Rukmina Mabuhang Kulung on Monday flew to Malaysia for a week with her 20 months old daughter and husband to enjoy the vacation and meet their family and friends in Malaysia.
Ishwar Rauniyar, program researcher with BBC Media Action, returned to Kathmandu on Monday after spending a holiday with family members in Thailand.
These examples show that the trend of Nepalis vacationing abroad is on the rise. Many Nepalis travel outside the country for holidays during Dashain as they get the longest holiday at this time of year.
Suman Lal Shrestha, managing director of Hamro Holidays, said his company has sent more than 400 Nepalis to different foreign destinations since the beginning of this month. Last year, it had sent around 300 Nepalis for foreign trips during Dashain holidays.
The number has increased this season mainly because of fuel shortage emanating from India's undeclared blockade and Tarai unrest as well as the 'buy two get one free' offer launched by Nepal Airlines Corporation. Besides the availability of affordable holiday packages is the other reasons that has encouraged more Nepalis to travel abroad.
Outbound tour operators have seen a surge in booking this year compared to last year.""It seems that everybody wants to travel outside the country to avoid the chaos"" Shrestha of Hamro Holidays said, referring to the ongoing fuel shortage.
China’s positive gesture
Even though October and November is the peak tourist season in Nepal, this period is also the season for Nepalis to travel outside as they get longer vacation and are in a festive mood to meet families abroad. Also they get additional disposable income as festive allowance from their employers.
According to tour operators, Thailand Malaysia and Singapore are the preferred holiday destinations of Nepalis mainly because of the cost factor. Similarly, those who have already visited these destinations opt to travel to Dubai, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong and even USA and Australia.
Tourism expert Yogendra Sakya said the number of Nepalis traveling abroad is rising and foreign tourists coming into the country is falling.""This does not augurs well for the country as our foreign reserve is depleting. Because of the current crisis, the cost of staying in Nepal has become expensive"" he added.
Outbound tour operators say that the outbound market has become much better this year. Had we been able to arrange visa and air tickets easily, the outbound market would have been even better, they said. However, inbound tour operators say they are finding it difficult to bring foreign tourists to the country.
Sumit Shah, CEO of Quest Travels and Hospitality Solutions, said the number of people traveling abroad for holiday would have been even higher had there been no problem in Tarai districts.""Bookings from Tarai districts have gone down. We are getting lot of queries from Tarai, but only a few of them are confirmed"" Shah said. He also said the trend of traveling during festive period has increased because of social media too.""Most of the people post photos of their vacations on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. This helps to promote the destinations"" Shah said.""After seeing those photos, people enquire us about travel cost and other necessities""
Shah's company has received around 350 bookings for outbound holidays for October.
Around 30 travel agencies in Kathmandu offer outbound tour packages. "
"As we provide customized and flexible packages as per the need and the budget of the customers, more people come to travel agents to plan their holiday package"," Shrestha of Hamro Holidays said.
Hemanta Pokharel, operation manager of Arihant Holidays, said that they have received around 500 bookings for outbound tours" "People visit tour operators to plan their holidays because of easy payment facilities such as EMI schemes, drop in package cost, customized service based on the demand of customers, and personal care and attention, among other"," Pokharel said, adding that more Nepalis are traveling abroad this Dashain compared to last year.
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