Unit-1

Tourism Concept

# Definition of tourism:
Tourism is an economic activity of immense global significance. However, the precise
measurement of travel and tourism has not always been easy. This stems in part from different
definitions and methods of accounting adopted by different countries. Efforts by the world tourism
organization and the organization for economic co-operation and development have helped in this
respect.
According to Mill and Morrison, “Tourism is an activity. It is an activity that takes place
when, in international terms, people cross borders for leisure or business and stay at least 24 hours
but less than one year.”
According to UNWTO’S, “The activities of a person outside his or her usual environment
for less than a specific period of time and whose main purpose of travel is other than exercises of
an activity remunerated from the place visited.”
According to WTO, tourism is now the largest industry in the world. Tourism is now
widely recognized as the world’s largest industry and its growth is creating rapid social, economic
and environmental changes which require detailed understanding and measures to manage it.
Tourism is now becoming a major area of study among students all over the world and its
development and management hold many career opportunities for students.

# Historical development of Tourism:

Historical development of tourism can be analyzed from two perspectives. First, history of
international tourism that which is not specific to any one country entails the story of world
tourism. Second, history of tourism can be analyzed in specific perspective that puts the
chronological events of historical importance in the framework of turning points and milestones.
1. History of international tourism
2. Nepal’s tourism history\development

# History of international tourism:

Early civilizations
Traveling is linked with the civilization of people. Traveling started with the start of
human civilization. In ancient age people used to travel only for the purpose of food, shelter,
hunting etc. they don’t know anything about tourism. They weren’t civilized and traveled for their
own purpose to save life. They used to travel from one jungle to another jungles or places. At the
start of civilization, traveling was possible only through walking.
Later people became more civilized and they started to travel by ridding in donkey,
horse, yak, bull, etc. Travel on horseback began and was popular with the military movement to
acquire land and conquer tribes. By, 5000 BC, water transportation in the form of rafts and canoes
propelled by poles or paddles were developed for use in rivers, lakes and streams.
By the time of Emperor, the Roman roads comprised a network of some 50,000 miles.
They developed the Roman Empire extending from Scotland and Germany in the north to the south
within Egypt and along the southern shores of Mediterranean Sea.
At that time Roman were most civilized group and they used to travel various places for
different reasons. Traveling and tourism is always linked with the civilization, the faster
civilization grew the tourism also expanded in same way.
 According to the different tourism related expert has categorized the history of
development of tourism into 6 periods or eras.
1. The Empire Era (B.C.E to 5th century)
2. The Middle Age Era (5th to 14th century)
3. Renaissance Era (14th to 16th century)
4. Grand Tour Era (1613 to 1785 AD)
5. The Mobility Era (1800-1944 AD)
6. The Modern Era (1945 to till now)

# Nepal’s Tourism History /Development:

Ancient period/history
The history of city Kathmandu indicates that existence of a lake near chobar gorge on the
Baghmati River, below the present pashupatinath temple. This lake is said to have been drained
by Manjushree bodhisattva, a Buddhist saint, by cutting open an outlet in the southern rim of the
valley. As a result the valley that was fertile and people started cultivating here and building their
home here and named a valley “kantipur”. As the valley grew, Manjushree is said to have
worshipped swambhu on the hillock where the present swambhu temple is present. There has
recorded the birth of Siddhartha Gautama at lumbini, at south of Nepal. Asoka the great emperor
visited lumbini .he made alliance with nearby marrying his daughter to a prince. She helped settle
down the chabahi and built charumati bahal/ stups. It is also popularly believed that Emperor
Asoka erected the four stupas in the four cardina directions of patan.

# Shah and Rana Period:

Prithivi Narayan shah [c1769-1775], with whom we move into the modern period of Nepal
history, was the ninth generation descendant of Dravy Shah [1559-1570], the founder of ruling
house of Gorkha. Prithvi Narayan shah succeeded the father king Nara Bhopal shah to the throne
of Gorkha in 1743 AD. King Prithivi Narayan shah was quite aware of political situation of the
valley kingdoms as well as barsi and chaubi principalities. He foresaw the need for unifying the
small principalities as an urgent condition for survival in the future and set himself to the task
accordingly. King Prithivi Narayan shah was successfully in bringing together diverse religio-
ethenic group under one nation.
In the first half of the 19th century , Nepal entered a short period of instability that
culminated in the Kot Massacre , in which fighting broke out among the military personnel and
administetors after the assignation of a high powered favorite of the queen . Jung Bahadur, a strong
pro- British leader prevailed during the massacre and seized control of the country. He declared
himself as prime minister and began Rana rule. The Rana ruler monopolized power by making the
king nominal figure. They also made the office of the prime minister heredity. Jung Bahadur made
sea voyage to visit queen of England and became the first Nepali to cross the ocean. Rana’s closed
Nepal for foreigners. British residency was there but their officials weren’t allowed to roam around
freely.
After Maoist started people’s war in 1996 the country for the social, economic development
of Nepali people which bought threats to the tourist and the number of tourist started decline. The
plan and policies was likely stopped for tourism in this period.
 After restoration of democracy 19 days general strike of Nepali people. Tourism is
regenerated for the tourism management and penetration.
“Nepal tourism year 20011” introduced with mission of one million tourist capacity
building in the country.

#Distinction between Tourist, Traveler, Visitor, and Excursionist

• Travelers: Any person who is taking trip within or outside his \her own country of
residence irrespective of the purpose of travel, means of transport used, even though he\she
may be traveling on foot.
• Tourist: A tourist is a person who travels to destination outside his\her residence and
working place, and stays for at least 24 hours, for the purpose of leisure or business.
• Excursionist: An excursionist is a person who temporarily visits a destination and stays
for less than24 hours, for the purpose of leisure or business, but not for transit.
• International excursionist: a visitor who does not spend the night in a collective
or private accommodation in the country visited.
• Domestic excursionist: a visitor who does not spend the night in a collective or
private accommodation in the place visited within the his\her own country.
• Visitor:
International visitors: any person who travels to a country other than that in which he\she
has his\her usual residency but outside his\her usual environment for a period not exceeding
twelve months and whose main purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity
remunerated from within the country visited.
Domestic visitors: any person residing in a country, who travels to a place within the
country but outside his\her usual environment for a period of not exceeding twelve months
and whose main purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from
within the place visited.
VISITOR TOURIST EXCURSIONIST

Any people Any person Any person

visiting a coming to visiting a country
country other country for other than his
than that in legitimate residence and
which he/she reason other remaining less
has his usual than than 24 hours.
place of immigration
residence, for and who stays
any reason at least 24
other than hours and at
following most 6 months
occupation during the same
remunerated year.
from with
country visited
and remaining
at least 24
hours.
They stay more They stay more They stay less
than 24 hours than 24 hours than 24 hours.
and less than 1 and less than 6
month. months.
They are not Their activities They shouldn’t get
involved in should be of involved in
earning ‘Economic earning activities.
activities. Nature’.
All visitors are Al the tourists All visitors may
not tourists. are called be excursionists.
visitors.

# Tourism System:
Tourism system tries to explain how tourism works. It can explain the tourist firm’s
competitive environment, its market, its result, its linkage with other institutions, the consumer
and the interaction of the firm with the consumer. In addition a system can take a macro viewpoint
and examine the entire tourism system of a country, state, or area and how it operates within and
relates to other system, such as legal, political, economic, and social systems. Tourism system is
not made up only of hotels, airlines or the so-called tourist industry but is rater a system of major
components linked together in an intimate and interdependent relationship.
According to Gunn, “The functioning tourism system, consisting of the supply side of
attraction services, promotion, information and transportation.”
According to Lie per, “Tourism system is ‘tourist generating regions’ connected to ‘tourist
destination regions’ by means of ‘transit routes’.

# Nature:
Form a conceptual point of view, we can think of tourism as, the activities of person
traveling to and staying in places outsides their usual environment for not more than one
consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes. While this is not a strict technical
definition, it does convey the essential nature of tourism, i.e.:
i. Tourism arises out of movement of people to, and their stay in, various places or
destinations.
ii. In tourism, buy and sale product doesn’t mean to buy the property as a tangible product.
It is an agreement to buy and sell products.
iii. The service can’t be provided by single enterprise. It is compilation of each service.
iv. The product of tourism can’t be transported. The customer needs to move to the product
themselves.
v. The citizen of a country are directly or indirectly involved in tourism by their work,
response and behaviors towards tourists.
vi. There are two elements in tourism- the journey to the destination and the stay (including
activities) at the destination.
 vii. The journey and stay take place outside the usual environment or normal place of
residence and work so that tourism gives rise to activities that are distinct from the
resident and working populations of the places through which tourists travel and stay.
viii. The movement to destination is temporary and short term in character- the intention is
to return within a few days, weeks or months.
ix. Destinations are visited for purposes other that taking up permanent residence or
employment in the places visited.

# Characteristics of Tourism:
The special characteristics of tourism make it different from other industry grouping in the
following ways:
i. With tourism, the consumer goes to the product; with most other industries, the product
is bought to the consumer.
ii. The products of tourism are not used up; thus, they do not exhaust countries’ natural
resources. In contrast, the products of other industries have a limited life and are
thrashed, recycled, and replaced with new ones,
iii. Tourism is labor intensive phenomenon.
iv. Tourism is people-oriented- one of the motivations of the tourists is to visit other places,
meet people, and see how they live.
v. Tourism is a multidimensional phenomenon. It is depended on many and very activates
that are separate but interdependent.
vi. Tourism can be seasonal, during vacation seasons, millions of tourists’ travel, which
results in increased revenue for tourism agencies. But when vacations are over, these
companies experience a big decline in dollars earned.
vii. Tourism is dynamic; it is characterized by changing ideas and attitudes of its consumers
and therefore must always be prepared and willing to adjust to these changes.

# Components of Tourism:
Tourist needs and demands are generally defined in terms of the following 5 A’s:
1. Attractions: Attractions re key elements that need to be considered in assessing the
tourism potential of an area. Many communities can claim to offer scenic and natural
attractions, cultural and heritage attractions, entertainment and recreational facilities. But
what makes some successful to and others less successful? The technical term ‘distance
pull’ defines the difference between two. Distance pull refers to how important or
interesting an attraction or activity is to a visitor, compared to the distance that has to be
traveled to experience it.

2. Activities: activities provide interesting or entering diversions for people once they are in
the area. Activities add variety and can make a visit more enjoyable, but it is important to
understand to understand that they cannot replace attractions.
3. Access: the major requirement for visitor access includes:
• Safe and convenient public transport (especially in international visitors)
• Well signed and maintain roads.
• Parking facilities at major attractions.
• Links between transport modes and attractions
 • Public transport form parking areas to the site of activities, such as special events or
festivals.
• Safe walking and cycling.
Sometimes mode of transport can be attraction in their own right. Ferries, steam trains, and
scenic roads with viewing areas both provide access and can be attraction in themselves.

4. Accommodation: Although day-trippers spend money on consumable items, overnight

visitors have a variety of needs, including accommodation, dining and are also more likely
spend on attractions and activities. A variety in style and quality of accommodation in a
reign/ town provides an important means to increase the economic impact of visitors.

5. Amenities: Amenities are services that most visitor take for granted until they are not there:
visitor information centre, telecommunications, roads, drinking water, toilet blocks,
rubbish bins, signage, park benches etc. A community that provides attractions but no
amenities is unlikely to maximize economic benefit from tourists, while destinations that
develop amenities without attractions will be frustrated by the lack of visitors.

# Types of Tourism:
Tourist can be defined as a person, who makes a tour away from home for leisure,
business or other purposes for more than one day but less than a year. Based on their various
needs and reasons for traveling, tourists are classified in the following categories:
1. Incentive tourism: Incentives tourists are those few lucky individuals, who get a
holiday package as a reward from his company, for good work or achieving targets,
set by the company. Incentive tourists draw inspiration from such tours to work
harder, improve work relations and focus on team bonding. A salesman who is
awarded with a nice holiday package for accomplishing the target sales is a perfect
example of incentive tourist.
2. Health or medical tourism: Those who seek special medical treatment, which is only
possible away from home, make trips to other places and are called Health or medical
tourist. Some of these tourists avail medical assistance in other countries, for they
may be expensive in their own country. Many health or medical tourists also make
trips simply to stay for few days in healthier climate. Hoards of medical tourist fly to
South Africa from oversee countries to undergo plastic surgery.
3. Business tourism: Tourist traveling with relation to business is known as business
tourist. Business tourism is part of the business world. Most of the cities feature
conference centers that cater to the needs of business tourists. A proper example of a
business tourist is a salesman, who makes trips to different places to attend trade
shows, to display and promote his own products also.
4. Education tourism: Tourists traveling to a particular place in another town, city or
country for further study in order to improve his or her educational qualification are
termed as education tourist. There are also group of people, who travel to attend
workshops to upgrade skills. A clinic nurse, who makes trip to another province to
attend a particular workshop, qualifying individual about infectious diseases is an
example of an educational tourist.
 5. Adventure tourism: Adventure tourists look for some unusual or bizarre experience.
They seek adventurous activities that may be dangerous, such as rock climbing, river
rafting, skydiving, shark cave diving and bungee jumping.
6. Cultural tourism: These types of tourists travel to experience the essence of assorted
cultures, such as San rock art, or cultural festivals such as the National Art Festival
in Grahams town, or the International Jazz Festival in Cape Town. Cultural tourists
also prefer to witness the World Heritage Sites of the traveled country.
7. Eco-tourism: Nature loving tourists, who love to go green like traveling to Bonita
Gardens in Bloemfontein South Africa or similar destinations are called eco-tourists.
They travel throughout the world in search of destinations not affected by pollution
or much human intervention.
8. Leisure tourism: These tourists want to rejuvenate and revitalize with comfort, while
enjoying a break from mundane routine of life. Examples of this type of tourism are
cruising while vacationing or simple relaxing on a beach.
9. Religious tourism: Religious tourist travel to sites of religious significance. World
is dotted with a number of religious locations like Hajj in Mecca, Jerusalem in Israel,
Varanasi in India, and the Vatican in Rome. During Easter, a huge conglomeration of
Christian pilgrimage takes place in Zion City.
10. Sport and recreation tourism: These sorts of tourists either take active part in or
just watch sports events. Some of such popular sport events are the Soccer World
Cup, Wimbledon Tennis Championship, Comrades Marathon, and Fisher River Canoe
Marathon.
11. Backpacking or youth tourism: This group of tourist is of young age and they travel
with minimum luggage and on a limited budget. But they are very passionate and love
excitements and adventures, while traveling. They generally have no specific travel
schedules and tend to travel independently.
12. Special Interest Tourism (STI): They nurture particular passion in different things
like bird watching, nature, fishing during the Sardine Run, food and wine or attending
the Cape Town Book Fair.

# Forms of Tourism:
1. Leisure Tourism: Tourists may travel to experience a change in climate and place and
learn something new, enjoy pleasant scenery, or to know more about the culture of
destination. These tourists prefer to stay in some quite and relaxed destination preferably
at a hill resort, beach resort or island resort.
2. Cultural Tourism: It is also called as heritage tourism. People are curious to know about
foreign lands and their cultures. Culture is most important factors which attracts tourists to
a destination. Cultural tourism gives insight to:
• Way of life of the people of distant land.
• Dress, jewellery, dance, music, architecture
• Fairs and festivals.
• Religions
• Culinary delights.
3. Family Tourism: Family tourism involves the family unit and their participation in diverse
forms of tourism activity. This includes visiting one relative and friends for interpersonal
 reasons. Many people in India travel for visiting their friends and relatives. While visiting
friends or relatives, people also visit tourists’ attractions in and around the city.
4. Business Tourism: The business traveler’s main motive for travel is work. Tourists visit
a particular destination for various reasons pertaining to his / her work such as attending
meeting, conferences, conventions selling products, meeting clients. Business tourism is
popularly called as MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Exhibitions) tourism.
5. Sports Tourism: Sports tourism refers to travel which involves either viewing or
participating in a sporting event staying apart from their usual environment. Sport tourism
is a fast growing sector of the global travel industry. Sport tourism refers to people traveling
to participate in a competitive sport event.
 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 102nd 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 25th 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 113th 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.
 Unit-3
Introduction to tourism demand:

# Introduction to Tourism Demand:

Tourism demand is usually regarded as a measure of visitors’ use of a good or service. The
concept of tourism demand originated from the classical definition of demand in economics,
namely the desire to possess a commodity or to make use of a service, combined with the ability
to purchase it. Tourism demand is a special form of demand in that a tourism product is a bundle
of complementary goods and services. Consumers instead of goods and services are transported,
and tourism consumption occurs simultaneously with tourism production.
Tourism demand is a broad term that covers the factors governing the level of demand, the
spatial characteristics of demand, different types of demand and the motives for making such
demands. Cooper (2004:76) defines demand as “a schedule of the amount of any product or service
that people are willing and able to buy at each specific price in a set of possible prices during some
specified period of time”
Individual called “tourism” generates tourism demands. This happen in a particular place
called a “tourism destination”. The scale and the magnitude of demand differ with time and
sometimes with seasons. Time demand for tourism services either advances or changes. Such
changes could be due to the emergence of the so-called “new tourism” (Poon, 1994 and 1993).
These tourists want to experience something new and expect high quality service and value
for their money. New tourists bring with them a different level of demand. Another important issue
that has arisen is the increasing significance of tourist seasonality with regard to periods of high
and low tourism demand referred to as peak and low seasons respectively.

# Determinants of tourism:
The majority of tourist visits take place for holiday purpose, but there are certain factors
that are considered as the important indicator for tourism demand. They are as follows:
1. Economic determinants:
• Disposal income: it is referred as the total amount of money available for an individual
or population to spend or save after taxes have been paid. As an economic measure it
is abbreviated DPL.
• GNP per capital: Gross national product (GNP) per capital is the dollar value a
country’s final output of goods and services in a year, divided by its population. It
reflects the average income of a country’s citizens. Knowledge a country’s GNP per
capital is a good first step toward understanding its economic strengths and needs.
• Cost of living: A cost-of-living index is a theoretical price index that measures relative
cost of living over time or regions. The amount of money needed to sustain a certain
level of living, basic expenses such as housing, food, taxes, and healthcare. Cost of
living is often used when comparing how expensive it is to live in one city versus
another.
• Tourism price: To be successful in the marketplace, tourism must be priced accurately
and competitively. This requires a clear understanding of the individual costs of all
product components and their impact on total product price.
• Transportations cost: The expenses a company incurs when it transfers its inventory
or other assets to another location. For example, accompany must pay a trucking or
shipping company. If a company is delivering a product, it may pass on the costs to the
 customer. Alternatively, it may spread its transportation across all products, or it may
simply absorb the costs.
2. Socio-Psychological determinants:
• Demographic factors: Demography includes factors such as population growth;
declining fertility rates, increased longevity, and immigration and labour migration etc.
these factors have significant influence upon tourism.
• Motivations: The primary drivers for travelling are needs to escape from daily routine,
workplace, but also social needs such as meeting other people, experiencing something
unique or unusual.
• Images of destination: Each destination has an image, and some can have a stronger
image than others. In order to develop a competitive position, it is important to create
and transmit a favorable image to potential tourists in target markets.
• Awareness of opportunities: Public’s understanding of the importance of tourism to
the local economy is important to tourism to flourish. Similarly, tourists should also
know the various opportunities available in the destination.
• Life span: Life span relates to tourism area life cycle (TALC) which stares that most
tourist resorts start on a very small scale and get bigger and bigger until stagnation
occurs. TALC has six stages namely 1. Exploration, 2. Involvement, 3. Development,
4. Consolidation, 5. Stagnation, 6. Decline. To stop it from decline, rejuvenation is
required. These six stages are modeled in two dimensions as product life cycle namely
on x axis it is “time” and on y axis this is “visitor” numbers.
3. Exogamous determinants: (business environment)
• Availability of supply resources: The quality and availability of tourism-supply-
resources are a critical element in meeting the needs of the ever-changing and growing
tourism market. As D. Taylor (1980) suggests, if the goods and services required by
the visitor are known, it is possible to list their availability in an area and determine
how well the supply matches the demand.
• Economic growth and stability: The relationship between economic growth and
stability refers to the manner in the political stability of a nation can lead to its economic
growth. This economic growth. This economic growth is instrumental in attracting
tourists.
• Political and social environment: The removal of political barriers and obstacles
always has a marked effect on travel. Increased political stability brings social harmony
thereby opening up new prospects for Travers.
• Recession: Recession is a contraction phase of business cycle. Due to the recession
there is an impact of slowdown in the tourism and overnight domestic visitor and the
wider effect on the overall economy.
• Accessibility: Accessibility tourism is the ongoing endeavor to ensure tourist
destinations, products and services are accessible to all people, regardless of their
physical limitations, disabilities or age. It encompasses publicly and privately owned
tourist locations.

• Motivation and tourism demand:

In a very comprehensive assessment of tourist motivation, Mountinho (1987: 16)
defined motivation as a ‘state of need, a condition that exerts a push on the individual towards
certain types of action that are seen as likely to bring satisfaction’. This means that demand is
 about using tourism as a form of consumption to achieve a level of satisfaction for an
individual, and involves understanding their behavior and actions and what shape these human
characteristics.
There are as many reasons for engaging in tourism, as there are tourists. Different
people participate in tourism for different purposes. Seemingly, every purpose comes with
specific tourism demand. One of the most common demands is for accommodation. Whatever
the intention, tourists should be accommodated in one or another. An important part of tourism
motivation is that of the behavior between the guest and host where the encounters between
the two are described as; visitors who are on the move to enjoy themselves interacting
positively with hosts, who are usually stationary and who have the function of catering for
these visitors.
In conclusion, it is evident that tourism motivations are influenced by many things
particularly images; when these ‘pull’ images are presented, motives lead to motivations.
When there is strong relationship between the tourist’s motivation and the nature of the
destination, the influence image is successful.
The most common reasons for travel away from home are:
• For leisure, recreation and holidays
• To visit friends and relatives
• For business and professional engagements
• For health treatment
• To undertake religious and other pilgrimage’s
• Other more personal motives.

• Intrinsic and extrinsic Motivation:

There is no-embracing theory of tourist motivation due to the problem of simplifying
complex psychological factors and behavior into a universally acceptable theory that can be
tested and proved in various tourism contexts. This is illustrated in table which summarizes
some of the main theoretical approaches developed in motivation research. The different
approaches illustrate that there is no general congruity between the approaches. {I.e. there is
no common agreement or approach} which explain the complexity of trying to derive general
explanations of motivation among tourists. This resulted in a large number of individual studies
of tourist motivation dating back to the 1970s which adopt different theoretical and conceptual
standpoints. One immediate complication is the problem of understanding what drives an
individual to travel.

# CUBERO RAMUMBO CLASSIFICATION OF MOTIVATIONS:

• PHYSICAL MOTIVATIORS: Which are related to physical relaxation and rest, sporting
activities activities and specific medical treatment? All are connected with the individual’s
bodily health and well-being.
• CULTURAL MOTIVATION: Which are connected with the individual’s desire to travel
in order to learn about other countries and their people and their cultural heritage expressed
in art, music, literature, folksong etc.
• INTERPERSONAL MOTIVATION: Which are related to a desire to visit relatives,
friends, of to escape from one’s family, workmates of neighbors, or to meet new people
and forge new friendships, of simply to escape from the routine of every day.
 • STATUS AND PRESTIGE MOTIVATORS: Which are identified with the needs of
personal esteem and personal development. These are related to travel for business of
professional interests, for the purpose of education and the pursuit of hobbies.

# Measuring tourism Demand:

Measuring tourism demand, studies firs of all the remaining components of visitors consumption,
mainly, expenditure in kind. Secondly, it intends to guide countries in the determination and
compilation of the other components of total tourism demand.
Tourism demand can be measured in a variety of ways. Kim (1988, p 25) categorized the
measurement criteria for all types of travel and tourism demand into four groups:
• A doer criterion: such as the number of tourist arrivals, the number of tourist visits and
the visit rate;
• A pecuniary criterion: for example the level of tourist expenditure (receipts) and share
of expenditure (receipts) in income;
• A time-consumed criterion: such as tourist-days, tourist-nights; and
• A distance-travelled criterion: for instance, the distance travelled in miles of kilometers.
Among the above four categories, the doer criterion and pecuniary criterion dominate
international tourism demand studies. Considering statistical availability and consistency between
data sources, tourist arrivals (TA) and tourist expenditure (TE) (receipt) are the most commonly
used demand measures in empirical studies, along with their derivatives, such as the tourist
participation rate derived from tourist arrivals divided by population of the origin country region
(TA_P) and tourist expenditure per capital derived from total tourist expenditure divided by
population (TE_P).

# Possible cause of high and low travel propensity:

High travel propensity Low travel propensity

• High education • Low education

• More awareness • Low awareness
• More income • Low income
• Private vehicle • No ownership of vehicle
• Better travel facilitation • Poor travel facilitation
• Good exchange rate • Poor exchange rate
• Shorter travel distance • Long travel distance
• Low travel cost • High travel cost
• Young age • Old age.

Actual or effective demand: It can measure in terms of travel propensity. Travel propensity
measures the percentage of a population that actually engages in tourism.
A useful measure of effective demand in tourism in net travel propensity
Net travel propensity= % of population of the overall population who makes at least one trip
during a given period of time.
= (number of population taking at least one trip) * 100 / total population.
Gross Travel Propensity= Gross travel propensity is the total number of tourism trips taken as a
percentage of the population.
= number of total trips) * 100 / total population
Gross travel propensity can exceed 100% as it also takes into account those who make more than
1 trips away from home.
Travel frequency= gross travel propensity / net travel propensity.

WHAT IS MEASURED IN TOURISM DEMAND?

• Volume statistics:
• Total number of individual tourist arrivals and the total number of tourist departures
• No. of trips= (no. of individuals) (no. of trips per individual)
• Total tourist nights= (no. of trips) (average length of stay)
• Value Statistics
• Measurement of economic value of foreign visitors and outgoing visitors (expenditure)
• International tourism Expenditure
• International tourism receipts
• Leisure trip

• Tourism Statistics:
The trend and transformation in global travel and tourism can be assessed at different, but
interrelated, geographic levels; the global, the regional and the national.

# Global Level:
• Dramatic growth of travel and tourism
• The contribution of travel and tourism to the global economy.
Most commonly, a global perspective on travel and tourism FOCISES UPON TWO
KEY issues:
• The worldwide scale and value of travel and tourism has growth dramatically in terms of
both arrivals and receipts. However, the key point is that, although the annual rate of growth
is slowing, travel and tourism is resilient to external factors. Major events, such as ‘9/11’,
have only limited and temporary impacts on overall growth of travel and tourism, which is
forecast to continue in the foreseeable future.
• The contribution of travel and tourism to the global economy. The most powerful
justification for developing tourism is its contribution to national, regional and global GDP
and employment.
However, it is also important of recognize the global patterns of travel and tourism
flows/trends the reasons for them. Specifically, travel and tourism flows are not equitable
(or equally enjoyed by all regions or country); they tend to be regionalized (i.e. within
particular regions) and polarized (i.e. between particular countries). These patterns are, to
an extent, influenced by the historical ‘driver’ of the growth in travel and tourism. But
global tourist flows are also determined by:
• The nature and supply of tourism resources (nature, man-made, cultural) at the global
and national scales.
• Distance between destinations and main generating regions.
 • Transport and communication networks
• Climate and climate change
• National and international political economy
• Globalization of the world economy and business.

# Regional level:
Regional perspective on global travel and tourism is concerned with:
• An analysis of the volume and growth of travel and tourism within regions
• Comparisons between regions
As noted, travel and tourism flows are highly regionalized; that is, the most significant flows of
international tourism occur within particular regions.
At the same time, the WTO divides the world into six regions also have their own regional (for
example, PATA, CTO) or sub-regional tourism organizations which collate and disseminate
information, develop regional tourism policies, and soon.
Moreover, many external influences (wars, terrorism, health scares, etc.) are most keenly felt at
the regional level.
Therefore, a regional perspective on global travel and tourism is concerned with:
• An analysis of the volume, value and growth trends and tourism within regions, the
potential for future growth, and regional policies, and
• Comparisons between regions. This the principal means of identifying and explaining
transformations is the patterns of international tourism flows.

# National Level:
Different picture of global tourism:
• How each country is performing relative to other tourism destinations
• The national level it is vital to consider the volume/value of travel and tourism relative to
other national criteria, such as employment or contribution to GDP.
When countries are listed according to the importance of tourism to the national economy, a
very different picture of global tourism emerges
Travel and tourism statistics relating to individual countries are usually complied into annual
league table of the world’s leading tourism generating countries (either by departures or spending)
and tourism destination countries (either by the number of arrivals or tourism receipts)
These provide of course, an indication of how each country is performing relative to other tourism
destinations (that is, their share of global travel and tourism) as well as providing a more detailed
picture of picture of the shifting patterns of tourism flows.

However, at the national level it is also vital to consider the volume/value of travel and tourism
relative to other national criteria, such as employment or contribution to GDP. In other words,
global league tables of the travel and tourism sector in many LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
(LDCs) is insignificant in global terms but is often the largest economic sector within the country.
Therefore, when countries are listed according to the importance of tourism to the national
economy, a very different picture of global tourism emerges. The WTTC’s country league tables,
accessible on the WTTC website, provide much of the information you might require.

• Major Tourism Markets of Nepal:

 The tourism industry is experiencing a tremendous growth with an ever increasing pressure
from number of destinations. The change of tourism market in Asia requires Nepal to develop
an effective marketing plan and strategy to attract Asian tourists from china, India, Japan,
South Korea and Malaysia. In the Southeast Asian region, several countries, particularly
Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are competing with each other to be regional tourism hubs
in Southeast Asia.
The rapid economic growth in Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia has led to a
large increase in national income, and hence disposable personal income. India and china is by
far the most important tourist generating countries for Nepal and there has been a recent
substantial increase in the value of international travel and tourism revenues and holds
promising future prospects.
SN=Destination/site=major places covered:
• Kathmandu and Lalitpur:- KTM and Lalitpur urban areas, Godavari, Hattiban, Gokama.
• Bhaktapur, Nagarkot, Dulikhel:- Nagarkot, Bhaktapur, Dhulikhel, Panauti, Namobuddha
• Pokhara Valley:- pokhara city and nearest surroundings
• Annapurna Region:- Ghandruk route, Ghorepani route, ABC trek, Jomsom, Lomangthang,
Muktinath, Manang, Ghalegaun areas.
• Chitwan Area:- chitwan NP and surroundings, kurintar, bharatpur, Nawalparasi
• Everest region:- jumbesi, Salleri, lukla, Namche, Everest Base Camp.
• Rolwaling, Numbur, sailing:- Charikot, Rolwaling, jiri, shivalaya, Bhandar, number,
Sailung Lubughat (IP Trail)
• Langtang, Helambu Region:- tamang Heritage Trial, Langtang/kanjin trail, Goshaikunda
trail, Chisapani-Helambu region.
• Biratnagar, Jhapa, Ilam, Dharan and Dhankuta:- Biratnagar, Itahari, Kakadbhita, Damak,
Ilam, Phikkal, Dharan, Bhedetar, Fhankuta, Hile.
• Kanchenjunga Region:- Phungling, Suketar, phungling-Ghunsa Route.
• Hetauda, Birgunj, Jnakpur:- Hetauda, Birgung, Phungling-ghunsa route.
• Trishuli, Gorkha, bandipur, Besisahar:- Trishuli, Manakamna, Gorkha, bandipur, Damauli,
Besisahar
• Lumbini, Palpa, Butwal:- Tansen, Butwal, Bhairahawa, Sunauli, Siddharthanagar,
Lumbini
• Nepalgunj, Bardiya and Surket:- Nepalgunj, Gulariya, Thakurdwara, Surkhet.
• Dhangadhi and Mahendranager:- Dhangadhi, Mahendranager, Shuklaohanta.
• Other miscellaneous areas:- Kodari Highway (sindhypalchowk), kakani, Danab,
Khendbari, Sirubari, Barapak.

# Major Tourism Activities:

1. Mountain Climbing: The 800 km stretch of the Nepal Himalayan is the greatest in the
world with eight peaks that rise above 8000m including the highest in the world, Mt.
Everest. Ever since the country open its peaks to climbers in 1994, the Nepal Himalayan
has become a great theater of mountaineering activity and the drama of success and failure
have provided impetus to thousand of men and women to meet the ultimate challenge. The
Nepal Himalayan has been an attraction to many people, be they saints, philosophers,
researchers or adventures.
 2. Trekking: The best way to experience Nepal’s unbeatable combination of natural beauty
and culture riches is to walk through them. One can walk along the beaten trails or virgin
tracks. Along with forests of rhododendron, isolated hamlets, and small mountain villages,
birds, animals, temple, monasteries and breathtaking landscapes, tourist will also encounter
friendly people of different cultures offering a fascinating glimpse of traditional rural life.
3. Rafting: Rafting is one of the best ways to explore the typical cross section of natural as
well as ethno-cultural heritage of the country. There are numerous rivers in Nepal which
offer excellent rafting or canoeing experience. The Trisuli River (Grade 3+) is one of the
most popular of Nepal’s raftable rivers. An extremely popular sport in Europe, cannoning
is now available in Nepal. Cannoning gives tourist the freedom to explore some of the most
ruggedly beautiful, yet forbidden places in the world.
4. Hot Air Ballooning: Hot air ballooning is a very popular with tourist for it affords the
most spectacular birds-eye view of Katmandu valley and the Himalayan ranges towering
in the background. On a clear day it’s a superb way to view the Himalayan (from over
6000m up), and the view of valley is equally breathtaking.
5. Bungy Jumping: The ultimate thrill of a Bungy Jump can now be experienced in Nepal at
one of the best sites that this sport can boast of anywhere in the world. Nepal’s first bungy
jumping site is situated 160 meter. Over the Bhote Khoshi River, inviting tourist to
experience the ultimate adrenaline rush in the surroundings of this amazing place. The
jump, at 160m is staffed and operated by some of the most experienced jump masters in
the business.

• Emerging Trends and New Thrust Areas OF Nepalese Tourism:

With the world tourism fraternity looking at Nepal with renewed interest, the time for Nepal
has finally arrived with the current tourism boom people across the world are looking at Nepal
as a top destination.
Ministry of tourism should realize that:
• Amenities need to be in place for people to come and enjoy their experience.
• Concerted efforts required in creating awareness through many campaigns.
• Better connectivity and up gradation of tourism infrastructure.
• Making Nepal an accessible destination for tourists across the globe. (E.g. Visa ease).
Effort like a visit Nepal.
Social trends and political developments seem to be the most influencing factors. The
changing nature of tourism system itself is also driving CHANGES INTERNALLY within the
sector.
Technological advancements are also going to affect the tourism industry.
# Emerging Trends and new Thrust Areas of Nepalese Tourism:
Rural Tourism: Rural tourism taking place In rural areas or settlements, providing employment
and income to local, population, and offering individualization holiday products to consumers.
Rural tourism is based on accommodation service which is complemented by additional
service/facilities relying on the local social, cultural and natural resources, which are exploited
according to the principles of sustainable development. It is multi-faceted and may entail
farm/agriculture, cultural, nature, adventure and eco-tourism. As against conventional tourism,
rural tourism has certain typical characteristics like, it is experience oriented; the locations are
sparsely populated; it is predominantly in natural environment; ir meshes with seasonality and
local events and is based on preservation of cultural; heritage and traditions. In Nepal, the emphasis
is on traditions, arts and crafts.
MICE tourism: the “MICE” in the context of travel is an acronym for meetings, incentives,
conferences and Exhibitions/ Events.
It refers to a specialized niche of group tourism dedicated to planning, booking and facilitating
conferences, seminars and other events.
Sometimes referred to as the meetings or events industry, MICE travel involves a number of
components. They include
• Corporate meeting planners;
• Meetings and convention departments of hotels,
• Conference centers or cruise ships;
• Food and beverage managers;
• Logistics firms.
Traditional Wedding Tour: In Nepal provides access to knowledge of the wedding system of
Hindus and Buddhists of the country. The wedding practices of the country are unique and unlike
to rest of the traditions of the world. You can also participate in wedding ceremonies of different
ethnics and castes of Nepal. The particular traditional varies in accordance to caste and ethnicity
of the couple. The traditional way of Nepalese wedding attracts many of the visitors. Some of them
are inspired to so extent that they decide to re-marry in accordance to Nepalese way of wedding
most ceremonies happen in month of Mangsir.
Ecotourism: Ecotourism in Nepal is the main form of tourism in the country aside from the
attractions of Kathmandu and other historical cities. Ecotourism is perhaps nowhere more relevant
than in Nepal. With massive mountains, rolling hills, abundant vegetation and diverse wildlife- it
is little wonder that Nepal is a popular tourist destination and the ideal location for ecotourism.
Eco-tourism in plain is a system of traveling to destinations where nature comes before anything
else. As a traveler you play an important role in the lives of locals by appreciating their gifts; their
nature, society, and culture, and traveling as if you were living and celebrating your life in that
place just like the locals.

Medical: Tourism is the act of traveling abroad to receive medical, dental and cosmetic care.
Medical Tourism is also known as Medical Outsourcing and medical value travel. Significantly
lower costs for best practice care are usually the primary motivation in medical tourism although
some medical tourists go abroad for immediate availability of procedures and for treatments that
are not available in their home country. While abroad, patients also frequently take advantage of
the opportunity to vacation and tour inexpensively in the country they are visiting.

Mountaineering: Nepal is a country well known for its Himalaya Mountains. Among the 10
highest peaks in the world, eight, including the highest peak Mt. Everest, crown this country.
Mountaineering in Nepal is a prime tourism activity proving Nepal the cradle for mountaineers for
ages. Nepal Mountaineering with no substitute. Nepal is the home to the highest mountains in the
world including Mt Everest, Mt Kanchenjunga, Mt Dhaulagiri, Mt Annapurna and many other
peaks famous in the world of mountaineering.

Trekking: Trekking is a form of walking, undertaken with the specific purpose of exploring and
enjoying the scenery. It usually takes place on trails in areas of relatively unspoiled wilderness.
“Trekking is combination of hiking and walking activity in which people take multi-days trips in
rural, un development area. In another words, Trekking is making a journey/trips on foot,
especially to hike through mountainous areas often for multiple days and along lovely mountains
villages and enjoying nature and/or close contact with people in remote mountain villages where
lifestyle sometimes is unchanged since many generations.

Water tourism: It involves traveling to locations specifically to take part in water-based activities.
Water tourism is traveling by boat while on holiday, with the express purpose of seeking things
meant for the water tourist. While water tourism often involves active pursuits, some water tourist
visit islands and coastal regions in order to participate in more leisurely pursuits such as diving or
snorkeling. Tourists often visit well-known destinations such as major water parks, popular lakes
or well renowned beach location but some travel firms market deluxe vacations to remote regions
such as islands in the south pacific.

Ethnic tourism: Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-lingual nation,

pluralism and diversity are its unique and notable features. Ethnic tourism is when travelers choose
to experience first-hand the practices of another culture, and may involve performances,
presentations and attractions portraying or presented by small, often isolated indigenous
communities.

Agro tourism: Agro Tourism is a style of vacation which is normally on farms. This may include
the chance to help with farming tasks the visit. Agro tourism is developing in to a large part of the
tourism industry and will soon be one of the largest sectors of tourism. People are more interested
in how their food is produced and want to meet the producers and talk with them about what goes
into food production. Agro tourism has various different economic and social cultural aims. The
basis of the program is the revitalization of the countryside and reversal of urban trend. It brings
tourists to the countryside instead of over populating cities.
Unit-4
• National Tourism Institution And Organization And Its Roles In Promotion:
• PUBLIC SECTOR
• NTC:
Nepal, operating any form of telecommunication service dates back to 94 years in B.S.
1970. But formally telecom service was provided mainly after the establishment of
MOHAN AKASHWANI in B.S. 2005. Later as per the plan formulation in first
national five year plan (2012-2017); telecommunication Department was converted
into Telecommunications Development Board in B.S. 2026. After the enactment of
communication Corporation Act 2028, it was formally established as fully owned
Government Corporation called Nepal Telecommunications Corporation in B.S 2032
for the purpose of providing telecommunications services to Nepalese people. After
serving the nation for 29 years with great pride and a sense of accomplishment, Nepal
Telecommunication Corporation was transformed into Nepal Doorsancahr Company
limited is a company registered under the companies Act 2053. However the company
is known to the company is known to the general public by the brand name Nepal
Telecom as registered trademark.
Nepal Telecom has always put its endeavors in providing its valued customers a quality
service since its inception. To achieve this goal, technologies best meeting the interest
of its customers has always been selected. The nationwide reach of the organization,
from urban areas to the economically non-viable most remote locations, is the result of
all these efforts that makes these organization different forms others.
Definitely Nepal Telecom’s widespread reach will assist in the socio-economic
development of the urban as well as rural areas, as telecommunications is one of the
most important infrastructures required for development. Accordingly in the era of
globalization, it is felt that milestones and achievements of the past are not adequate
enough to catch up with the global trend in the development of telecommunication
sector and the growth of telecommunication services in the country will be guided by
technology, Declining equipment prices, market growth due to increase in standard of
life and finally by healthy competition.
Converting NT from government owned Monopoly Company to private owned,
business oriented, customer focused company in a competitive environment, Nepal
Telecom invites its all-probable shareholders in the sacred work of nation building.

NTB:
Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) is national organization to promote the image of Nepal in
the world. NTB is a national organization, which is established in 1998 A.D. it is
established Nepal government under the Nepal Tourism Board act 2053 (1997). It is
established by parliament in the form of partnership between the Government of Nepal
and private sector related to tourism industry. The main goal of NTB is to develop and
market Nepal as an attractive tourist destination. Short from of Nepal Tourism Board.
NTB functions under Government of Nepal.
Nepal tourism Board is a national organization established in 1998 by an act of
parliament in the form of partnership between the Government of Nepal and private
sector tourism industry to develop and market Nepal as an attractive tourist destination.
The board provides platform for vision-drawn leadership for Nepal’s tourism sector by
 integrating Government Commitment with the dynamism of private sector. NTB is
promoting Nepal in the domestic and international market and is working toward
repositioning the image of the country. It also aims to regulate product development
activities. Fund for NTB is collected in the form of Tourist Service Fee from departing
foreign passengers at the Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, thus keeping it
financially independent. The Board chaired by the Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism
and Civil Aviation Consists of 11 board members with five Government
representatives, five private sector representative and the Chief Executive Officer.
“NATURALLY NEPAL, one is not enough” is the tourism brand of Nepal.” Naturally
Nepal” is a simple expression that repackages the Nepal brand in a positive light. “Once
is not Enough” not only accurately captures the tourist’s emotions at the airport’s
departure gate but also serves as a decision tool that enables the Nepali tourism industry
individually and collectively to focus both on consumer retention and acquisition.
Launching of Nepal brand has been done for the five business reasons:
• More compelling repackage the diverse, existing product offering.
• More tourist increase the number of tourists visiting Nepal
• More money increase the revenues to the nation
• More focus align NTB’s stake holders and Nepali tourist industry to a common
future
• More consistency defines branding guidelines and investment vehicles.
Brand Nepal is also promoted as “the next generation mountain destination for
weekend breaks, adventure holidays, and life time experiences for people who live in
cosmopolitan cities and travel internationally”.

MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND TOURISM

Government of Nepal Ministry Of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation:
Department of Tourism:
Tourism reaches into the varied aspects of Nepalese life and its benefits are encompassed
by diverse sector 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 earns in the country and thus makes a significant contribution to the
economy. Government of Nepal has been actively promotion tourism in Nepal and has
always encouraged the private sector for their involvement and participation. The ministry
of culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MOTCA) gives equal importance to conservation
of nature, cultural and human resources.
Ministry of Tourism first came into existence in 2053 BS (1982 AD), civil Aviation was
also merged into the Ministry of Tourism and civil Aviation. In 2057 (2000AD), Cultural
sector was also integrated in the Ministry and called the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and
Civil Aviation (MOCTCA). In August 31, 2008 (B.S. 2065-5-15) the Ministry was
divided into two ministries, i.e. ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation and Ministry of
Culture and State Restructuring. The name of the ministry became the ministry of Tourism
and Civil Aviation (MOTCA). The culture sector has been integrated with the tourism and
civil aviation on May 18, 2012 (2069-02-05 BS). The name of the ministry has now become
the ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

• PRIVATE SECTOR
• Hotel Association Nepal (HAN):
History:
History in the year 1966 with eight hotels, Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) has come a
long way. Since its inception HAN has been able to make its presence felt by making
an impact on the governmental policy formulation and the setting up of regulation
regarding the hotel and tourism industry.
Within the first ten years of its inception, HAN was able to project itself as a leader in
the governmental decision-making process pertaining to tourism of Nepal. The
government formulated and implemented tourism policies only after taking
consultations with HAN. Back then the hotel industry was one of the few successful
industries in the country.
The 1970s and the early 80s were profile period for tourism. It was in this period many
categories of star rated hotels were established not only within the confines of
Kathmandu but also outside the valley such as Pokhara and Chitwan. The boom of
hotel industry in this era also contributed in the growth of other segments of the tourism
industry. Travel and trekking agents became more profession and their market size
grew in leaps and bounds.
The 1980s ushered in the concept of a borderless world; trade and commerce began to
take place from one corner of the world to the other. The tourism industry also began
to reap the benefits form this. The hotel business grew but along with the growth it
faced numerous problem such as need for international standard service, national and
international networking, growth of the hotel business. HAN has played a very
important role in resolving these issues by creating national and international networks
and raising concerted voice to the government level to address the problems faced by
the hotel industry.
Till date HAN has dedicatedly made efforts to resolve issues regarding the hotel
business in the country owing to the fact that this industry contributes significantly to
the country’s economy. HAN success lies in the cooperation received from its
members.

Affiliations
Bilateral Associations:
HAN has forged a broad network of national and international contacts so that our
members can gain their expertise, acquire valuable insight into the latest industry
development as well as acquire solutions to the industry’s challenges and priorities.
The international network will further ensure consistency in service standards and gain
knowledge of new technology and management techniques. Today, HAN has bilateral
relations with hotel associations of Singapore, India, China, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,
Bhutan, Thailand and Malaysia.

Partnerships:
Policy and regulation plays a significant role in the development of this sector.
Therefore HAN has created positive and pragmatic partnerships with various
government agencies.
HAN is the only representative of tourism sector in the National Planning Council and
therefore influences positively in the government’s decision-making process pertaining
to tourism in order to create a robust policy and regulative framework to achieve our
objectives allowing our industry to deliver growth.
HAN also has partnership with Nepal Tourism Board and works together in various
promotional activities as a commitment to deliver our ambitious agenda.

Objective:
Objective of HAN is to protect and promote our member hoteliers so they can prosper
and progress. HAN emphasis lies in the adaptability and creativity in the hospitality
industry, which ensures not just adapting change but anticipating change and in essence
to forge its way to a global market.

To achieve our goal of helping our member hoteliers become more competitive
and successful we have set our objectives as follows:
• To promote the hotel industry and to protect the lawful rights of its members.
• To create uniformity in the rules of administration and management of the hotels
and other hospitality businesses.
• To raise the standard of the hospitality service by interchange of personnel,
assistance in staffing of hotels.
• Through education and trainings in the fields of hotel industry.
• To investigate and inquire into all the issues and problems faced by the members.
• To develop laws related to the hospitality industry and tourism sector and raise
voice against any laws detrimental to the developments of this industry.
• To further international partnership and understanding among the employee and
employers within the industry.
• To undertake arbitration towards the settlement of disputes between.
• Members of the association
• Members of the association and employees
• Members and other individuals
• To promote co-operation among national, international and regional organizations
related to the hospitality and tourism industry.

• Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA):

Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) was established in 1966
(2022/11/27 BS) by a group of leading travel agents, who felt that it was the time to
work together to formulate sound business principle and to regulate the travel industry
in Nepal. The primary purpose of NATTA was to protect the in the interests of those
engaged in the travel trade business, to promote its orderly growth and development,
to safeguard the travelling public from exploitation by unreliable agents.
NATTA Is non-political, non-profit making, non-governmental pioneer and national
association of travel industry in Nepal. It is recognized as the main representative body
of tourism industry in Nepal.
The number of association’s members has been increasing since its establishment.
Today, there are more than 450 active members and 10 Allied Members in NATTA,
NATTA also offers provisional Membership.

The aim and objective of the Association shall be to:

• Contribute to the healthy development of tourist industry and trade.
• Develop goodwill among travel agents on all subjects of common interests and
welfare and protect the professional interest.
• Provide co-operation and consultation to His majesty’s Government for the
promotion of tourism in Nepal.
• Work directly or indirectly for institutional mission of all matters pertaining to
interests of tourist industry and trade.
• Enthuse feelings of close co-ordination and professional ethics among all
components engaged in tourist industry and trade.
• Undertake research work for promotion of tourism.
• Obtain national and international recognition for the association.
• Promote and safeguard the interests of other professionals, trade and industries that
are ancillary to tourism.

• TAAN (Trekking Agencies Association Of Nepal):

TAAN is an umbrella association of trekking agencies in the country. It was established
in 1979 by a handful of trekking agency operators who felt it was time to devise sound
business principles as well as regulate the sector which was growing by leaps and
bounds with every passing year. They also felt the need of a strong lobby group that
could suggest to the government on several issues to promote the Nepali tourism
industry and develop tourism as a revenue generating industry.
Trekkers’ information management System (TIMS) has been implemented joined by
Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) to
ensure safety and security of trekkers and to control illegal trekking operations.
Trekking companies will be asked to furnish personal information of trekkers like their
passport numbers, nationality and their contact address and their itinerary. The data
will be uploaded in visitors’ database which can be accessed in case of accidents and/or
natural calamities in order to inform the concerned institutions about the number of
trekkers inside a certain trekking area.
TIMS cards should be collected by both free individual Trekkers (FITs) and trekkers
taking the service of government authorized trekking agencies.
Past experiences have revealed that difficulties were seen while carrying out rescue
operations during times of accidents and natural calamities. Due to the lack of proper
record system of trekkers, rescue and search mission used to face difficulties in spotting
the missing trekkers. Based on the data collected through (TIMS) cards, however, it
will be possible to know the position of a trekker in case a rescue operation is needed.
The provision of Trekkers’ Information Management system (TIMS) came into effect
on January 1, 2008. Since then, the trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN)
and Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) started recording trekker’s details and began issuing
TIMS Card to Trekkers.
As per the recent MoU signed by NTB and TAAN, (TIMS) card is applicable in all
trekking areas of the country including restricted areas. Group’s trekkers will have to
pay Blue TIMS cards by paying a fee of Rs 1000 per person, while FITs have to get
Green TIMS cards by paying a fee of Rs 2000. Similarly, group trekkers form SAARC
countries have to pay Rs 300 for (TIMS) cards, while FITs from the SAARC region
have to pay RS 600 each.
• TURGAN: Tourist Guide Association of Nepal (TURGAN)
• Introduction: Tourist Guide Association of Nepal (TURGAN) is, in reality, a
representative body of Tourist Guide or escorts, Who are, and have been engaging
themselves, throughout the country, in the field of guiding, teaching and lecturing
the in-coming tourists or lay visitors at the sight, who come to Nepal in the quest
of gathering knowledge and understanding, in regard to its history, culture, social
life, flora and fauna, etc. the associated member-guides of this organization are all
well qualified and have been trained intensively from the then government
approved “Hotel Management and Tourism Training Center (HMTTC) and, with
the possession of, at least, graduate degree obtained from the approved university.
The erstwhile HMTTC’S name has now being changed to stand as Nepal Academy
of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM). In addition to English, the guide
da also speaks other international languages. Hence, the organization is proud of
having the congregation of guides, speaking almost all the languages of the world,
apart from the international one.
• Background: A bunch of dedicated and well qualified Tourist Guides, Involved in
the profession of guiding and lecturing the visitors in Nepal, sat down in a meeting
in 1989 and after long deliberation, decided unanimously to form an organization
with the objective of safeguarding and protecting their interest. Such a wishful
thinking and subsequent effectual endeavor, taken up by them, finally culminated
in the establishment, on the same year, of this august body named as “Tourist Guide
Association of Nepal” with the name being figured out, and charter of the
organization being prepared by the lawyer, it was duly registered in the concerned
Department of Nepal Government to have its legal sanctity and status. Now it
enjoys full authority and reorganization in the tourism fraternity of Nepal as well.
TURGAN now forms part as one of the fifteen tourism organization of national
level in terms of providing advices, services and expertise to the government or the
local bodies whenever broad policy matters, concerning the tourism promotion and
advancement, is to be discussed and finally approved.
• Definition: In regard to the definition of a Tourist Guide, it is mentioned in the
charter of TURGAN, that the guide is a person who has obtained training in Hotel
Management and Tourism Training Centre (now it is called NATHM) and officially
be holding a valid guiding license, to be widely and effetely used for all over the
country, issued and directed by the Nepal’s government Department of Tourism.
Those who do not come under this purview of qualification and punishment,
according to the prevailing law of the land.
• Objective:
• To foster a feeling of brotherhood and amity among the member fellow-guides
while realizing one’s duty responsibility in the run up to making the guiding
profession as a successful as well as a progressive venture.
• To be aware of one’s rights, duties and safety and for the sake of preserving it, get
prepared to take effective steps for the restoration and realization.
• To promote a feeling of mutual understanding and felicitation amongst the national
and international organizations for the growth of tourism in Nepal.
 • To make concerted attempt to explore and provide knowledge of Nepal’s religious,
historical, traditional, cultural, geographical, social, language, art and way of life
of Nepalese people to the outside world.
• To build a healthy and co-operative partnership amongst the related tourism
entrepreneurs and different bodies of the same line-agencies for achieving perpetual
mutual understanding and goodwill.
• To conduct seminars, workshop, research on various facets of tourism advancement
in Nepal and notify the related agencies including the government with suitable
suggestions and advices for timely improvement.
• Activities of TURGAN: TURGAN has continuously participated, in the capacity
of presidential or other Executive levels in all of the seminars, workshops, meetings
and other mutual discussions Board, NATTA, NARA, HAN, PATA and TAAN
etc. and have effectively provided its opinion and expertise on relative issues from
the time of its inception. TURGAN did also organize, by its own initiative, a
workshop in the past, based on the theme “Prospect of Tourism in Nepal”, which
saw the participation from all of its tourism fraternity. The views expressed by the
tourism entrepreneurs then were taken by the government as a guideline for the
formulation of policy and schemes to shape the future of overall tourism
perspective. The launching of the workshop seminar was highly acclaimed by the
tourism pundits then for its successful and result-oriented conclusion.

• NARA (Nepal Association of Rafting Agents):

Nepal Association of Rafting Agents was registered (Government Recognized) on
26th December 1989. NARA is an association of all the rafting outfitters of Nepal and is
the only one association where we get all kinds of information about rafting trip in Nepal
such as Rafting information of Nepal, Rafting equipment and the rafting agencies of Nepal.
The main purpose of our association (NARA) is to introduce and promote Nepal’s rafting
(River sports) in national and international sector. We trained people and create job to help
unemployment problem. We promote and advertise rafting in international sector and bring
more tourists to help earn more foreign currency and revenue to the Government.
NARA co-ordinate with Government of Nepal to facilitates its members. In another word,
NARA is a mediator between Government and its members.
NARA has been participating in international rafting events (Rafting competition and rally)
since 1989, and has organized Himalayan international Whitewater Rafting Competition
in year 1998 on the auspicious occasion of “visit Nepal Year” we have organized training
problems since our establishment. We have already trained 600 River guides in different
subject as first- Ai, AR (Artificial Respiration) CPR (Cardio pulmonary Resuscitation)
River rescue Basic River Guide, kayak training and SRT Training.
We have been doing other social activities every year since we are established. We are
donating blood every year on NARA day. We Run river site Cleaning programs, toilet
construction and tree plantation. We are much concern about pollution and environment of
the country and our natural resources and tourist facilities.
 • NMA (Nepal Mountaineering Association):
The Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) is the national mountaineering
association of Nepal. The NMA was founded in 1973 with the goals of promoting
mountaineering activities in the Himalayan, providing safety awareness and
mountaineering skills to Nepalese mountaineers and creating awareness of the
beauty of the Himalayans both nationally and in international communities. The
NMA is an activities member of the UIAA.
The NMA was also responsible for administering climbing permits for 33
mountains with altitudes between 5500 meters and 6600 meters categories as
trekking peaks, while permits for all other mountains open for climbing in Nepal
(approximately 300 peaks) are issued by the ministry of Tourism and civil Aviation
(MoTCA). In October 2015 the government of Nepal announced that responsibility
for the peaks would be transferred from NMA to MoTCA.

International Tourism Institutions and Organizations and Their Role in Promoting

International Movement

# UNWTO:
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the united nation agency
responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible
tourism. As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UNWTO
promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and
environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing
knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.
UNWTO encourages the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism,
to maximize tourism’s socio-economic contribution while minimizing its possible negative
impacts, and is committed to promoting tourism as an instrument in achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), geared towards reducing poverty and festering
sustainable development worldwide.
UNWTO generates market knowledge, promotes competitive and sustainable
tourism policies and instruments, foster tourism education and training, and works to make
tourism an effective tool for development through technical assistance projects in over 100
countries around the world.
UNWTO’s membership includes 157 countries, 6 Associate Members and over 480
Affiliate Members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism
associations and local tourism authorities.

# WTTC:
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is a forum for travel and tourism
industry. It is made up of members from the governments to raise awareness about the
travel and tourism industry. It is known for being the only forum to represent the private
sector in all parts of the industry worldwide. Its activity includes research on the economic
and social impact of the industry and its organization of global and regional summits
focused on issues and developments relevant to the industry.
 The WTTC performs and publishes research in conjunction with Oxford
Economics on the economic and social impact of the travel and tourism industry. The
foundation of the WTTC’s research activity is a set of annually produced Travel & Tourism
Economic Impact reports. The reports calculate the economic impact of the industry
including the direct and total GDP impacts, direct and indirect employment, investment,
and experts. Using models based on Tourism Satellite Accounting, the Council reports one
year and ten year forecasts for these impacts. The research is used by major publications
including Forbes and Bloomberg News. It also supplies country indicators for the travel
and tourism competitiveness report, a reports published by the World Economic Forum
that ranks selected nations according to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index.
The WTTC organizes a Global Summit each year, usually held in April, with a
regional summit held sometime in the third quarter, with up to 1000 individuals attending
each year. Attendance to the summit is by invitation.

# TAAI:
The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) was formed toward the end of the
year 1951 by a group of twelve leading travel agents, who felt the trine had come to create
an association to regulate the travel industry in India along organized lines and in
accordance with sound business principles. The primary purpose was to protect the
interests of those engaged in the industry, to promote its orderly growth and development
and to safeguard the travelling public from exploitation by unscrupulous and unreliable
operators.
What is TAAI?
• TAAI is a professional coordinating body of different segments of the travel and
tourism industry.
• TAAI is the Nodal Association of India.
• TAAI is non-political, non-commercial and non-profit making organization.
• TAAI is recognized as the main representative body of the travel and tourism
industry.

# IATO:
Being the National Apex Body of the Tourism Industry, IATO is always actively
responsive to its social responsibility. All IATO members actively participate in meeting
their Social Obligations not only during national emergencies and natural calamities, but
also as an ongoing venture. During the recent years IATO Members contributed generously
for the National Defense Fund and has also contributed whole heartedly to the Prime
Minister’s Relief Fund, also to help the Government in their efforts during the national
crises.

# IATA:
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the
world’s airlines, representing some 260 airlines or 83% of total air traffic. AITA support
many areas of aviation activity and help formulate industry policy on critical aviation
issues.
A guiding concept of IATA’s structure is “Global Development, Regional
Delivery”, where the Head Office divisions drive the development of global standards,
systems and advocacy positions, while the regional and country offices are responsible for
implementation.

# ITC:
The International Trade Centre (ITC) enhances the competitiveness of the tourism
sector in order to strengthen its contribution to sustainable development. ITC’s specific
competence lies in its trade orientation and its mandate to work with the private sector,
especially for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalization. For
destinations with a priority on increasing the impact of their international trade in tourism,
ITC offers holistic solutions in aid for trade in tourism including export strategy,
customized data analysis public private dialogue, SME competitiveness development,
industry linkages, and a focus on sustainability and inclusion.
Tourism is sector predominantly driven by SMEs and is particularly valuable as an
agent for development and as a driver for socio-economic progress. Tourism encompasses
a wide range of goods and services sectors and generates multiplier effects across many
sub-activities in the value chain. These activities are interlinked with many other activities
across the economy and have trickle-down effects that benefit local and marginalized
communities.
#PATA:
Founded in 1951, the pacific Asia travel association [PATA] is a not for profit association
that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of
travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia pacific region. The association provides
aligned adhocracy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organizations,
comprising 88 government, state and city tourism bodies, nearly 22 international airlines,
airport and cruise lines, 62 educational institutes and hundreds of travel industry companies
in Asia pacific and beyond.

#UFTTA
The united federation of travel agents association [UFTTA] emanates from the universal
federation of travel agents association created in Rome, Italy, on November 22 nd, 1966.
UFTTA was originally founded as a result of a merger of two large world organizations,
FIAV and UOTAA, recognizing the need to unity travel agencies and tour-operation into
one international federation.
UFTTA is world body representing the travel agency and tourism industry. UFTTA
effectively represent travel agents and tour operators views on both inbound and outbound
travel by continuous dialogue and consultation with other international organizations such
as the international air transport association [IATA], the international hotel and restaurant
association [IH&RA] the international union of railways [IUR], the international road
union [IRU], and the international chamber of commerce [ICC] to mention only a few.
#ASTA
The American society of travel agents [ASTA] is a trade association which was formed to
represent and defined the business and regulatory public policy interest of travel
intermediaries, including travel agencies [including traditional “brick and mortar”
agencies, online portals, mega-and corporate agencies, and small and mid-market business]
and tour providers [including wholesalers and operators ]. The headquarters is in
Alexandria, Virginia, united states; it is a US internal revenue service 501[c][6] tax-exempt
not-for-profit entity.
Its members includes travel agents, intermediaries, and supplier companies who offer travel
products and services such as tours, cruises, hotels, destinations, tourist bureaus, ground
transport, car rentals, local guides and hosts. ASTA aims to act as an advocate for travel
agents, the travel industry and the travelling public.
The American society of travel agents [ASTA] was founded on April 20, 1931 in New
York City as the American steamship and tourist agents association. ASTA changed its
name to the American society of travel agents in 1944. On January 26, 2000, ASTA
acquired the assets of the national association of commissioned travel agents, inc.
[NACTA] which is now a membership subsidiary, called national association of career
travel agents since 2009. NACTA represents independent travel agents, cruise-oriented
agents, home-based travel agents and outside sales travel agents.