Nepal is leveraging its tourism assets to turn its political revolution of 2005-2008 into an economic one in 2011. However, Nepal's ambitious tourism goals are being stymied by stay-away low cost carriers

According to PATA, Nepal Tourism Year 2011 has so far seen foreign visitor arrivals by air increase by 18.4% to reach 168,958 for the first five months of the year. The country is nominally on target to reach its goal of one million visitors this year, a figure that includes both air arrivals and land-based visitors, mostly from India.

The government is promoting tourism to bring a measure of prosperity and continued political stability in a country that ranks in the 20 poorest in the world. Unity is a challenge. The country has 28 million people, a poor transport infrastructure, 103 ethnic groups and 92 spoken languages. Twenty-two out of 75 local government districts aren't linked to the capital by road.

Representatives of the Nepal Tourism Board and the country's hotels and tour operators last week told travel agents in Singapore, Johor Bahru and Bangkok that Nepal's tourism industry needs low cost carriers such as Air Asia to start flying to Kathmandu. "Airfares to Kathmandu from Southeast Asia are a little expensive," said Mr Sunil Sakya, Vice President of KGH Group of Hotels in Nepal. "A low cost carrier would bring a real paradigm shift," he said.

Ms Ujjwalla Dali, Nepal Tourism Board's Senior Manager for Tourism Marketing, told travel agents in Bangkok that the destination needs more than that if the country is to reach its tourism targets. "I hope that Air Asia will start flying to Kathmandu within a year," she said.

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