Unit-2

Domestic and International Tourism

# Feature of domestic tourism

Domestic tourism has been define as a journey or travel inside someone country. In other
words domestic tourism is tourism involving residents of one country traveling only within that
country. Many studies further define domestic overnight visitor as a person who stays one or
more nights in one or several destinations during his or domestic trips, while a domestic day
visitor is referred to as the person who travels for a round trip distance of at least 50 kilometers
and does not spend a night during the trip, each group of tourists can also be segregated into
different purposes of travel such as leisure, visiting friends and relatives, business and others.
1. Income and employment creation: Domestic is often promoted as a basis of
international tourism, that is to say international tourism can be sustained over the long
term once a culture of tourism has been developed among the local people. Involvement
of local people in tourism business helps generate income and employment.
2. Inward investment: An inward investment involves an external of foreign entity either
investing in or purchasing the goods of a local economy. Inward investment is the
injection of money from an external source into a region, In order to purchase capital
goods for a branch of a corporation to locate or develop its presence in the region.
3. Promote national unity and integration: domestic tourism can serve as an effective
instrument for national integration. No other activity has a great a potential for breaking
barriers of caste and creed, motivating linguistic groups to communicate with one
another, and promoting inter-regional understanding.
4. Enables local people to benefit from government investment in tourism
infrastructure: tourism developers may want the government to improve the airport,
roads and other infrastructure, and possibly provide tax breaks and other financial
advantages, which are costly activities for the government.
5. Domestic tourists contribute to regional income: domestic tourists are more
independent, move freely in the destination area, as they often use their own cars or are
familiar with the local transport system. They decide themselves where they want to shop
and eat, and thus, they contribute to regional income without demanding very special
infrastructures.
6. Substitute for foreign tourism undertaken by the local: domestic tourism can be
substitute for foreign tourism undertaken by the local people which could lead to saving
in foreign currency exchange.

# Pattern of Growth of Domestic Tourism:

Domestic tourism in Nepal has been reviving gradually together with the recovery of
international tourism after the start of the peace process. The number of domestic tourists
visiting various destinations inside the country has been on the rise over the years.
Looking at the emergence of travel culture among the urban residents, domestic tourism in
the country is expected to grow considerably in no time. Once durable peace is established,
various tourist destinations will witness an increased inflow of internal visitors.
What is lacking is a proper policy on domestic tourism. It is sad to note that domestic visitors
are not regarded as tourists. Sometimes they are even deprived of traveling by tourist
vehicles because of the syndicate system.
 While traveling on long land routes, domestic visitors are frequently cheated by
hoteliers. In many places, domestic visitors are forced to pay higher amounts for food and
accommodation, but they cannot get quality services. Another reason for not-so-encouraging
trend of domestic tourism in the country is lack of proper infrastructure and facilities. The
concerned bodies now need to work out on the leave travel scheme for the civil servants and
those working with the private sector in order to take domestic tourism to a new height. The
promotion of domestic tourism is sure to help contribute to boosting international tourism.

# Profile of domestic tourism

Majority of domestic tourist in Nepal found as
 Urban dwellers
 Younger travelers
 Like to travel in a group
 Stay in budget hotel
 They belongs to households with modest but stables incomes
 They spend less compared to international tourists but overall volume of expenditure is
significantly high.

# Prospect of Internal Tourism:

In the past, people used to travel from one place to another for pilgrimage or for
economic and social ties. However, at modern age due to the raise of middle class in the urban
communities of Nepal they are excited to visit various villages those which have unique culture
and beautiful nature . For internal tourists development, of course, the own homeland is
certainly the easiest and affordable tourist destination for Nepalese. Easiest in the sense that
Nepali language is widely spoken throughout the country but cultures are different in many
societies. If we go there the tourist arrival statistics in model tourist villages, we find majority of
visitors are Nepali national. For instance, within eight years? time 7,198 tourists visited Sirbubari
village. Out of this figure 5858 visitors are internal tourists. The above figures indicate that only
1340 foreign visitors have visited Sirubari till the date. Therefore, it reveals that almost 81%
visitors are internal tourists. Similar type of internal tourist flow is observed in Ghalegoan and
other remaining model villages. Each and every villages of Nepal can be valuable tourist?s
destinations and can attract enormous internal tourists. By promoting internal tourism the rural
people can be utilize local resources, products, human resources, share ideas and examples and
cultures with others. Such activities help them to generate employment opportunities and bring
changes in their living standard. In Sirubari and Ghalegaon one can observe sensual changes in
the lives of local people within few years time. It could be impossible for more than fifty years of
such changes.

# Challenges:
Though, internal tourism is potential in Nepal but it has several constraints to overcome.
At first, the requirement of basic infrastructure are the key factors to develop to enhance
domestic tourism i.e. access of roads, trail, accommodations, communication facilities, health
resources, security and sanitation etc. Secondly, to develop domestic tourism, Nepal government
has to introduce new Holiday Pay Act (HPA) to all the government employs every year. Such
kind of holiday pay act can play prominent role to enhance internal tourism from micro, meso to
macro level development throughout the kingdom. Accordingly to A.K. Bhatia, the movement of
mass tourism was launched from the west especially from England, when the holidays with pay
act (1938) were signed. Holiday Pay Act must be the prime issue of consideration for all the
tourism experts and concerned authorities. Besides, Nepal government, tourism related
institutions and organizations like NTB NATTA, TAAN, HAN, NMA, NARA and tourism
experts should focus to identify various tourist destinations of Nepal from Terai, hilly region
areas and bring them into publicity. Majority of the cities and villages of Nepal possess
uniqueness to each other in terms of natured and culture.

# International tourism:
International tourism in which tourist travel from one country to another. In context to
Nepal, the tourism scenario is not encouraging in terms of international tourist arrivals and
revenue. Tourism contribution to GDP is 3.42 percent and it accounted for about 24 per cent of
total foreign exchange earnings in recent years. Though Nepal’s share in world tourism market is
about 0.40 percent and lowest per capita tourist earning in South Asia, she has enormous
opportunities for development and expansion of tourism industry, one of the mainstay of
Nepalese economy.
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains including Mount Everest, is
popular all over the world as an adventure tourist destination offering activities like
mountaineering, trekking, rafting and jungle safaris. Most of the tourists visit Nepal for
recreation, trekking and mountaineering, business, official visit, pilgrimage, and other purposes
each year. Nepal is enlisted in international media as one of major tourist destination of the
world in recent years, but the tourist arrival figure is not so significant compared to other
destinations of Southeast Asia. Negative publicity due to one decade long Maoist insurgency,
conflict, violence, political instability, deteriorating law and order situation, adverse travel
advisories and other social issues had eroded destination image of Nepal. The armed conflict in
the country caused decline in tourist arrivals in the first five years of this decade.

# Tourist generating region and tourist destination region tourism

Tourist generating regions are source areas for tourists, or where the largest
numbers of tourists are coming from. We can identity characteristics of these regions that
stimulate demand for tourism, such as a favorable climate or high level of economic
development. Likewise, we can identify characteristics of regions that would facilitate demand,
such as good relative location and a high level of accessibility.
Tourist-generating regions are important in helping us understand why
certain people may be more likely to travel and where. Theoretically, this information may be
used to create new opportunities for people to travel. Specially, if we understand the barriers to
travel for a particular region, we can begin to develop strategies to overcome these barriers. In
practical terms, tourism marketers use this information. If a destination identifies its largest
potential tourist market, then it will be able to develop a promotional campaign targeted at that
audience.
Tourist-receiving regions are destination areas for tourists, or where the largest numbers
of tourists are going. We can identify characteristics of these regions that contribute to the supply
of tourism. Again, a good relative location and a high level of accessibility are important, as well
as the attractions of the region and a well- developed tourism infrastructure.
 Tourist-receiving regions are important in helping us understand why certain places have
successfully developed as destinations. This information may be used as an example for other
places also seeking to develop tourism.
Furthermore, exchange rates have a far accomplishment influence on tourism demand
from generating area and international tourism. It is highly vulnerable to exchange rate variations
that vary the cost of a holiday significantly. "It is widely acknowledged that both domestic and
international tourism make an 'economic contribution' to a destination, that tourism has positive
and negative 'economic impacts' and that it brings 'benefits and costs' to a destination".

# Pattern of Growth and Profile

Nepal climbed 10 spots to be ranked 102 nd position in terms of travel and tourism competiveness
index 2015 ad, largely due to the purchasing power parity of tourists becoming a key factor in
attracting tourists.
The index analyzes the performance of 141 economies and explores how the travel and
tourism sector has responded to economic, security and health shocks over recent decades.
“Understanding the nature and extent of the sector’s resilience to shocks is important, as a strong
travel and tourism sector is critical for job creation, economic growth and development in
advanced and developing economies alike, “world economic forum mentions in its report.
Spain leads the travel and tourism competitiveness ranking in 2015 followed by France and
Germany. The report shows Nepal is competitive in terms of pricing as the country is ranked in
the 23rd position in price competiveness. Nepal was ranked 25 th in natural resources and 59th in
prioritization of travel and tourism. It, however, fared poorly on three parameters-environment
sustainability [133rd], ICT readiness [126th], and culture resources and business travel [123rd].
As per the report, Nepal has poor ranking for cultural resources and business travel. The
ranking is based on different criteria like number of UNESCO World Heritage sites, large
stadiums, and number of international association meetings taking place in a country, among
others. Nepal is ranked at 113 th position of safety and security, meaning the country needs to do
more to create safe and secure environment foreign tourists.
The report suggests that Nepal needs to improve air connectivity as it stands in the 160 th
position in air transport infrastructure. Similarly, it needs to make transportation efficient and
assessable to key business centers and tourist attractions as it stands at 199 th position in ground
and port infrastructure, and ensure sufficient quality accommodation, resorts and entertainment
facilities as it is ranked in 118th position in tourist service infrastructure.
According to the report, major trend in travel and tourism is shifting demographics. The
number of over-60 in the world is projected to rise from 900 million to 2010 to almost 1.4 billion
by 2030. Elder travelers tend to require higher standards of quality and sophistication, to have
somewhat larger budgets and these demographic accounts for 40 percent of wealth, the report
stated.