It may sound strange but outbound tourism in Nepal is growing at a rate that significantly dwarfs the inbound growth. Some of you probably would prefer to see just the opposite happening in Nepal. The sad reality is - that's not the case.
More and more Nepalese are choosing to travel outside the country during festive season. That's because kids are out of school and it gets cold in Nepal that time of the year.
If you are in domestic tourism, you would rather see Nepalese vacationers spending that money in the domestic tourism. But hey if you have the money, you can do whatever you want with it.
I think one of the positive sides of outbound growth is that more and more Nepalese will be exposed to the tourism industry of another country. Even if one or two vacationers can learn from their own experience and brave it to try to replicate that in Nepal's tourism industry, the country may eventually benefit. After all, Nepal's growth rate in inbound tourism is still about 5% annual, and we haven't been able to hit that elusive milestone of one million tourists per year. Definitely, something is wrong with what we are doing..
So, what is really going on with the Nepal's inbound tourism industry? In other words, why are more foreigners not visiting one of the most beautiful places on earth?
At it's core, I believe the issue here is the lack of "digital" marketing know how among Nepalese entrepreneurs. I also believe it has something to do with the lack of IT infrastructure for payment gateway in Nepal. Except for popular sites like lonely planet or trip advisor, Nepalese entrepreneurs don't have the ability to take holiday bookings online. This is a big downside, and there is no one to blame for this.
I won't go in too much detail on these two issues. But I would like to point out one thing about marketing...
Marketing today has to be done online. This is where Nepali entrepreneurs are falling behind and thus, failing to drive the growth the country's tourism industry deserves..
Traditional ways of Nepalese tourism marketing has been about attending tourism related conferences and seminars in China, India and other countries, however, today, those efforts, although effective, are not enough.
Here's my two cents:
Every travel related websites I have seen from Nepal are a joke. I would love to see two things happening...
More and more Nepalese are choosing to travel outside the country during festive season. That's because kids are out of school and it gets cold in Nepal that time of the year.
If you are in domestic tourism, you would rather see Nepalese vacationers spending that money in the domestic tourism. But hey if you have the money, you can do whatever you want with it.
I think one of the positive sides of outbound growth is that more and more Nepalese will be exposed to the tourism industry of another country. Even if one or two vacationers can learn from their own experience and brave it to try to replicate that in Nepal's tourism industry, the country may eventually benefit. After all, Nepal's growth rate in inbound tourism is still about 5% annual, and we haven't been able to hit that elusive milestone of one million tourists per year. Definitely, something is wrong with what we are doing..
So, what is really going on with the Nepal's inbound tourism industry? In other words, why are more foreigners not visiting one of the most beautiful places on earth?
At it's core, I believe the issue here is the lack of "digital" marketing know how among Nepalese entrepreneurs. I also believe it has something to do with the lack of IT infrastructure for payment gateway in Nepal. Except for popular sites like lonely planet or trip advisor, Nepalese entrepreneurs don't have the ability to take holiday bookings online. This is a big downside, and there is no one to blame for this.
I won't go in too much detail on these two issues. But I would like to point out one thing about marketing...
Marketing today has to be done online. This is where Nepali entrepreneurs are falling behind and thus, failing to drive the growth the country's tourism industry deserves..
Traditional ways of Nepalese tourism marketing has been about attending tourism related conferences and seminars in China, India and other countries, however, today, those efforts, although effective, are not enough.
Here's my two cents:
Every travel related websites I have seen from Nepal are a joke. I would love to see two things happening...
- A beautifully designed website with full attention to details such as:
- Clear images.
- Professionally designed and up to date information.
- SEO focused blogs (very very important)
- Creative vacation packages.
- Partnership with other web-based travel companies that can generate/sell leads for Nepal's tourism.
Back to Outbound tourism Nepal:
If I am not wrong, in 2016, Nepal likely saw 50,000+ outbound tourists.
After some digging, I found out that Bangkok is the most popular destination among first time international tourists. Thailand is close to Nepal, always heard of, and affordable. That's likely why.
Other popular destinations include Bali, Singapore, Malaysia, and Dubai.
The problem is the same with outbound tourism as well.
Travel agents in Nepal are not offering outbound Nepali tourists with much choices. I scanned about 5 popular travel agencies' website. And they all had one and same vacation package for Thailand : Bangkok - Pattaya Family package.
If this is in fact true in real life (meaning off line package is the same as online), then it's not fair to Nepali tourists. Yes, there are multiple countries you can choose from, but I mostly see one package per country. Why are we like this? खाए खा , नखाए घिच !!
Seriously, here is a Thailand page from one of the reputed travel agents in Nepal (I hide the name for privacy). So many things missing on this page. If online marketing matters to you, you know exactly what I am saying here...
Seriously, here is a Thailand page from one of the reputed travel agents in Nepal (I hide the name for privacy). So many things missing on this page. If online marketing matters to you, you know exactly what I am saying here...
But I could be wrong as well. These agents may have more options, say if you walked into their office. Just the website doesn't have the most up to date information. Good excuse.
And that's exactly my point.....If these Nepalese travel agents care less about their online presence (which is okay for outbound because they have walk-ins), then how can you expect the same travel agents to compete internationally for inbound tourists that are constantly surfing the web for more information and better deals?
Here is another one...
Here is another one...
In my opinion, that's exactly the root of the tourist problem in Nepal. Businesses have not yet taken online branding very seriously. A facebook business page combined with crappy outdated and incomplete website won't do any good. You have to have both.
I think it's time to do something about it, if you know what I mean...
This is what I have in mind today...
First, build this business:
Then, this:
The website names are self-explanatory...now let me check if the domain names are available.
Update: Those two domains were already taken (I have linked them above, to give those sites much needed backlink from my blog).
Update: Those two domains were already taken (I have linked them above, to give those sites much needed backlink from my blog).
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