. Khopasi became a business center for Magadha and Vaisali of Hindusthan and Kerung and Kuti of Tibet. As Kirats were believed to be the good businessmen and diplomat they had accepted the both religion, Hinduism and Buddhism to expand their business in Lhasa and Hindusthan. The trading (business) from Khopasi was continued until late 1960 for certain items, i.e. tobacco and silver etc. from Hindustan to Lhasa and gold and herbs etc. from Lhasa to Hinduustan. The tax system was continued in Khopasi establishing a custom office from ancient (Kirats/Lichhavis) period. There was a custom office in Khopasi to collect revenue Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 67 from import and export of goods and materials. There were two police posts working as sub-custom office, one at Kapil Bhanjyang at Bhugadeu and second at Goma Bhanjyang at Dhunkharka. The Narasingha Moth and custom offices were managed by contractors from the time of Malla regime. These Custom offices were continued until 1950s and the last contractor of Khopasi Custom was Mr. Ganesh Man Bijukchhen, who was from Bhaktapur. The political administrative boundary was squeeze reducing to 1/7 of earlier size at restructure of 1961 with Village Panchayat. The boundary of Khopasi never stable, sometime the Balthali VDC merged into Khopasi and sometime Sarada Devisthan merged into Khopasi. However, after 1970s the Sarada and Balthali were separated and remained with Khopasi and Pasthali (Salmitar, Makaitar etc) for about three decades. And, it was merged with Panauti Municipality in 1997. Khopasi VDC (Village Development Committee) was taken into two wards 12 and 13 out of 13 wards of municipality. Ward no 12 covers Khopasi and ward no 13 covers Pasthali (Mahat, 2012, p.11). It is interesting to know that the changing political leaders and newly formed Panauti Municipality official do not have record of place name “Khopasi” in their inventory. It seems the residence of Khopasi needs to be raised the issue of place name “Khopasi” to be continued to educate and aware on heritage and contribution of ancestor for the restoration of value of civilization. Khopasi people had prioritised to education immediately after the advent of democracy in 1951. Draupada Primary School was opened, later the name of school was changed with Shree Ram Primary School. Now this has been promoted to Higher Secondary School and two other secondary schools are added in Khopasi. There was a famous library “Rasaayan Library” established in 1953 with volunteerism which attract domestic tourist from Kathmandu and elsewhere. It is deteriorated with the lack of proper management. A Medical Dispensary “Paropakar Bachanalaya” was opened in the same time to provide the medical services at this area, which is now turned into Primary Health Care Centre with the assistance from JMA (Japanese Medical Association) and JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) of Japanese Government. The second hydropower with the capacity of 3MW was completed in 1963 with the assistant from USSR and it is still running. And a Sericulture Farm in 150 (7.5 ha) ropanis was established in 1970 and is not working properly. Grain production at East and South of Khopasi was insufficient with the size of population. This area produces a good quality of maize (yellow maize) and big size of soybean which has good market in Kathmandu. There were/are good livestock farming in those areas. Dairy product mainly Ghee (butter) was supplied to Kathmandu from this area and was famous on quality and even supplied up to Terai belt (Birgunj). Now, the fresh milk is supplied to Nepal Dairy Corporation and other private dairy companies in Kathmandu. The grain production of this area is insufficient for four months. Scarcity of food appears from Baishakh (May) to Shrawan (August) and has always worried for managing of food for those four months. Considering the famine season the government had helped of food distribution9 with subsidised price for Baishakh to Shwaran – until the maize harvest time. Access to transport facilitates the food distribution centre is closed from 1984. 68 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

The encroachment of public land and deforestation rapidly increased with the political uncertainty since 1990 and the trend is still continued. It has affected Phulchoki forest at the source of Rosi River and Nala Jungle at the source of Punyamata River. Similarly the transitional government after 2006 to date is allowing the stone mine to the private company at the source of Rosi at Phulchoki and source of Shalandu at Patikharka which is affecting the watershed area and the volume of water is decreasing. Asian Development Bank has launched a sewage project in 2002-09 for Banepa and Dhulikhel municipalities. The project did not introduce sewage treatment plants and sewage line directed to holy Punyamata River. This makes the southern part of Banepa polluted and worsened the ancient heritage site of Panauti. Similarly, French Integrated Project had worked in Panauti and put the sewage in Rosi River. Recently in 2012, Asian Development Bank is investing for water supply to Banepa diverting the Rosi River from its source at Naya Gaun. Local people have already shown their concern that this project will pollute the Khopasi area. They are of the opinion that this project is not climate friendly, though ADB is campaigning for climate adaptation.

Religion and Culture Religion is the primary stage or beginning of culture. It is the human made practice and customs for their Nature living and existence. It has privilege to have a right or an advantage granted to or enjoyed by a particular group of people beyond the common advantage of Governance all others, according to the American Heritage Dictionary (Lee, 2008, p.4, 10). Culture can be described as software of society a “design of living”, and as a code of conduct for a person’s life in society (Kunwar, Hope Faith Love 2006, p.115). The physical and mental aspects of human beings are important for living in the earth and in the process of development. We believe the emotional and spiritual aspects of ourselves need to be fully nurtured in order to achieve a true sense of well being. Focusing on these aspects is paramount in the healing process of each and every individual are bound with hope, faith and love. Culture and beliefs will work for the optimist and not for the pessimist. The optimism will be based upon the hope, faith and love. It is believed the Kirats respected “God to Father and Earth to Mother”. It is similar to Chinese ancient religion. This religion was initiated in China by The Yellow Emperor who was succeeded by the Emperor Shao Hao, B.C. 2598-2514 (http://www.kwintessential. co.uk/articles/china/ancient-china-religion/article/China/Ancient-China-Religion-/2377). Kirats respect to earth as mother and they do the “Bhumi Puja”, this tradition is still carried out by Pahari of Khopasi. They are the indigenous community in Khopasi. The ancient history shows that the Buddhism entered Nepal from both North and South. Bipaswi Buddha and Bodhisatwa came from North and Sikhi, Bishwobhu, Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 69

Krakuchhanda, Kanakmuni, Kasyap from south and Shakyamuni (Gautam Buddha) to Nepal. It seems the Buddhism flourished in Nepal during the Kirats regime (Shrestha, 1972, p. 7) and that could have also flourished in Khopasi. It is believed that Kirats followed the Buddhism with the path of Siddartha Gautam after his enlightenment in 528 B.C. (http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/ buddhasresume.html). People of Khopasi believe the Kirats followed the Buddhism with some modification and built a temple for Buddha with the name of “Amitabh Buddha - the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life”. Kirat’s trading could be the means of spreading Buddhism in China to the Han Dynasty in 206 B.C. It may be a co-incidence that the traders sent the message of Shakyamuni’s Buddhism in China. The Buddhism was followed and well respected by Kirats and their administrators (Thakuris) and was also well followed in Lichhavis period. The famous Chinese pilgrim Tseng Tsai and Fa- Hsien visited in Lumbini in the 3rd and 5th century (A.D.) respectively (Kunwar, 2012, p.11). The Hindu leaders established the Narasingha God, in the residence of Khopasi administrator and the name is given Narasingh Moth (Holy inn at temple). The operation of puja in Narasingha Moth was given to Sanyasi10 (Puri – it is believed that they came with Sankaracharya from India). The then ruler has managed lots of cultivated land raising funds to manage and continuation of Hindu religion from that Moth. It is believed that there was an attack from Muslim in Hindu temples just before the Malla regime. Fortunately, the Narasimgha Moth was not attacked as it did not seem to be a Hindu temple. The management of Narasimgha Moth went into contract basis from the time of Malla Regime and the contractors were appointed from Newars of Sanga. It was transferred to locality and the Mahat family of Mahat community from Pasthali was appointed as contractor at the beginning of Shah Regime (Mahat, 2012, p.15). Narasingha Moth went under the Guthi Bandobasta11 in early 19th century. Bharati (a caste of Sanyasi) from Kathmandu was appointed to operate the Moth and they have hired Giris for puja of Narasingh God. I (the writer) have participated in social function of school at 1970s as student which were held in the Moth. The operators of the Moth provided us a cup of tea and some snacks (Haluwa & Puri - sweets) on the day of Swaraswoti puja, Democracy Day etc. We were 200 plus students and were easily accommodated in comfortable sitting row in the yard of the Moth which was surrounded by houses in three sides and one side by a brick wall. The brick wall was also the part of wreckage house. Most of the cultivated land of Moth was acquired by the hydropower project and the operation of Moth was affected. Yogi Narahari Nath (history writer) made frequent visit in Khopasi and he mostly resided in Narasingha Moth with Nara Bhadur Bharati as he was a national figure of Science and Culture. It was said many valuable evidences including golden inscriptions were taken by Yogi Nara Hari Nath from the Moth for history writing. People believe that Moth was looted twice. First, immediately after unification of Nepal by Prithivi Narayan Shah it was looted and secondly, after the advent of democracy in 1950. It can simply be guessed that people with vested interest had taken undue advantages with political transformation. Many valuable items were lost from Moth and the value of Moth deteriorated day by day as this does not remain the demanding culture of community. Beside the above moth here are following temples: 70 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Shree Ranga Nath temple – There was a Narayan statute with a small temple from a long time at Mayalboat. It was believed the Narayan statue was established by Amshuvarma as he was Vaishnav. It was unattended for a long time. Gopal Prasad Satyal from Satyal Danda (hill) had initiated this temple with his return from Char Dham yatra (four pilgrimage places) of Bharat (India). He was inclined to Vhaishnav religion with his return from Bharat. Mrs. Bhim Kumari Khatri from Pasthali and Gopal Prasad Satyal had moved in Vaishanav religion from core Hindu religion. In 1950s, they had changed their religion and approach to Khopasi and Pasthali community raising donation to make trust for Shree Ranganath Mandir and regular income to generate this religion. Mrs. Bhim Kumari Khatri devoted her all personal property to Shree Ranga Nath Mandir establishing the Mandir at Mayalboat of Khopasi. Similarly, a widow Mrs. Dharani Koirala also donated her property to the temple. Nashika Mandir – It is an open temple in a big ground and where continuing Bhumi Puja from the indigenous Pahari community. In this ground a Nashika god (god of dance) was established at 1952 by Newar community for their art (theatre) performance. Established a Saraswoti God at 1965 by Purna Prasad Satyal and build a small coverage with the sculpture of Saraswoti was made by Astha Ratna Sakya in 2008. Kamala Mai and Lalita Mai - are open temples and believed these were continued from Kirats period. Lalita Mai situated at behind the house of Manga Lal Gochhe at Tallo Bazaar and Kamala Mai situated at Kitini nearby Rosi River. Both of these temples were opened temple but the resident of Kitini had built the temple for Kamala Mai. Hanumansthan – Behind the Koirala pati is Hanuman sculpture. There is no record and myth as to when this sculpture was made or established. Now, the Khopasi police post is accommodated in this compound. Draupadathan – is one of the famous temple for this area at the top of the hill. It is believed, this is the only one Draupadi’s temple in Nepal. This is the place where Draupadi from Mahabharat was waiting to Bhimsen's return from the slain of Kinchak. When Bhimsen arrived at the foot of the hill after slaining (killing) Kinchak and the cock gave the signal of day start. Both (Bhimsen and Draupadi) of them had to disappear from their places, where they stood, Draupadi at top of the hill and Bhimsen at foot of the hill. People of Khopasi have started puja (praying) at those places where they disappeared from. And the goddesses' sculptures were established by Newar community in Malla regime and continued development by locals. Contribution to the Devisthan renovation at last period goes to Saptalal Shakya and Ramjhi Bhandari. Bhimsensthan – A stone statute is established at the same place where Bhimsen disappeared after killing Kinchak. This place is next to Shree Ram School. People have added few goddesses, Ganesh, Surya etc at that temple area. This temple was slightly moved at northern part with the expansion of Shree Ram Higher Secondary School. Narayan Mandir (temple) – At the mid 19th century a Narayan God temple with the Narayan statue was established by the community from Pange tole. This was supported by Narasingha Moth for its operation. Phadakeswor - There is a shiva's shrine East of Khopasi bazaar and just below Kitini Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 71 at the Rosi river. This shrine is known as Phadakeswor. There is water dropping at the heads of the goddesses. It is interesting to see the water dropping. People say, that this was one of the stoppages of Shiva’s journeys to Gosaikunda, Himalaya while he suffered from the Kalkut Bikh (lethal poison). We can see a mark of the tunnel at the face of mountain just behind goddesses. People believe Shiva came from Ladakeswor through that tunnel. It is interesting to see the water dropping at Ladakeswor at Balthali about 3km far from Phadakeswor and the shape of tunnel is also the same. There are four other Shiva’s temples at Khopasi within 1km distances, they are; Doleswor, Dhangateswor (also known as Kirateswor), Maharudreswor and Pashupati. People from this area do Shradha (annual ceremonial praying for passed soul) at one of these shrines. The numbers of such activities are declining with the modernization as well as the river are turning into sewage with unmanaged urban cities, mainly, Banepa, Dhulikhel and Panauti municipalities. Durga Temple - In 2010 a Durga Temple was made at public ground of Khopasi phant (cultivate land) with the contribution from Mina Bhujel and Bert van der Heijden and his team from Denmark (http://www.peoplestrust.nl/XBertNepal.php). This was made in pagoda style from baked brick and tiles with artistic wooden work. The art of temple followed to the art from Malla regime. It demonstrated the interest of European on art and culture attracting to visit Nepal. Patis (Inns) – People of Khopasi were motivated by virtue of volunteerism. People were cooperative and there was positive competition in volunteerism. We can take a simple visible example of Patis from Pange tole to Panauti. There was a Pati named with Dhakal Pati at Shree Ram School. This pati was supposed to be made before Malla regime and Shree Ram School was run for two decade from this pati and constructed the school building dismantling the pati. In this pati, Prithivi Narayan Shah had left his inscription in a stone plate in 1763, declaring expansion of Gorkha kingdom. The stone inscription is moved to Department of Archeology in Kathmandu. The constructions of patis with wooden crafts were copied from Malla regime which can be seen in some of the art at patis. The most interesting analytical and research part of ancient settlement of Khopasi are supported by existing patis at middle of cultivated land along the foot path (later turned into motorable road) which are not available such numbers patis in other parts of Nepal. Akhanda Hari Kirtan – People have faith/superstition with god and they were more trust in Hindu religion. There was prediction of a big earth quake in 1962 by astrologists. Bhakta and Jagta Lal Ulak conducted Akhanda (24 hours continuous) Hari Kirtan (praying to god Hari) and Koti Home (Hawan12) for 18 months with the guidance from Kabi Prasad Gautam in 1961 for the sake of saving human being of the world from the possible disaster. This Maha Yaggya (mega homage) was quite expensive with 24 hrs contentious Hawan for eighteen months. The cultural and religious people around Khopasi had heartily cooperated to make the event a success. Still the people of Khopasi do not tire of telling this story. Guthi (cooperative) – there were four Newar guthis a) Khopasi Tallo Bazaar, b) Khopasi Mathillo (upper) Bazaar, c) Pange tole and d) Majha Gaun. Khopasi Mathillo 72 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Bazaar Guthi was dismissed in 1975 and other Guthis are continuing, but they are not effective as in past with the limited resources and community fragmenting to nuclear (small) family. Deewali – Each community caste celebrate a day with a visit to their family god every year. Most of the community had their family god at jungle as they believed that the god resides in forest. Some of the groups have shifted their family god to Devisthan from jungle so as to reduce the distance. In the past, only the men were eligible to go to the family god due to the security purposes but now women are also involved in Deewali puja and it is taken as a family picnic. It seems the society is accepting inclusive culture with the political demand and climate change. Inter-caste relation – One of the achievements after the first democracy was acceptance of inter-caste relation. It means the matrimonial relation between dalit (untouchable) and upper caste. It was accepted between the Brahmans with Chhetris or Newars and Vs. Love marriage between untouchable and upper caste are accepted. Restriction to Dalits in water taps, wells and visiting goddess were opened. There was improvement in this trend and it is more liberalized after the political change of 1990 and more improved with political change of 2006. With the multiparty system people have opinion to put their views and interest freely and independently. This creates more questions upon the religion and faith. Besides, people have more liberty than discipline freedom from family and community. Livelihood became difficult with the inflation price hike in commodities and services and no income generation in other hand. Political leaders have earned the property in the name of development and political change. People have lost their faith upon political leaders. In the same time (from 1996) arm conflict started from Maoist fueling erosion in religion and culture. People scared to visit temple alone and at early mornings and evenings. Sculptures of goddesses and art at the temples were disappeared. People who do not have fear and faith with religion and culture took those opportunities. People have lost their faith ongoing culture and religion. But, there was no option to people deviate from religion and culture as these are part of their livelihoods. Some people and families of community moved to another groups of religion for their hope and satisfaction, they are; Satya Sai Baba Bhajan Mandali, Om Shanti Bhajan Mandali, both Christianity (catholic and protestant) and Buddhism.

Jatras Jatra (in newari language) refers to the type of “Newari Festival” involving street festival or carnival. Jartas have become a part of life of Newari communities of different part of Nepal. The Newari communities of Khopasi also celebrate the local festival. People those who migrated from Bhaktapur celebrate Bisket Jatra, Banepa –Chandeswori Jatra, Panauti-Jya Punhi etc. Khopasi have separate Jatras (procession in palanquin), they are: Bhimsen Jatra – Bhimsen came to be worshipped as a god of commerce and trade in Khopasi business community and followed by other communities. Khopasi is a small village surrounded by mountainous where commercial routes were connected with Hindustan and Lhasa with difficult mountain trails. The Khopasi traders who wanted to Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 73 do their business had to walk across the Himalayas for visiting Lhasa with difficult mountain trails and pass through Mahabharat Lekh (top of the big mountain with forest) and Charkose Jhadi (eight miles of dense dark jungles at Terai belt) visiting Hindustan for months, which was quite a challenge. Worshipping Bhimsen was done for the sake of their own protection and prosperity. They started Bhimsen Jatra one day at each year at Bhadra Chaturdashi (August). There is Bhimsen Bhajan Mandali (group) at Khopasi Bazaar conducting daily Bhajan and organizing Jatra each year. This is led by the Newar community of Khopasi. There is no record when this jatra was started, however, it is believed this was started at late 18th century. Narayan Jatra – Pange communities of Khopasi found the Jatra make the communities live and active and provide entertainment with the enthusiasm of future hope and faith in religion. The community of Pange Tole had arranged to conduct the Narayan (god of love) Jatra. The community of Pange Tole approach to the Bharati of Narasingh Moth for their support. The Moth management has easily accepted the request of community and provide annual fund for organizing the Narayan Jatra. This Jatra was introduced at early 19th century and conduct in the day at the next day of Krishna Asthami (birth day of Krishna) in the month of Bhadra (August). There is Narayan Bhajan Mandali (praying group) at Pange Tole which is conducting daily Bhajan and organizing Jatra once a year. Ganesh Jatra – Udas community at Majha Gaun of Khopasi was one of the indigenous group of Khopasi. They were also excited to organize another Jatra. They proposed to have the Ganeseh Jatra contributing to another entertainment for people in Khopasi. They approach to Hasta Bahadur Bhandari, a land lord in Khopasi for resource to conduct Ganesh Jatra and he accepted the request from group. Udas and other caste of Majha Gaun community had organised a Bhajan Mandali with the name of Ganesh Bhajan Mandali for daily bhajan and to conduct the annual Jatra of Ganesh at Chaturdashi of Mansir month (November). This Jatra was started immediately next year from the Narayan Jatra started. Still the Bhandari family is providing some rice and some expenses to Gansh Bhajan Mandali to conduct this jatra at every year. Shree Ram and Sita Jatra – It is conducted at Asthami of Baishakh (April) every year from Shree Ranganath Mandir from Mayalboat of Khopasi. Vaishanavi people from Kavre Palanckowk, Sindhupalckowk, Makawanpur Districts and Kathmandu valley visit this place to participate in jatra. Recently another Krishna Pranami Temple was established at Pasthali in 2000 and they are conducting the Krishna Jatra from last five years. Hilya Nach (Mud dance) – This is an ancient dance continued by Pahari community. This type of jatra existed before the time that Kantipur was founded (Wright, 1877,p.155). This dance is performed by the Paharis immediately after the successful completion of rice plantation and good farming in time. This dance seems a wild dance demonstrating the past civilization. The body of artist (dancers) will be covered by plants leaf and tightened by shrubs. And some artist wears very old allo (jute) clothes. The dancing pattern is also not disciplined. Musical instruments will be some utensils and clay pots. Now, they added some local musical instrument i.e., madal (a kind of drum), jhyali (cymbals) etc. This dance is now moved to Gaijatra’s (cow festival) day and the Pahari perform this dance if there is any Pahari death that year. 74 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Local Game - Halle was the local game celebrated at every Maghe Sangranti (December) especially by Paharis. This is a game similar to the Hockey. The ball will be Bhogate (big orange) and will be played by long stick with small bend at the end (similar to hockey stick). The player will be divided into two groups with equal numbers. There will be goal posts at both places similar to the football game. This game used to be played at the open ground at the Nasikasthan temple. Now, the ground had been encroached and a small place remains and is not sufficient to play with big number of players. Beside the above jatras the people of Khopasi participate in Ladakeswor jatra on Thulo Ekadashi (November) visiting at Ladakeswor shrine. On that day they will fully vegeterian. They participate in Namobuddha jatra on Sakhima Purne (November) visiting at Namobuddha. They eat pidalu (colocasia), sakarkhanda (sweet potato) and badam (pea nuts) on that day, Visits at Narayansthan Jatra in Fagu Purne (March) playing color with godess Narayan (god of love) etc.

Heritage Conservation Heritage conservation has become an important issue among local people. People talk about conservation, cultural identity, and the preservation of the past heritage. This will demonstrate the culture and politics of past and effects on climate change in the community of a particular geography. Archaeological sites have long been a part of heritage and its display. Current escalating destruction are attributing to the perception among the public and professionals that archaeological sites, the natural environment, represent finite non- renewable resources deteriorating at an increasing rate. This deterioration is because of a wide array of causes, ranging from neglect and poor management to increased visitation and vandalism, from inappropriate past treatments to deferred maintenance. No doubt it will promote economic benefits from tourist activities in conjunction with increasing communication and mobility of such information. In 1963, some clay and leather coins were found in Gagri (water jar) at Di-Dana (Deuji) of Khopasi during the construction of canal for Panauti Hydropower. The materials were taken by Department of Archaeology and register into national museum of Nepal13. Only one opened well behind the house of Gopal Guragain was inspected. They found clay pots in the well and believed they were from the Birat kingdom’s time. In 1997 a clay pot with mud coins were found at the land of Sudan Mahat while expanding motorable road at Jilpu. In the coin, one side was minted some script and other side sign with image of a cow. The coins, utensils, bricks and stones demonstrate the Khopasi and Pasthali are ancient settlement of Nepal. Still there are easily available some remained bit and pieces of houses (the bricks and stones). In many places the foundations (houses?) of bricks or stones were found while digging 4-5 feet down. Still these are available at Khopasi, Pasthali, Ite, Batase and Sankhu. People say, there was Kingdom of King Birat in Khopasi and there are some ancient leftover that need to be research and identified. Nepal Government has honoured the position of national luminary to Brikuti and Arniko from Lichhavis and Malla dynasty. Both of them went to Tibet and Beijing respectively as peace ambassadors and died in China. There are no any authentic records in Nepalese history on both luminaries. Nepalese writers from different parts have claimed Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 75 that Arniko was born in Patan, Panauti, Palpa, Bhaktapur and Khopasi. More writers have written Arniko was born in Khopasi (Ghimire, 2005, p. 8 – Sharma, 2005, p. 6). It is essential to identify the birthplace of Bhrikuti and Arniko as they are luminaries of Nepal. Identification of birth places will help improving and strengthening relation between Nepal and China. Moreover, it will strengthen the historical record of Nepal as well. The evidences, stories and history of Khopasi show that it was one of historical places of Nepal. The art and culture found in Khopasi belong to the time of Kirats and Lichhavis and some from Malla and Shah regime. Unfortunately, lacks of awareness, skills, knowledge and resources and proper state policy, these heritages have not been preserved. It is essential to conduct proper excavation with a formal official archaeological project identifying the ancient tools of ancient civilization. Conservation itself can become a way of reifying cultural identities and historical narratives over time through interpretation. All conservation is a critical act and decisions regarding what is conserved, and who and how it is presented, are products of contemporary values and will beliefs to the past’s relationship to the present. Nevertheless, technical intervention—that is, what is removed, what is added, what is modified—is the concrete expression of a critical judgment in the course identifying tools and technique used.

Embryonic of Tourism In ancient time there was domestic tourism in Khopasi and it was promoted in 6th century from the then King Shiva Dev I issuing an official order (Regmi,1983,p.64) to each citizens of Khopasi bringing 50 ball of white clay while travelling Kailash. People believed there was a Chaitya of Amitabh Buddha in Khopasi and those collected white clay balls were used for painting of Chaitya. Khopasi was famous for pilgrimage domestic tourist destination for communities from Panauti, Khadpu, Dhulikhel, Banepa, Sanga, Nala and Kathmandu valley, visiting 5 Shiva shrines. The pilgrims were declined from 1996 and stopped from 2002. The youth of Khopasi has initiated from this year, 2013 with the new culture of “Bol Bom” (say Shiva – dedication to lord Shiva). Trading in Khopasi gradually turned down with the traffic (people movement) diverted from other routes with the completion of one after another highway, i.e. Thibhuvan highway, Arniko highway and Mahendra highway. Side by side the businessmen of Khopasi gradually inclined towards agri-farming for their sustainability. Again, Khopasi became an industrial estate of Kavre Palanchowk District in 1970s. Second hydropower project, sericulture farm including number of small industries was established. It became a small industrial hub for development of Nepal. This was an opportunity to learning the new things/technique from outsiders and demonstrates their culture and friendship to visitors. The public relation from the local community was memorable as there was no any single record of vandalism and no single claim of disagreement between the guest and host community in the history of Khopasi. It demonstrates the local resident were/are competent on hospitality to visitors. Population of Khopasi is not only composed of different castes but it represents different ethnicity also. Paharis and few Rais (Limbu) are the ethnic groups in Khopasi from the ancient period. The caste and ethnicity are scattered in different communities. However, majority of settlements (communities) are formed with a single caste, i.e. 76 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Newars at Khopasi Bazaar, Brahmin at Satyal Danda, Guragain Tole, and Mayal Boat; Pahari at Mathillo Gaun, Majha Gaun and Tallo Gaun; Giris at Kitini, mix community in Pange Tole and Bhandari at Bhandari Gaun. It is interesting each community has mixture of ethnicity with small number of other caste, i.e. we can find, Brahmin, Chhetri, Pahari, Newar, Tamang etc. reside across the communities. All the ethnic groups follows their own culture but they also respect and follow cultural of other community making their life enjoyable, i.e. local jatra established by local communities etc. The distances of different communities from the Khopasi Bazaar are 5 to 15 minutes of walking. Apart from the above communities there are many communities and settlements within an hour walk distance, they are; Panauti a heritage town developed by Malla regime, Malpi and Bhaleswor villages covered with majority of Brahmin and Chhetries, Chalal village at hill covered with Tamang community, Patikharka village majority of Chhetri and Brahmin community, Khyaku village cover majority of Chhetri, Danda Gaun covered with majority of Tamang, Balthali bhanjyang with Brahmins and Balthali Tar with Kshetris, Bandre and Ekle khet with majority of Tamang, Salmitar with Tamang, Pasthali, Jaidol, Khalthali and Sunthan with majority of kshetris. Tourist visiting and staying for couple of days can have test of multi ethnic culture of those villages. Knowingly and unknowingly Khopasi tourism is growing towards eco-tourism as industry. Khopasi is embryonic to eco-tourism activities in different scale with different category are as follows; Multiple Trekking and Hiking - Khopasi is the centre of natural and culture heritage of Rosi Valley. A small bazaar with a beautiful artificial lake (reservoir of a hydropower station) and the second hydropower station of Nepal (first being he Pharping hydropower station) at the foot hill of Devisthan is an attraction for visitors from Kathmandu and abroad. A greenery sericulture farm, the world famous Buddhist shrine – Namo Buddha with an hour walking distance, Panauti the culture heritage city with half an hour walking distance, Narayanthan and Phulchoki Mountain with 6 hours hard walking for each hills, Sarada Devi and similar hills with couple of hours walking distance from where a panoramic view of Himalayas and valley can be seen. This area is very attraction to walker. It is taken as mild trek. People from different country visit this area for best multi- day trek where they can travel without the high altitude problem. Soft multi-day hike can start and end from/to Kathmandu, meandering past Buddhist temples and rural hamlets including the lovely Bathali village, which sits on a plateau amid terraced rice fields and dusty red coloured thatched farmhouses. In between, glimpses of the snowy Himalayan peaks and swathes of bright-green forest greet you. Overall, this is a relaxing area to trek and remains relatively uncrowned compared to more popular routes in Nepal. Treks take anywhere between three to six days and can be done year-round, but avoid rainy July and August and hyper-cold December through January.” This place is recon as “The World’s Best Multi-day Trek .. without high altitude” (Sieg, 2012). Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 77

Visitors from Kathmandu can make varieties of trekking programme with a short notice. They can make one day to 10 days trek depending upon their available time and interest. The hard trek can start from Godawari crossing the Phulchoki height of 2,782m. Similar trekking can be done at Narayansthan Hill at Dhunkharka in Mahabharat Jungle. Most of the international young trekkers mainly Americans and young Europeans make trekking to this area to view/study of Mountain and Terai culture and climate. International trekkers can be seen in this area all round the years with small groups (2- 4 persons). People assume there are international trekkers around the year with different numbers. Sometimes there is single person or a couple or more than 2 person’s groups. Generally there are no big groups exceeding 10 numbers. In total there will be about 5,000 (max) international trekkers in this area in a year, mostly for mild trek. If a visitor wants to make a long trek with real test of varieties local culture this 10 days trek will start from Godawari to Narayansthan, Pangu Narayan, Dapcha, Namo Buddha, to Khopasi, Panauti, Dhulikhel, Banepa, Nala, Nagarkot and return to Kathmandu. Visitors can start their trek from different points, Godawari and Luvu of Lalitpur, Nagarkot and Chyamasingh of Bhaktapur, Dhulikhel, Banepa, Panauti, Khopasi, Namo Buddha or Panchakhal etc. This will be a mild trek and can to reach into motorable road with an hour walk from any part of trekking route, if they need to break their walking journey. The trekking programme in this area will have opportunity to study the culture of different ethnicity mainly Newars and Tamangs as they have more culture than other ethnicities. The Tamang communities are mostly settled at the top of the hills at Chalal, Danda Gaun and Salmitar around the Khopasi and many other communities in this valley and interesting to visit their places studying their livelihoods and culture. Integrated Visitors Information Centres – Historical evidences show that this area was populated before the human settlement in Kathmandu valley. There are many walking trails people visiting at other parts of country, their farm land, forestry, neighbour communities and motorable road. Mainly Newar and Tamang family has established/opened a small grocery/teal shop/bhatti (pub) at cross roads even a small trail road for their livelihoods. Other castes also followed this business at present. They are quite helpful to visitors directing their destination – walking rout information to the tourist. They are working both services a) immediate food supply and b) free information on locality and travelling route to visitors. This area is one of the targeted eco-trekking for the international visitors and people from Kathmandu valley. The Government of Nepal, Nepal Tourism Board and Private sector has to study and invest in integrated visitor information stations developing the present infrastructure with the public private partnership modality. And it can educate the suppliers (shop keepers) on tourism, health and hygienic, map reading, trail/road map in hoarding board, facility of rest room for tourist. For this purpose the GON can learn from the Canadian experience. In a province of Canada there are approximately 83 local Visitor Information Centres (VICs) located in communities around Nova Scotia. These are operated by a variety of organizations including Regional Tourism Associations (RTIAs), Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce, local business associations, municipalities, and local historical societies. These centres provide information on the local and regional area, in addition to information on the province as a whole, to those who walk into the bureau. Some 78 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) centres also provide information over the phone, by email, by fax and/or by mail. There are no restrictions on who can operate or establish a local VIC, and the province does not assume operational responsibility for any locally sponsored VICs. However, a Visitor Information Centre Award of Quality Program has been established by the Tourism Division and there are a number of significant benefits associated with becoming an “Award of Quality Visitor Information Centre” (Perry, 2005, p. 4). Village Resorts - A trekking guide of this area was inspired from the home stay to his clients in Balthali about three decades ago and developed the home stay tourism to meet the demand of market. The nature, landscape, environment and market are suitable to eco-tourism in this area. Latter he established a good village resort in Balthali Bhnjyang with the name of Balthali Village Resort – a small, cozy retreat with bird's eye view of green terrace fields dotted with ochre painted houses and faint hue of Himalayan peaks in the north horizon. It offers a sunrise in the east, speculating Himalayan range of Manaslu, Langtang & Everest in the north, innumerable rice terraces in the west & huge bodied green forest of Mahabharata range in the South (http://www.balthalivillageresort. com). Apart from the food and accommodation this resort provides multiple services like: a) organize workshop and conference, b) Nature walk, c) Yoga and meditation, d) varieties of Trekking and e) Transport services. There are 23 double bed rooms with the capacity of conference room for 50 participants. This resort used to be fully booked for last couple of year at tourist seasons. Domestic tourists pour down here from September to May. The resort management has said roughly 2,000 man days (approx) international (mostly Europeans) visitors were accommodated in recent years. The resort was not able to meet the rush of domestic tourists from Kathmandu in seasons due to its limited capacity. One another village resort in the process of opening. There needs to increase the numbers of village resorts at different locations to meet the demand from international as well as domestic visitors. Agri-Framing- Couple of years ago a man from Kathmandu was attracted with the ecology of Khopasi area and started an Organic Farm House in Patikharka. In this farm house visitors can work as a farmer planting and harvesting and, fresh vegetable direct to kitchen. It has capacity of accommodate 15-20 passengers in a time. They can have fresh egg, chicken and fishing from farm and pond direct to kitchen. Visitors can have the fresh and organic food and fresh air with accommodation in traditional village house in a natural air-condition. The farm house price is reasonable and the domestic tourists are pouring without the advertisement. This is advertised in BlogSpot (http://www.gaungharnepal.blogspot.com) and his personal face book (https://www.facebook.com/rmjoshi?fref=ts). It is found couple of international visitors stayed for long time enjoying in the farm life. They have opportunity to work in field and farm for a season and had opportunity on farming practices and making food in farm house. This is real culture exchange, one to one at local level. This farm house will be busy from October to May with the lovely season. Generally this is occupied by people from Kathmandu for their relaxation life and study on agriculture village life. It will be fully booked in winter season with the education programme from education institutes. They have accommodated about 1,000 plus customers in last year. The growing numbers of visitors in the season is demanding of additional farm houses in this locality. The Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 79 ecology, landscape, vegetation, greenery forest, water sources and village trek and demand from visitors are appealing more farm houses. Such farm house could be an educational centre for the young people/students from urban centres and good exercise for aged people internalizing the services of farm house. Community Trade - Cooperative business is mushrooming in Nepal. The Bindabasani Cooperative of Khopasi is one of the successful biggest cooperative in Nepal with more than 12,586 women members. It has demonstrated people in this area can work in community basis. They are engaged with the traditional framing from their cooperative and do not have idea/knowledge of tourism and hospitality business. They are not making good income from their agri and livestock product selling as they could not make reasonable linkage to final consumer. They can make good income if the community involved as a team in tourism business from the production, processing and service to the final consumer. Visitors/tourist will be attracted to such site getting the fresh organic product from community in front of their eye. In a team work community will manage the division of work to group, family and individual with their expertise providing food, accommodation, goods and entertainments, i.e. cultural show, group trekking with guide, production of souvenir for tourists taking to their friends and family. Locally produced organic food is offered on a standard menu approved by the Ghalegaon Tourism Management sub-Committee (TMsC). Uniformity in hospitality, whether it is food or other services, is a specialty of Ghalegaon. The TMsC plays a significant role in setting norms and facilitating group members in the community. Different types of local food are offered: local eggs, sel roti (fried bread), chapattis (flat bread), and beans or other green vegetables are usually offered for breakfast; traditional daal bhat (rice, lentils, vegetables, chicken, and pickle) is served for lunch and dinner. Ghalegaon produces a lot of grains, such as maize, as well as green vegetables. Modern alcoholic beverages are not generally available in the village. Visitors are encouraged to try local and organically prepared alcohol (raksi, jaand). This helps decrease the leakage of tourism expenditure from the village (Kanel, 2009, p. 145). Home stay - Hosting visitors in the family was the custom and culture of Nepali society in early days. Generally the family provide the foods and accommodation free of cost respecting the principle of Atithi Debo Bhava (Guest as God). Families in any part of country loved to invite visitors to stay with for couple of days to share their food, culture and information. This culture is declining with the a) growing population with limited resources, b) political uncertainty leading to security problem and c) opening of lodges and hotels at elsewhere. This custom was changed in business term complying international demand and Dr. Harka Gurung has established such custom in business at around Pokhara and turned into community tourism industry. The home stay in Bandipur is famous in Nepal with the living in “Gaun Ghar”. It is the best opportunity to the host and guest learning the culture and custom of each other. There are few unregistered home stay services in Balthali and Pasthali. Numbers of tourist interested to stay in personal homes in this area attached to the family and learning the custom and culture of the family and communities. The home stay business is increasing in this area with the good income/employment and demand from international tourist. 80 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

This is an opportunity to learn the development of world from guest/host, in one to one basis. But there is some danger of individual affection destroying the family spirituality and notions. It will be good business in this locality if the norms and value can be developed and educate to the family in tourism profession. There are eight registered and two unregistered Home-stays in Lwang village of Kaski District. All the home-stays are owned and run by women. Home-stay business has played a major role in empowering some women in Lwang and after starting the home-stay business those 10 women have become economically independent and empowered at the same time. They have got the opportunity to attend different tourism and home-stay related training programs, which have enhanced their skills and capabilities. Their communication skills are improving, as they have to deal with their guests. It is playing an important role in making women strong, independent, capable and business-oriented. They are making money and that is improving their standard of living. Those 10 women have become inspirations for other women in Lwang and they are now saving to start up their own home-stay too (Thapaliya, 2012, p. 125). Tourism and Hospitality Education - Most of the tourism business in the Nepal mainly out of Kathmandu and Pokhara valley are running with traditional practices and learning by doing. The tourism business in Khopasi area is also not different than other parts of Nepal. Those who have worked in hotels and restaurants from Kathmandu and other places had initiated in this business. They have idea of mobilization of local resources for tourism business but do not have perfect technique cashing and maximising available resources. Tourism and hospitality education from a proper institute can provide the knowledge and skills identifying the required hospitality services for visitors in hotel, resort, agri-farm, marketing, trekking etc. Hawai is one of the tourist destinations of united Stats of America. Since tourism is the State’s largest economy that has far-reaching impacts on all aspects of the society it is essential that the Hawai's vast resources be rationalized in order to meet the workforce needs of the State but also to ensure a sustainable and responsible form of tourism that considers cultural, social, environmental and economic dimensions. With all of the representatives within the system working together the educational institute will be able to contribute more efficiently to successful sustainable and responsible tourism, provide opportunities for rural development in the state and encourage the export of the considerable skills and knowledge that exists (http://www.hawaii.edu/offices/app/stocktaking06/ UH_T_Institute060308.pdf). In Khopasi, there were two dozens of varieties houses made in a compound at beautiful location by hydropower project in 1970 accommodating their staff during project development phase are unused for more than three decades, and the sericulture farm of eight hector could not used by Department of Agriculture. These two properties will be magnificent assets for establishing the Tourism and Hospitality Education Institute for delivering the formal and non-formal tourism and hospitality education to promoting tourism in this area. This institute will polish shining the tourism industry of khopasi in global market, if this properties can be use for hospitality institutes producing suitable human resources for tourism profession. Thus the Khopasi could be an exemplary tourist Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 81 centre contributing to conservation of natural and cultural heritage sites as well as introducing tourism edification. Above evidences show that the tourism entrepreneurships are growing in Khopasi with learning and experiences from tourism sector, i.e. working in hotels, touring, trekking and copying of neighbour’s businesses. In order to implement the plans successfully, there need competent specialists who are able to perform the right diagnostics and suggest the appropriate remedies. Therefore, it would be more rewarding if the tourism business took place with the suitable engineering for the sustainability and meaningful investment.

Tourism Engineering The TE (Tourism Engineering) presents the correct use of marketing tools in the tourism production process. In general terms, TE suggests a methodology that enables local and regional organizations, located in the tourism destination, to control all the process of tourism production. The “control of tourism production process” means that the tourism destinations assumes a more relevant role by being responsible for managing all the marketing mix variables, either general or tourism oriented (Rodrigues, 2004. p. 1 - http://www.estig.ipbeja.pt/~aibpr/Ensino/EngDesenvTur/MaterialdeApoio/Grupo9/ CommmunicationGlasgow.pdf). Tourism is inevitably influenced by the business process re-engineering experienced due to the technological revolution. As all the local sectors/resources are the life- blood of the travel industry, effective use of appropriate resources are pivotal. A whole system of hospitality is being rapidly diffused throughout the tourism industry and no player will escape from its impacts. Unlike durable goods, intangible tourism services cannot be physically displayed or inspected at the point of sale before quality product and services. They should be improved and professionalized before the time of their use and away from the place for consumption. Hence they depend exclusively upon representations and descriptions, provided by the travel trade, for their ability to attract consumers. Timely and accurate participation/contribution/mobilisation, relevant to consumers' needs, is often the key to satisfaction of tourist demand. Entail engineering from respective components backbone facilitating tourism.This business will maintain the natural resources for long lasting and control in degradation of climate effect to global warming. Like any global industry, tourist business activities can have considerable impact on local development trends. The local impacts of the tourism industry are diverse and are often unique to the tourism sector. The nature, resources, localities of different ethnicities and landscape of Khopasi is following the eco-tourism industry since a long time. There were/are numbers of multi-level of trekking for international tourists since four decades and the tourism business is emerging since three decade with home stay, small hotels and village resort. After the political change of 2006 there were improvement in security, social affairs, cultural affairs, political affairs and communication tools. The 82 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) security assurances after 2006 have grown in tourist movement. Tourism business is a powerful means of employment with maximization of resources in the present environment of this area. Landscape of Khopasi is very beautiful, naturally god gifted. Khopasi is at the foot hills of Devisthan. The east of Khopasi Bazaar is expanded with terrace fertile field surrounded by variety greenery humps and hills and garland by two rivers Rosi and Shalandu. The lands were optimum used (farming) all the season with variety of crops. We can see always the greenery field with the access of irrigation system in 365 days and 24 hours. Fertile land with the access of all season irrigation system allowing farmers to keep field planted for whole year and greenery forest produces healthy air has many neuro-psychological benefits such as a deep, refreshing sleep, which increases the psychological and physical well-being by a positive attitude to life. This surroundings permitting to expand ecotourism in Khopasi area for the long lasting with mutual benefit. Considering the above infrastructure, Khopasi has high potentiality for promoting tourism industry. It is time to develop the tourism industry systematically for its sustainability. The Tourism Engineering presents a way of thinking and acting that emphasizes the correct use of marketing tools in the tourism production process. Following component has to be considered to improve and expand the tourism industry in Khopasi: a) Bindabasini Saving Cooperation Society, with 19650 (annual report as at September 2013) total members including 12586 women members, of Khopasi is demonstrating the financial status of local residence that they are able to invest in tourism business but they do not have the entrepreneurship of tourism business, b) The landscape and other resources are appealing for tourism industry and no one is prepare to take the risk. Government (local/central) groundwork is most essential for systemic planning, advocacy and guidance to local people and community introducing the profitable industry, c) Tourism and hospitality education is the most essential factor for tourism industry. This is only concentrated in Kathmandu and Pokhara. Tourism and Hospitality Educational Institute at the field level will have a greater role educating with local resources producing suitable human resources and tourist product, d) Khopasi have access to all kind of communication means. Tourism education should have to develop the communication mechanism (strategy) to understand the need and desire of national and international tourist and means of delivering them, e) Khopasi have sufficient natural, cultural and human resources for developing a tourist hub. These resources have to be managed carefully for the long lasting of the industry and f) there are numbers of development agencies in Nepal to support in tourism development. Khopasi has to attract them in the process of developing tourism industry.

Conclusion Beautiful natural landscape, pleasant and healthy climate can easily attract people to live in Khopasi. It is said the environment of Khopasi had encouraged the Kirats and the rulers cultivating fertile land growing grains and livestock farming in pasture land and tow them to vend their balance after consumption as well as trading of product between Lhasa and Hindustan. Ulak: Prospects of Ecotourism... 83

The history of Khopasi has proved that the culture and environment were affected by the politics (Regime change/ change in political system and leadership). Historical facts have revealed that Khopasi was more developed in the time of Lichhavis regime. Decentralized administration with “Grampanchali” system and official tourism was introduced from official ordered by Shiva Dev I in 598 AD. It is believed the best artist and craftsmen were produced in Kirats and Lichhavis period. Evidences of artistic umbrella, Narasingh Moth, available leftovers and people believe that the metal and wooden materials items for dory to Bhrikuti's marriage were made in Khopasi. The track records show that tourism business in this area was prevalent in the past. There were no effects in tourism business in this area despite the political changes, religion/culture changes in different regimes, during the recent miserable arm conflict of 1996-2006. Presently more people from Khopasi area's are attracted towards the tourism business for their livelihoods realizing the prospect of ecotourism in Khopasi. It teems with tremendous natural beauty and suitable climate for living with healthy air, to stay for the domestic and international tourist. The political scenario, investment climate and inherit hospitality culture drive local entrepreneurs to start home stay services, village resort and farm houses around with the natural climate of Khopasi for their livelihoods and growth. The economic impacts are the most measurable impacts of ecotourism in this area. Though positive impacts are always the more desired ones, there are some negative impacts as well. The economic impacts in Khopasi can broadly be assessed in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment, and as a catalyst for area growth. To support in the tourism industry a tourism profession is necessary for the correct use of marketing tools in the tourism production process for the maximization in satisfaction ensuring the mutual benefits to all. There are many example of measuring differences of changes in culture with effects of political dynamics. This study may help in understanding the ups and downs of development and civilization of a community with the change context. Therefore, it is time to make archaeological excavation to discover more historical facts of Khopasi from ancient age to date. This will be a good learning for scholars and planner for embryonic to tourism engineering for the growth and long lasting of eco-tourism in the vicinity of Khopasi.

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Endnotes 1 According to the chronicle (Bamsavali) of Kirkpatrick, Kirats ruled over Nepal from about 900 B.C. to 300 A.D. The first king of the Kirats was Yalamber, who defeated Bhuvan Singh, the last king of Ahir dynasty and established Kirats rule in Nepal. 2 Supuspa was the first lichchhavi to enter Nepal and Jaydev I established Lichchhavi rule in Nepal in around 300 A.D. Jaya Dev I was the first king of this line. He has defeated Vasker Verma of soma dynasty and established Lichchhavis dynasty. 3 The International Eco-Tourism Society. 4 This writer also harvested Eselu, Kafal, Amala, Jamuna (local name), Guava, Banana and some citreous fruit include lemon and mushroom from that jungle in his teenage life, at 1970s. 5 Allo (Girardinia diversifolia), plant belongs to the “Urticaceae”, the nettle family. People of Sankhuvasabha and Okhaldungha Districts of Nepal are producing cloths from allo and exporting to Europe market. 6 It is believed there was a palace in Ite of Kinchak, Senapati (Chief of the Army) of Birat kingdom. It is believed Kinchak was Banasur who was driven by Krishn's Gwala from Thankot. Khopasi people believe Kinchak was brother in-law of King Birat. Khopasi people say, King Birat and Yalamber was same. 7 Udaya Dev was son of Siva Dev I. Some people said Udaya Dev came to Khopasi while Amshuvarma moved to Kathmandu from Khopasi and people say, Bhrikuti was send-off (married) to Tibet from Khopasi. 8 Officially, Government of Nepal has introduced the decentralisation act in 1985 for whole country. 9 Khopasi was a station for East No1 food distribution. Bel Prasad and Chandra Prasad 88 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

of Khopasi had facilitated distributing the foods for this area from Nepal Government for about 20 seasons (20 years) from 1965 to 1984. 10 A kind of ascetic living in community. 11 Intuitional Trust to manage the public religious organization, especially under Hindu religion. 12 Continue pouring of edible oil (ghee, oil etc) and food (grains – rice, wheat, maize, barely beans etc.) in burning fire to please the goddesses. 13 The writer has seen those coins were demonstrated in national Museum at Syambhu. Recently, he has visited to get more information on it, but not found. Far-Western Region of Nepal, the western gate to the possibility of tourism industry

Basant P. Joshi*

Abstract This paper gives a glimpse of the huge potential of the growth and expansion of tourism industry in the far-western region of Nepal, which is the west gate of Nepalese tourism industry with the most inherent sites for flora and fauna, wild life, rivers, medicinal herbs, trekking routes, cultural and heritage sites, religious sites, pilgrimage, etc. The development of the tourism in the areas like far-western region of Nepal is possible only with the basic infrastructure like good roads, airports, hospitals, hotels and restaurants. The awareness campaign for the business people and locals on the functions of tourism in the contributions to the economic development of the community is enormously important for the growth of this sector. This paper will present the basic scenario of the far western region of Nepal in terms of the possibilities of the development of tourism industry as a whole. The paper also presents the analysis of the touristic sites, the limitations of the region and the role of government upon the successful development of tourism in this area. The study is carried out on the major tourist sites of this region which are in a complete shadow to the local as well as the international tourism. Unlike India, if we focus in the local tourism promotion, we can attract thousands of outbound tourists to visit such places and hold millions of dollars going abroad in the name of vacation tourism, holidays and entertainment. Keywords: Ghodaghodi Taal, Restescape, Food tourism, Mahabharat range, vacation tourism, culinary tourism

Introduction Nepal gives an image and impression to the outside world as a country with diversified natural surroundings with an amalgamation of beautiful Mountains, Peaks and valleys. It is the only country having eight, eight thousanders (The mountains with more than 8000 meter heights) . White and silvery snow falling mountains, piercing Sharpe peaks and the Mahabharata Hilly range with an interesting combination of plain Terai region

* Basant P. Joshi is currently associated with Asian Institute of Technology and Management as a promoter and is the Director/Head of School of the AITM-SHM. He is also associated with A LA CARTE Hospitality Nepal Pvt. Ltd as a founder member. Mr. Joshi is by profession a chef who is working to promote the enthno- nepalese food in the country. He wrote three books in different areas of hospitality management and culinary arts. He is also the vice president of the Association of Hospitality Educators Nepal. 90 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) gives an another geographic beautification to this country. With the extreme beauty of the nature, this country accommodates the diversity of wildlife, national parks, shrubs, herbs, flora and fauna. This has always been a great site for researchers and adventurers. In 1978, UNESCO had kept Nepal in the list of World heritage sites where there are seven important religious, cultural and monument heritage sites in the list. This clearly indicates the importance and an impression of Nepal as a country with an advent relationship with nature and nomad. There are many facts which identify and prove Nepal as one of the great country having a lot of potential for the grown of tourism for economic sustainability, which holds 0.1% of the entire geography of the world. 1. Nepal is a land with 7000 different flowering shrubs which is 2% of the total plants in the world. 2. Total of 8% i.e. 848 varieties of bird species are available in Nepal 3. Total of 4% mammals are found in Nepal 4. Total 11 out of 15 varieties of butterflies are found in Nepal 5. Total 600 varieties of local plants are available in Nepal 6. Total eight out of eleven eight thousand meter high mountains are in Nepal including Mount Everest which is the largest among all and named after British Engineer Mr. George Everest. 7. Lord Gautam Budda, who was born in Lumbini is one of the world heritage site is in Nepal. Far western Region of Nepal; out of five different regions of the country keeps its existence as the western entry door to the tourists. This region is one of the key tourist destinations with nature, culture, religion and lots of heritage sites which are unexplored to the outside world. The feedbacks and the suggestions collected from the different trekkers and the tourists suggest that far western region in comparison to the other tourist destinations is such a versatile- geographical location which is not only famous for mountaineering, but also for trekking, wild life observation, bird watching, skiing, rafting, hiking, biking, boating, paragliding, etc. Far western region also holds a diversity of food items with their unique taste and cooking style. This region could also be a great destination for food torism/culinary tourism which is an emerging tourism product in the world. The great dishes of all 9 districts of this region gives a great taste and flavor of the organic combination of hundreds of dishes which could held an attraction to the people of the west world. Few to name, like Mada, Dupka, Batuk, Paanroti, Kaapu, Nisswase, Gahatani Dupka, Seel, Paleu, Phando, Titaudo, Bhaddu ko sikar, Hiran ko sukuti are the famous dishes from this part of Nepal. Since the most of the people are in agriculture, the products at this place are of organic nature because of the organic fertilizer produced form the cattle. According to the data, the numbers of cattle are equal to the number of people living in this region. (Dupka, The far western cuisine:2012, A la Carte Hospitality Nepal Pvt. Ltd) Far western region of Nepal keeps its enormous importance because of having a great combination of its unique culture, history, tradition and religious believe. This is considered as a divine land which has a great connotation with the history of Mahabharat, Ramayana Joshi: Far-Western Region of Nepal... 91 and other Vedic epistemology. Pandu stamvas in Nauhat village of Baitadi, Ghatal baba in Dadeldhura, , Kailash and mansarobar in Dharchula are few to name with this combination. It is observed that this land is also blessed with most of the power centers of goddess Durga in different forms and names like: Tripurasundari Bhagawati, Shaileswari, Ningalashaini, Melauli and Malika devi. Various dialects of language are spoken in this region. Even in the Kanchanpur District 80% of the people speak Kumauni language. Dotiyali dialect of Kumauni language is spoken in and dialect of Kumauni language is spoken in Baitadi and Darchula districts. Gora is a famous festival observed in Mahakali Zone. In ancient times, this region was a part of the Katyuri kingdom. After its collapse, this zone became a part of Doti kingdom, a branch of the Brahmadev Mandir in Kanchanpur district was built during the reign of the Katyuri king Brahmadev. Other main towns of Mahakali Zone are Dashrathchand, Patan (Baitadi) and Darchula Bajar. The Amargadhi, the district headquarters of Dadeldhura district is named after General Amarshing Thapa (a famous Gorkha General) who formed a fort to expand Gorkha Empire capturing Kumaoun state after had defeated in previous war with Kumaoun during 1790 A.D. Seti is divided into five districts. These districts of Seti include: • Achham District • Bajhang District • Kailali district • Doti District • Bajura district There are eight domestic airlines operating scheduled flights to most of the districts of Nepal. Sanfebagar, a town of Achcham district of Seti zone in Nepal homes a domestic airport. Moreover, transportation in and around Seti is also not a problem. Bus and car rental services are available here. The major city of this zone is Dhangadhi in Terai. The headquarter is in Dipayal-Silgadhi. All the cities are picturesque and endowed with beautiful rivers, hills, snow capped mountains. The quality wood found in this region also gives the place a mystic beauty. Seti in Nepal is an ideal tourist destination for those who want to enjoy the beauty of the rivers. People, who like adventure sports like river rafting, would love this place. During monsoons, the rapids intensify giving great pleasure to rafters. People, who like bird watching in the tranquil atmosphere in Nepal, will also like this place. Major tourist destinations in Far-western Development Region Mahakali zone Kanchanpur District Mahakali zone of the far-western region, Nepal, which is one of the famous sites for tourist attraction is connected to the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh to the south. It is not only well known for its Sahi-sukhla fata national park but also is highly blessed by its 92 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) natural beauty ranging from several rivers and ponds to religious and historical places having its unique language and culture. Major tourists’ spots in this zone are as follows: a) National Animal Conservation area: Sahi- Sukhla Fata National Park b) Water resources/Rivers and Lakes: Rani taal, Jhilmila Taal, Betkot Taal, Shova Taal, Banda Taal c) Temples: Ninglasaini, Sidhababa, Sakethdham, Ghatalbaba, Baijanath d) Local communities nearby, tourist attraction spots: Shankharpur, the social and native place of people belonging to Dekhatbhuli Rana Tharu, Jholunge Pool (the hanging bridge)

Dadheldhura District It is also well known for its incredible natural beauty. This area covers other hill stations such as Chure Pahad, Mahabharat Parwat Shrinkhala, Madesh terai and dense forests. Other major tourists spots covered are as follows: a) Temples: Ugratara, Bhageshwor, Dageshwori, Samaiji, Sahashralinga, Jagannath, Ghatal b) Lake : Aali taal c) Historical place: Ajaimerukot, Amarghadi Killa, Dewaldivyapur

Baitadi District It has its own natural and religious importance. It is well known for its traditional and cultural life. It consists of various eye-catching tourist attraction places such as: Lakes, temples and religious places: Patal Bhumeshwor, Ishwori gangadhan,Gwalekh Chetra, Shaileshwor Dharmiksthal, Tripura Sundari Mata temple, Sigasadhura and Melauli Bhagwati temple, Sharmali Ghadi. a) Historical place: Dewalhaat b) Natural beauty: Mahakali Ghati

Darchula district It is the last district of far western region which is in northern part and this district is passed through Baitadi, having gokhuleshwor temple on its way. One could reach this place through bus transportation. However, it is estimated that within few years government will be able to establish better road facilities connecting to its headquarters making it easier to travel. It is a mountainous region. There is also a short way to reach the famous Hindu temple, Kailash and Mansarowar through places covered in this area such as Byaschnagra and tinkher which also marks it a tourist destination. There are other famous tourist destinations as well which are as follows: Joshi: Far-Western Region of Nepal... 93

a) Mountain: Api Himal, Nampa Himal, Byas Himal and Lipulekh. b) Lake and Cave: Surma Sarowar, Dharmi cave (Khandeshwor V.D.C.) c) Historical place: Uku Darwar ( Uku V.D.C.) d) Temple: Malikarjun, Dude temple, Tatopani e) Local communities nearby, tourist attraction spots: Byash V.D.C.

Seti Zone It is the second Zone of far-western region which consists of Kailali, Doti, Accham, Bajang and Bajura districts. There is a facility of air way to Dhanghadi which is the headquarter of this place. It is through Danghadi that people can travel through road ways to various other hilly districts of Seti zone such as Bajang, Bajura, Doti and Accham and also from here, people can have a visit to other destinations nearby.

The tourist attractions of Kailai district

a) Lake Ghodaghodi taal: It is connected to east-west highway and Mahendra highway. There are 14 lakes having about 258 kilometers. The lake covers three V.D.C’s of Kailali district. The physical surrounding of this lake adds beauty to its places nearby as Khaptad national park which is situated in its northern part, Bardiya National park in its eastern part and Sahi sukhlafata national park in its southern part and Duduwa national park is situated in India. b) Famous destination: Tikapur Park, Rafting from Karnali to Tikapur c) Local communities nearby, tourist attraction spots: Dagaura caste having people resides in the local communities nearby

The major tourists’ places on Bajang, Bajura, and Doti The Khaptad national park which is situated in far western region was established in 1984. It is connected to Accham, Bajang, Bajura and certain places of Doti. It is well known for its natural beauty having dense forest and extinct flora and fauna. Nepal consists of total 850 species of birds among which about 260 species of birds are found spread in 225 kilometers of this place. It is also known for its various species of butterflies, wild animals, birds and various herbal plants. The major tourism attractions destinations are: 1. Matthilo tridevi 2. Naghdhunga 3. Khaptad daha, Khaparmandu 94 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

4. Ganesh Mandir 5. Sahashralinga and Dafekot 6. Khaptad baba’s ashram

Major Tourist spot of Accham district According to the Hindu mythology, the Ramaroshan lake was the holy place of god and goddess, this place is situated to periphery of places of Accham. This place consists of 12 lakes and temples of Parwati and Ganesh. Ramaroshan Lake carries its own historical importance and mysterious legends. The various species of birds adds beauty to its scenario.

Major Tourists spot of Bajura district Badimalika It is known as Devi mandir. It is located in 13,500 feats above the sea level. According to Hindu mythology, this temple was built by the god of wealth “Khuwer”. It is situated in high hill and the month from Baisakh to Ashwin(Apr/May-Sep/Oct) in Nepali Calendar is said to be appropriate time to visit this temple. The beautiful and high scenery of Himalayas can be observed through this temple.

Major Tourist spot of Bajang district Surmadevi and Surmasarowor Surmasarowor is a beautiful and holy pond. It is situated in it’s headquarter “chainpur” and towards the northern part of Khaptad region, where it takes 3 days of travelling by bare feet. Surmadevi temple is situated in this place. According to Hindu mythology, this place is said to be the youngest sister of the god “Dare mastoki” who is also believed to be a prodigy of Lord Shiva.

Major Tourists spots of Doti district On the way to khaptad region, there is a temple known as Dilipeshwor which is situated in Dipayal and Bhagwati Shaileshwori temple is situated in Silghadi, Doti. There is also the ganesh and Masta teple. Silghadi is also the business centre to other districts such as Bajang, Bajura and Accham.

Trekking tourism in Far western region This is a far and remote region of myths and adventures to be explored where someone can experience ancient culture, traditions, wilderness and flora & fauna. Most of the areas of this region are isolated from the outer world and only a few trekkers have ventured here so far. Compared to Nepal's other, more popular trekking regions, this region offers Joshi: Far-Western Region of Nepal... 95 the feeling of real Nepal with its rural traditions. Trekking into this region offers an opportunity to explore the country's long preserved secrets: snow-covered glaciers, hidden valleys, mediaeval villages, spectacular lakes, Buddhist Monasteries,flora and fauna and cultural diversities. Only fully supported camping treks provide access to this remote region and requires a special permit. Most of the areas are untouched and remain isolated from the outer world. The acclaimed movie "Himalaya" is a poignant portrayal of this wonderful region. Most of the parts of this region remain in the rain shadow and the best time for trekking is from late August to September.

Khaptad National Park Khaptad National Park is also sometimes called Khaptad Swami or Khaptad Baba in reverence to the legendary Hindu guru who made his ashram in the forest there. Khaptad Swami was a sage who is reported to one day have come down from the Khaptad plateau in order to save a sick child with magical herbs from the forest. He is also said to have spent the entirety of his life practicing yoga and discovering the natural and historical wonders of the forest. Because Khaptad Swami spent most of his life meditating there, it is considered a holy forest and a place for retreat, contemplation, and meditation – perhaps an ideal destination for a nature lover and yoga practioner. Khaptad National Park is nowadays in Nepal’s far western region and covers 225 km2 of rich forest. In the lower ranges of the park, 1,000 to 2,000m, the forest is mainly a tropical dense jungle; however as it ascends into the foothills, the forest becomes mainly dominated by tall alpine trees. Conservationists have catalogued over 150 species of wild grassland flowers and berries and over 200 species ofÊÊunique to the Himalayas – perhaps the very same Khaptad Baba used to cure the sick child many years ago. There are also over 300 species of birds that visit the park year round on top of a variety of other wild animals: musk deer, black bears, barking deer, Himalayan large cats, langur monkey and many others. The best time to visit is from March-May and October-November when the flowers are in bloom and the climate is mild. There are no guesthouses or lodges in the park; however, camping is allowed and is an ideal way to experience the beauty of the park up close. Remember to bring everything you need with you and clean up after you’re gone!

Api Hiaml Trek Deep in the heart of the remote area of Western Nepal, nestled between the sweltering Indian subcontinent and the frozen plains of the Tibetan plateau, Api Himal trek offers lovely forests, high passes, remote villages and varied cultures. This trekking trail is named after Api Himal (7132 m) and lies off the beaten track. Very few number of tourist visits this area. The natives are both Hindus and Buddhists and have still followed their 96 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) ancient cultures and rituals. We can explore different villages en route and observe the lifestyle of the local people. Trip Profile Grade: Moderate Highest Alt: 4000 m Type of trek: Camping Best season: Oct-Nov & March, April, May Group size: Min. 4 people Length of trip” 16 days

Facilities in the tourist destinations of Far Western Region Surrounding district of Mahakali Zone Kanchanpur Dadeldhura Baitadi Darchula District District District District Natural PPPP Cultural/ Religious PPPP Wild animal etc P Archaeological/ Historical PPP Attractions Rural tourism potential PP Pave road PP Gravel road P Non gravel road PPP Foot trail PPP Flight facilities P Regular bus service PPPP Seasonal bus service P Standard hotels/ Lodge service P General hotels/ Lodge PP Simple tea shops PPPP Campaigns place PPPP Souvenir shops Private Jeep/Taxi Services P Local Cultural promotion management PPP Communication facilities P Electricity facilities PPPP Joshi: Far-Western Region of Nepal... 97

Existing Touristic Achievements Ghoda ghodi Tikapur Khaptad Shaileshwori lake & park & National (Doti) surrounding surrounding Park Natural PPP Cultural/ Religious P Historical P Wild life observation PP Attractions Others Pave road PP Gravel road PP Non gravel road Foot trail P Flight facilities Regular bus service PP P Seasonal bus service Standard hotels/ Lodge service General hotels service PP Simple tea shops PP Campaign ground PPP Local Guide Local Taxi, Jeep Services PP Communication facilities Electricity facilities PP Trial Tracking PPPP

Existing Touristic Achievements Rama-Rosan Badi malika Surma Devi & Surma (Accham) (Bajura) Sarobar (Bajhang) Natural PP P Cultural/ Religious Historical P Wild life observation Attractions Others Pave road Gravel road Non gravel road Foot trail PP P 98 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

Existing Touristic Achievements Rama-Rosan Badi malika Surma Devi & Surma (Accham) (Bajura) Sarobar (Bajhang) Flight facilities Regular bus service Seasonal bus service Standard hotels/ Lodge service General hotels service Simple tea shops Campaign ground Local Guide PP P Local Taxi, Jeep Services Communication facilities Electricity facilities Trial Tracking

Other customs and traditions of this region Deuki Deuki is an ancient custom practiced in the far western regions of in which a young girl is offered to the local Hindu temple to gain religious merit. Girls become deuki’s either because their parents offer them in hopes of gaining protection and good favor from the Gods or because their parents sell them to wealthier couples seeking the same holy approval. Poor families who offer up their daughters gain status and approval from their communities from the perceived sacrifice they have made. They are also relieved of the burden of finding husbands for their daughters. After offering the girls to the temples, neither parents nor couples who bought them provide any financial assistance or have additional contact with deukis. Because they are considered unfit for marriage and receive no money from those that dedicated them to their temples, deukis have to depend on worshipers’ monetary offerings to the temple. Due to the law stating that Nepalese citizenship falls along the father’s line, daughters born to deukis, known as devis, frequently cannot become citizens of Nepal. Denied access to education and other social services, many devis become deukis. Though a legislative change in 2006 makes it slightly easier for deukis to get citizenship for their children if they can prove that the father is Nepalese, matrilineal descent remains unrecognized. Traditionally, deuki girls were offered to temples at the age of five or six-- while they were still “pure”-- as sacred temple slaves or temple dancers. They performed various services for the temple to which they had been offered until they reached puberty, at which point they were expected to provide sexual services for male priests and worshippers. Joshi: Far-Western Region of Nepal... 99

The role of deuki in society was once quite different from its current stigmatized reality. In his dissertation, Robynne A. Locke describes the ancient deuki's status: "In the past, teenage girls dedicated to temples occupied a high status in society. Elaborate public ceremonies and feasting occurred to legitimize their dedication to the temple and marriage to God, and their role as a caretaker of the temple was valued and respected. For their service, women were granted a parcel of temple property and accumulated wealth through donations to God." As time went on, however, the patronage of the temples fell and this version of the system disappeared. Though deukis still receive some respect for their holy status, it is rarely expressed monetarily. Today, deuki are frequently deflowered by a priest immediately after dedication- still when they are between five and seven years old. Abandoned by their parents and all other support systems, these girls grow up largely on their own with no education or learned skills. In recent scholarship, some authors have asserted that the sex trafficking problem in Nepal has roots in traditions like deuki, which created the precedent of women being viewed more like objects and symbols than like people. Others assert that the presence of deuki in communities simply leaves their populations predisposed to accept such practices.

Present status of Deuki The practice of deuki has been formally abolished by the Nepalese government. Despite this fact, girls continue to become deukis. The Nepal Constitution of 1990 deemed human trafficking and exploitation in the name of religion and culture, and several pieces of legislation have passed that should have curtailed the number of Deukis. According to a UN report, however, the number of deukis increased between 1992 and 2010. The actual number of deukis today is contestable, as the exact statistics are unavailable. Estimates range between under 2,000 and over 30,000, leaving a great deal of uncertainty. NGOs such as Jandesh have worked to successfully rehabilitate many deuki by teaching them “skills in the sewing, stitching, cattle farming, cottage and beauty industries, as well as [providing] literacy classes” and getting their children into schools. For older deukis, however, change is more difficult. Government programs and NGOs are less invested in their rehabilitation, so they receive less assistance. Such women also find it harder to transition into a different lifestyle after an entire lifetime of being a deuki.

Chhaupadi Chhaupadi is a social tradition in the western part of Nepal for Hindu women which prohibits a woman from participating in normal family activities during menstruation because they are considered impure. The women are kept out of the house and have to live in a shed. This lasts between ten to eleven days when an adolescent girl has her first period; thereafter, the duration is between four and seven days each month. Childbirth also results in a ten to eleven-day confinement. 100 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4)

During this time, women are forbidden to touch men or even to enter the courtyard of their own homes. They are barred from consuming milk, yogurt, butter, meat, and other nutritious foods, for fear they will forever mar those goods. The women must survive on a diet of dry foods, salt, and rice. They cannot use warm blankets, and are allowed only a small rug; most commonly, this is made of jute(also known as burlap). They are also restricted from going to school or performing their daily functions like , forced to stay in the conditions of the shed. This system comes from the superstition of impurity during the menstruation period. In this superstitious logic, if a menstruating woman touches a tree it will never again bear fruit; if she consumes milk the cow will not give any more milk; if she reads a book about Saraswati, the goddess of education, she will become angry; if she touches a man, he will be ill. Chhaupadi was outlawed by the Suprem Court of Nepal in 2005, but the tradition has been slow to change.

Conclusion The current condition of the non stability of the government and the threats in the moist insurgencies in the past years had gradually degraded the inbound flow of the tourists in Niepal. The situation in which the major touristic destinations are not functioning well, we couldn’t have presumed the flow of tourism in the areas like far western region where there are lots of things to be done in terms of developing accessibility, attraction and amenities. Lake of proper infrastructure: roads, bridges, electricity, air wa, communication and health facilities always have high impact in tourism industry because with out having the basic standards for tourists, the destination can not prosper. This has always been sought that the awareness among the locals on tourism and the long term strategies and policies are also needed for the commercialization of this industry in far western region. National planning commission should keep in mind the regional balance and making the NGOs and INGOs more active on bilateral cooperation. Like ACAP, the Khaptad National Park which is connecting to Bajhang , Bajura Doti and Achham district of this region needs a good working committee for the promotion of sustainable tourism. Road agreement with India for transportation and trekking route from Darchula to Ser to Mansorabar needs full attention the accessibility criteria. Similarly the emphasize on developing airports for quick access to these regions is another importance. There must be an agreement with the government of Uttaranchal for extension of market. Master plan for Ghoda Ghodi tal and its surrounding needs to be worked out with immediate effects. Special attractions inside Suklaphata National Park, Khapad national park and other religious sites needs special attention and renovations. Development of Hotels will only take place once the locals need and understand the importance of tourism and the support from the government in developing the basic infrastructure. People concerned with far western region need to work together for the declaration of Visit Sudurpachhim year 2020 so as to inspire the locals to build hotels, restaurants Joshi: Far-Western Region of Nepal... 101 and lodges.Hospitals and ambulance services need to be acquired with an urgent need. Similarly, training and development of the locals in terms of vocational areas need to be worked out and need based employability to be worked out in coordination with CTEVT and other organizations like TVT, Swiss fund, etc.

References Ayer, H.S. (2003). Sudur pachhim napalma paryatan udhyogko bartaman stithi ra bikash ka sambhawana. Sudurpachhim Bikash tatha Chunauti, 1 (1), 41-52. Chaudhary M.(2012). Tourism Marketing, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Douglas, C.M.( 2012). Smart Bizz Strategies, achieving through excellence, Nepal: Global Academy of Tourism and Hospitality. Kunwar, R.R. (2012). Tourists and Tourism Science and Industry Interface, Kathmandu: Ganga Sen (Kunwar). Ojha, T.P. (2003). Paryatan ka lagi naulo upahar sudurpachhim. Sudurpachhim Bikash tatha Chunauti, 1 (1), 29-35. Swain, S.K. and Mishra, J.M.(2012). Tourism Principles and Practices, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Book Review

Sujan Amgain*

Abstract

Book Title: Tourism and Intercultural Exchange: Why Tourism Matters Authors: Gavin Jack & Alison Phipps Publisher: Channel View Publications, Clevedon, England Year of Publication: 2005 ISBN No.: 1-84541-018-1 (hbk), 1-84541-017-3 (pbk) Email: [email protected]

Some people understand tourism as a disease or harm on the planet, while others understand it either as the functions of servants of the capital or as an economic saviour for a state. Tourism not only builds relationships with everyday life and engages us in exchanges of life with others but also reminds us the relativities which define people other than us in a world with complex systems. Tourism as performance and tourists as the performers dynamically facilitate or hinders intercultural exchange. There are many practical, material and emotional questions related to the way and places of tourism. Most of the conventional theorising in tourism have focused on the binaries as tourism good or bad in a pessimistic way and have neglected at the positive and transformative intercultural potential. Tourism can also be a work rather than leisure, create opportunities to rewrite the rules of everyday life and reinvent new habits. Gavin Jack and Alison Phipps’ book Tourism and Intercultural Exchange: Why Tourism Matters is a book which analyzes tourism from a fresh perspective and alternative methods of understanding after presenting a debate among many academic works on exchange. An unusual ethnographic work with a three way interaction among the two ethnographers and the field while being in Scotland, the book gives vey deep insights to understand exchange as a form of perceptual reciprocity with senses, material world, emotions and intellect which can change the power relations and socio-cultural practices. The authors have drawn on literatures of multiple disciplines, expanded the traditional concepts and taken a tourist baggage as a metaphor in which tourists carry their cultural, historical and perceptual objects and exchange during their travel. There are eleven chapters in this book which are very well structured and coherently help the readers and travellers understand how their travel impacts on intercultural exchange. Very well

* Sujan Amgain Amgain: Book Review... 103 organized into four parts with eleven chapters altogether, each chapter has been divided into various subsections as required by the theoretical background and explanations, presentation and analysis of data and concluding remarks. Chapter one, “Why Tourism Matters” establishes very important views and theoretical bases on how tourism matters, how it has been understood and the alternative possibilities of understanding tourism. Tourism matters because it provides both a lens onto and an energy for relationships with everyday life. It invites us to engage in exchanges of life with others, and to remind us thereby of its most precious and vulnerable aspect: the intricate relativities of defining people who are not us. Among the big stories of tourism, Dean MacCannell’s (1976) ‘The Tourist’ presented tourism as a search for authenticity out of the alienating conditions of working Modernity and tourist as the ‘alienated moderns’ in capitalist relations of production. The notion of capitalist relation of exchange, production, consumption and quest for other born out of political economy of capitalist exchange relations are problematic and have been criticized to be reductionist and deterministic undermining sociological and anthropological concerns. Tim Edensor (1998) has denied the essential or universal category of analysis and seeks a dynamic concept of authenticity which addresses the subject positions and historical and geographical settings. Though dualistic thoughts generally present tourism with binaries of either good, ethical and emancipator or bad, unethical and subjugating, alternative, postmodern analyses focus on the playfulness among various factors. After indulging into theoretically driven approaches to tourism research and questions on the key assumptions of the big stories, the authors become suspicious of binaries and ask different questions critically. And then, they attempt to analyze how tourism might be understood as a participatory set of interactions-in-the-world beyond the narrow confines. This introductory chapter outlines the contents and organization of book, engages with some traditions of tourism research, material and affective dimensions of tourist experience and the notion of interaction between members of different cultures. What facilitates or hinders intercultural communication is the exchange process in different settings, which is a key focus throughout the book. Acting as real tourists in real tourist time, being participant observers and ethnographers, the authors have presented an account of an ethnographic study of tourism on the Isle of Skye, an island, one of Scotland’s top destinations, situated just off the northwest coast of Scotland. The ethnography was conducted jointly. The dialogical approach, part of the structure of exchange and tourism, has been termed exchange ethnography. Travel bag has been assigned both material reality and metaphorical meaning with its role in intercultural communication. Chapter two “The Give and the Take” explains the concept of exchange as a recurring and central practice in a tourism context as it is also a central concept in many other disciplines. In tourism, exchange is both actual practice and metaphor. Certain sociological grand narratives have confined exchange to a decontextualized market and capitalist relation of production reducing tourism either as an outcome of the alienating or the rationalising impulses of modern society. But there are also possibilities of alternative structures and practices of exchange both within and out with so-called ‘modern’ societies. To propose the other forms of exchange out of market, borrowing Daniel Miller’s (2000) concept of changing values in relation to objects and Celia Lury’s (1996,1997) social life 104 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) of things, the authors have explored the travelling-dwelling relations of people and objects and the playfulness of cultural values, materiality of objects and their roles. The study of contemporary tourism needs the micro-empirical study of social and cultural practice to understand exchange as a contextually embedded notion. Dean MacCannell’s (1976) early work on tourists as alienated moderns, John Urry’s (1990) visually prioritized tourist system, George Ritzer’s (1996, 1997) explorations of MacDonaldization and McDisneyisation are some theoretical bases the authors have based upon to explain exchange, modernity and post modernity in tourism apparently concluding that modernity and post modernity in tourism have some compatibilities which make them aware of the lack of authentic experience. The neo-Marxist and Neo-Weberian framings of tourist exchange are problematic for their restriction of tourism as commoditized relation and act of consumption and their nostalgia of the lost halcyon days of integrated social relations. Chapter three “Doing Being Tourists” deals with the methods and methodology, specially the ethnographic method, the materials that shape the narratives and the research process to understand knowledge production. Preparation for data collection, dialogic process of collaboration among the ethnographers and the field, importance of “thin spaces”, the places of rest, for the production of thick descriptions are the important points. Reflexivity as a methodology and as an embedded part of the everyday social process refuses to take for granted the same set of social and economic conditions over the sustained period of research. Joint travel, research and texts result in an emergent methodological form, which is constructed and experienced through the multiple, reflexive exchanges and dialogues between researchers, participants and the symbolic and material spaces that they come to enact. The concept of reflexivity deals with the social scientific concerns for the sociocultural and political conditions in which all forms of knowledge are constructed through the acts performed on data. And according to some scholars, it is an integral part of the practices in which we engage during social action. Two distinct ways of understanding reflexivity, as Tim May (1998) suggests, are endogenous and referential reflexivity, the former referring to the ways in which the actions of members of a given community contribute to social reality itself without thinking or habitually and the latter referring to the knowledge which is gained via an encounter with ways of life and ways of viewing the social world that are different from our own. In conventional ethnography, the ethnographer is assumed to be all seeing, all knowing observer, but now, the ethnographers qualify their observations through relations, dialogues, negotiations of meanings, insertion off their own positions and biases into their narratives and through different modes of representation. The domestic relations have significant bearing on the psychodynamics of data and its orderings. In this book, recording and making imprints of experiences, comprehending their meanings and assessing their significance, reflexivity has taken a narrative form, consciously reconstructing and structuring of past exchanges within the present one. The intellectual kinship has helped the authors keep themselves far from maximizing rewards at each other’s expense, get mediated space for openness, honesty and reciprocity in theoretical and methodological concern. Chapter four “Packing” explains how packing and packed goods are linked to advices, experiences, own meanings, contexts, culture and how packing is a learned practice which Amgain: Book Review... 105 reveals one’s daily life, expectations and readiness for exchanges in future. The ways in which packing helps the travellers reflect critically on preparation for their trip has many aspects like the responsibility of meeting holiday needs and the responsibility of forming narratives and recording memories. Packing is the work of preparation and imaginative process which involves choosing the least rejected objects with hopeful feelings of requirements, necessities and future success and so it problematizes the work leisure binary. The physical objects end up in the travel bag and the less tangible cultural aspects like languages, attitudes, education, knowledge, research, reading, stories and traditions all are bagged in memory, mind, experience and the body, forming a cultural baggage. In this chapter, presenting a selection of material and cultural items which get packed, there are broader cultural discussion and analysis. Packing reflects our ontology and epistemology, which means how we understand our way of being in the world and how our knowledges are constructed and affect our actions. The authors have referred to different sources like friends, websites, and guidebooks to present some packing lists under the groupings such as “Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear, Toiletries & Medical Supplies, Photo Equipment, Luggage and Bags”, etc. Packing reflects our rituals, daily practices and ourselves concerning personal grooming, safety and wellbeing ultimately demonstrating aspects of intercultural exchanges in action. Chapter five “Packers of Culture” puts forward a discourse how to understand culture through text, material artefacts, and oral culture. Humans are the story telling packers of culture and anticipators of experiences in new spatio-temporal relations while their packing and reading guidebooks, which are presented as devotional texts, are the symbolic grieving for what has been left behind during travel. Travellers pack knowledge of habitual place away when they travel, not knowing how they may be called out. This chapter, on the one hand, examines the aspects of material life that give rise to narrative, on the other hand, describes how the narratives of packing and of bags order packers. Travel bags trigger not only narratives but also cultural change consequently changing their own biographies for new meanings. Packed objects, their meanings and interpretations in tourist context work during travel and do tourism on behalf of travellers participating in intercultural exchange. Following a discussion of various aspects of material baggage, the authors look specifically at oral narratives and the meanings made when travellers take stories out of their bags and bodies. When travellers take stories and objects out of bags in tourist place, they work as characters and catalysts for wider stories and work together for further narrative exchange. Oral narratives triggered by material objects also come through touch, smell, sound or taste. Chapter six “Bag-sized Stories” focuses on the written narratives, guides of tourism, and on tourism’s textuality with their uses and work in doing tourism. It presents the instance of German travel guides and its history and examines how German travel guide industry can be understood out of global capitalism at work. Travel guides are one of many different cultural items packed, unpacked and repacked during travel. In contrast to oral narratives, written narratives, travel guides and travel literatures/ act as less communal in intercultural communication and they work with imaginations and future orientation, more individual, private and personal creating spaces for rehearsal before travelling. Travel guides work as the site for cultural packing too. Travel guides play 106 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) instructive and performative role preparing the traveller’s body for symbolic death and act as an ontological security blanket initiating the tension between the structures and anti-structures of home and away. Oral and written forms exchange intimately forging imaginative trails that blur the differentiation between them. In this chapter, the authors have responded to the particular claims made on them by the phenomenon of German tourists on holiday in Scotland and their narratives. Though released from the need to be with interpreters or translators continuously, travel guides do not completely emancipate travellers from translation and interpretation on the ground. Survival through the liminal stage, care for body, instructions to sleep and rest, tools of communication, etc. are what guides help the tourists. Chapter seven “New Habits” describes the author’s experiences and journey at the tourist stage with feelings of out-of-placeness and dislocated habits in new home. The transition during getting to and getting in from the home to the destination involves the rupture in habitual and taken-for-granted rituals of the familiar body at home. The problem of the unfamiliar body in new tourist context arises when familiar routines are temporarily suspended in unfamiliar space. Object relations are very crucial in negotiating the discomfort and unfamiliarity to make the environment more familiar. Dealing with unfamiliar bodies and environment through object relations, social practices and continuous negotiations in social relations, the tourists constructively reinvent the habitual. The authors have shown how the social life of a youth hostel promotes intercultural communication through their description of preparing and eating food. The social exchange, friendship, hospitality and sharing outside the market in tourist context outperform the economic value and save the body as a material, emotional and cultural artefact from risk. Tourism is a social activity which reinvents new habits through negotiations with others, intimate engagement with material spaces, material objects and material practices ultimately creating spontaneous communitas and enabling intercultural communication. Chapter eight “Exchanging Stories” explores the material base and its attendant emotional states in context of the flourishing of intercultural aspects of tourism by unpacking how intercultural communication flourishes through exchanges. Tourism involves alternative forms of work or work in rest with things, feelings, phenomena and perceptions. Involving reinvention and reroutinizing of everyday life, tourism is more than commoditized, consumer relations and luxury in leisure. Objects and languages involved in the intercultural exchange in tourism are not separate entities but intertwined in oral and written cultures and narratives of tourism. This chapter describes and interprets the different relationships of tourists with material and linguistic exchanges while reinventing new bodily habits. Practices of exchange, storytelling and object relations ways form the different modes of doing tourism. Exchange of oral and written narratives spread the moving cultures and results in intercultural tourist phenomena. While tourist life is characterized by a variety of materialities leading to intercultural encounter, diversity and creativity of material and emotional exchanges lead to particular stories which have social, temporal and formative roles in everyday tourist life. Very interesting is how our whole culture works to dissociate life and death and how the elimination of death is our phantasm. Guidebooks and the travel publishing industry provide us with life literally and metaphorically which is surfaced during the ritual moments of preparation and travel. Amgain: Book Review... 107

In language and narratives grew and takes place the material life of exchange. The social, performative, formative and temporal functions of narratives and the travel guides within tourist context formed the lifeblood of the travelling culture. Intercultural communication does not flourish equally in all spatiotemporal contexts as the authors explored the youth hostels were more fertile for it. Chapter nine “Changing Spaces” explores the way how the chances of intercultural communication depend on different tourist space and time, how the existence of particular spatial distribution in some places flourish intercultural engagement and how other spaces and time systematically frustrate that engagement. The complex interpenetration of space, time, bodily discipline and commodification are accountable for such divergence. Taking the youth hostel as a model of spatial type for intercultural communication, this chapter compares and contrasts the socio-spatial settings of youth hostels and other places such as a guided tour of a distillery and an overnight stay at the Flora Bay Hotel. Through commodification, consumption and control, the questions of possibility of intercultural communication and the way it is mediated and refracted by socio-spatial concerns have been analyzed. Tourism industry provides the stage and the tourists perform their own drama. But the way of performance is changeable. In money based exchange in some kind of tourist experience, the tourists can be interpreted to be in transition from crowd to an audience, which implies that they are subjected to a process of commodification and being identifiable consumers. This is important to understand how the producers control, determine the meaning, behaviour and experience of audience. After experiencing and analyzing the socio-spatial relationships in different tourist places, the authors have come to conclude that the production-consumption relation and mediation of tourist space and time controlled by capital have remarkable impact on possibility of intercultural communication. Chapter ten “The Return to Routine” explains about leaving the tourist destination and the orientation towards home working with real or material baggage and the metaphorical repacking of experiences for the return to the habitual or familiar home. During travel, photographs and souvenirs are collected and taken back home which will be incorporated in new habits or shared with others. To transform the very temporary existence of the tourist phenomena into secure future narratives for durable memories and to give the phenomena a material, sustainable form, the tourists take photographs and buy or collect souvenirs responding to the claims made by their destinations. Photographs and souvenirs will help the tourists tell stories back home on the scenery, nature, public romantic myth of Scotland’s landscape, cultural baggage and the imaginative trails into destinations. Romantic gaze has been argued as an aesthetic, transcultural practice in tourist way of being. Romantic images, on the one hand, have helped the marketing of Scotland, and on the other hand, have given tourists a common way of perceiving and communicating Scotland through the written narrative and literature, classes, websites, albums, etc where those images get space. Different moods, experiences, emotions and sensations accumulated in new space and time are packed along with the objects to reintegrate in already existing familiar everyday life, and this represents the emotional transition from a moment of unstructured communitas to familiar cultural structures. Overcoming the possible disruptions, everyday life starts again as before but 108 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (Vol. 4) the re-entry is also ambivalent as many feel relieved to return home safely while others hate to end their vacation. The tourists end holiday packing away of collected experience which will be displayed in favourable circumstances as the creative effects of trips in the form of memories, objects and narratives, logbooks, web pages or slide shows in non tourist life. Chapter eleven “Conclusions” draws some tentative conclusions from the theoretically driven and empirically grounded study of the intercultural life of exchange, before, during and after travel. Why and how tourism matters in particular instances of tourism as a mode of being is the central question. Exchange with its various dimensions, not only as social practice of tourists but also a metaphor for tourism as an everyday social activity, has been a crucial aspect in intercultural life of tourism. Tourism has found to be very strong to teach some radically alternative lessons about the possibility of living different and non tourist life with experiences and capacity to tell stories of self and others. Confining tourism to commodified exchange in market, in which consumers are either passively assimilated by the interests of capital or actively cynical towards them, is problematic. The authors have concluded that the boundary between work and leisure, gifting and commodity exchange, dystopia and utopia or assimilation and cynicism are not so clear but very blurred and crisscrossed. Exchange is not always dominated by rules of commodity relations but everyday resistance to strategies of capital and its hegemony give rise to alternative practices of exchange and alternative stories to be told without relations of production and consumption. The new alternative stories doesn’t accept any binary such as bad or evil, alienating or emancipator, commodity or gift, material or metaphor, but recognizes the abundance of human life, social cohesion and sharing to learn and take back home. In alternative tourist economies of alternative stories, there are not rivalry, competition, anti-neighbourly practice and the grand narratives of modernity- tourism nexus. Communitas gives rise to dialectic of reconciliation between conformity and autonomy and reflexivity towards the alternatives. Tourism is one of the ways of being, which accords new time and space for reinvention of habitual and reroutinising, and broadens the range of ways of practising life. Finally tourism and intercultural life of exchange suspend everyday life, teach us the vulnerabilities and the abundance of life and suggest us the potential of our life. The book “Tourism and Intercultural Exchange: Why Tourism Matters” has been proved to be a comprehensive guide for those who want to know about the importance of tourism, the way of doing tourism, learning to be tourists and the ways of being which facilitate or hinder intercultural exchange. With the help of both empirical research and theoretical analyses, it goes deep into contemporary tourism and approaches to tourism research. The book is a very useful reference for scholars, students, tourism researchers, anthropologists and social linguists who are interested especially in ontology and complex nature of tourism experiences and intercultural exchanges. The main concern of the book is to break with all binary concepts prevalent in conventional grand narratives of tourism and tourism research. After doing so, it presents the possible alternative stories which can be iterated without the binaries and market led commodity relations ultimately suggesting the possibilities and potential of life. The concept of exchange is central throughout the book which is analyzed through its various manifestations and intensities Amgain: Book Review... 109 concluding that tourism matters for its role in broadening the range of life practices and reinvention of one’s way of being. Ethnographic methodology and lyrical writing style, deep and broad theoretical insight with critical analysis are the uniqueness and the strength of this book. More interesting is the three way interaction between the two ethnographers and between them and the field during gathering and presenting data consequently developing new thoughts on reflexivity. While the theoretical richness has strongly supported the empirical analysis of the authors, the huge academic works which have been presented and debated are highly demanding so as to require very deep understanding of and familiarity with a large range of scholars and theories. This has made the book quite difficult to understand for the beginners and amateurs. Presenting the details in comprehensively elaborative and well organized way, the authors are very successful to make the readers feel that they prepared for the trip, travelled to the destination and returned back home with new experiences themselves. After the emergence of the grand narratives on tourism, there was a prominent need of alternative stories and radical but reconciling approaches in understanding tourism, exchange practices in tourism and tourism research which has been fulfilled to a remarkable extent by the authors of this book. The concept and content of the book are sure to be very useful in present and even remote future. Lastly, the book is highly worth reading for academics, researchers, students and tourism experts. IMI University Centre Switzerland

IMI University Centre Switzerland is a prestigious institution in Switzerland has educational partnership with hotel schools, business schools and other educational institutes around the globe. It is one of the Switzerland’s leading providers of higher education in tourism, hospitality and events management with third rank holder in providing the quality of education in this region.

IMI has the expression of a philosophy which is based on the holistic development of students. It brings many facets of the human lives together in a single brotherhood that is precisely the reason why it has become a magnet for students from very different continents. In July 29, 2010, IMI established partnership with Asian Institutes of Technology and Management (AITM) in Nepal (Former WhiteHouse School of Hotel Management). The new memorandum of understanding (MOA) between IMI University Switzerland, and Asian Institution of Technology and Management (AITM) signed on 25th of February 2013, for another six years to offer higher diploma in international Hotel and Tourism management (HDHM) in Nepal.

AITM School of Hotel Management, Kathmandu

Established in 2006, with the name WhiteHouse School of Hotel Management, AITM Hotel Management is committed to creating Global Hospitality Leaders through empirical coaching research and industrial collaboration for customer delight. AITM School of Hotel Management equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and outstanding faculty members is well poised to transform the dream of young school graduates into the realities of becoming tomorrow’s leaders in the global hospitality industry. AITM-SHM does not just train but literally carve out and transform the young learners into the latter’s desired form of future.

We teach the would-be hoteliers to walk their talk by equipping and empowering them with the cutting-edge-skill and knowledge of new trends in hospitality management so that they can positively channelize the every emerging new challenge into innovative experiences and rewarding careers. AITM Shool of Hotel Management Tel: 5541179/55487729 Email: [email protected] Web: www.aitm.edu.np