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1. Issue and Context Tranquility and beauty envelop the hill of Nagarkot. Its natural surroundings lure scores of enthusiastic naturalists, weary travelers in need of rest and relaxation, attracting 40 to 45% of tourists visiting Kathmandu. Even city dwellers occasionally indulge in weekend get-away here With the number of visitors increasing and the concept of tourism evolving over the years, business people have started investing in this prime location. The once pristine hills dotted with cute thatched houses are now dominated by huge hotels and lodges, smaller tea houses, and commercial shops. The development and existence of paved roads, transport facilities, electricity, water, telephone and secondary level schools have opened up opportunities for the local people. They see tourism as an opportunity to improve their living standard.. However, owing to the select nature of infrastructure development, monopoly and disruptive nature of big hotels, discontent is also brewing amongst the local communities who have hardly benefited from the much-touted tourism here. While the hotels on hill tops shimmer with bright lights at night, fifteen thousand people living in Nagarkot have yet to see lights in their homes. Locals still need to walk uphill and downhill along dirt roads and trails to reach the road-head or fetch water. We bring to you the discontented voices of the local community who speak up about their socio-economic dimensions, moral obligations and management issues pertaining to tourism, the entrepreneurs' rebuttal, and the experts' views on the situation prevailing in Nagarkot as well as possible solutions. |
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2. What Do the Locals Say about the Tourism in Naldum, Nagarkot?
Boy 1: "Bright lights in Nagarkot hilltop but what about development of Village Development Committee (VDC) number 8? Hand to mouth existence. A woman has to wait 25 minutes in a queue for a bucket of water. For washing clothes, for bathing, for drinking we use the same tap. If it didn�t rain for ten days, there would be no water for us." Mani Kumar Tamang: "No one from here is benefiting from tourism. Big hotels benefit from groups coming from Kathmandu on package tours. Locals are not benefiting at all." Gita Lama: "Vehicles come directly to hotels, so the customers stay in hotels, and all these hotels have shops like the one I have. If we look for employment in hotels nobody gets it. We only get work in lowly posts such as cleaning in lesser hotels close to our villages. There is no water � it�s been diverted for use by the hotels." Pramod Rai: "The more visitors we can attract the more the locals will benefit, isn�t that so? If we help the visitors, they will also help us." Kanchhi Ghising: "Raksi [local liquor] sells, milk doesn�t. We throw away the unsold milk. Waste problem leads to an increase in mosquito population. Broiler chickens are brought in, they spread diseases, and local chickens contract them." Mahili Aama: "When visitors come, villagers stand a chance of getting some jobs. That is the only benefit I see." Diwakar Ghoraseni: "It [tourism] has caused problem for local farmers. Nearby is farmland. But water is diverted for hotel use, so this creates a problem." Uttar Kumar Tamang: "Because of hotels, we have not been able to farm properly. It's already been eight months since we were promised jobs that have yet to materialize. Ramesh Dhakal: "Before, we had to go all the way to Bhaktapur to buy goods, but since Nagarkot now has its own market, we get them right here." Tulsi Waiba: "We do not benefit. Hotels benefit." Susil Dhakal: "No cleanliness, no toilets. Dumping waste, no sewers. When we go down, we have to drink unsafe water. Hotels are really irresponsible." Kanchha Gishing: "We make contacts. All kinds of people come here. They also help us. Donations come and are spent to build school as well as provide drinking water." Laxmi Phuyal: "There are no benefits for us who live like frogs in a well. What will they give us? Mostly those who are already well off and mobile are benefiting." Ramesh Dhakal:
"Before, the locals couldn�t speak proper Nepali. Now they can speak passable English. Capacity building has
happened." |
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3. How Do Experts View This Issue? Bil Bahadur, Former Chairman of the Nagarkot Village Development Committee: "Dollars grow here � where even millet doesn�t. However, dollars are grown not by Nagarkoti inhabitants but by businessmen coming from outside. They harvest dollars and take it with them. It would suffice if they did not call us illiterate and exploitable etc. Nowadays, they recruit na�ve and gullible villagers for lowly jobs such as washing and doorman. Education is needed for jobs in the hotel line, but there are not many educated here; so it is also a waste of time to blame the hoteliers for not giving our locals good jobs. " Mitra Bhattarai, Marketing Manager, Club Himalaya: "Locals have benefited vastly. All Nagarkot hotels employ locals. What we do is, we select from locals, train them for 1-2 weeks, and employ them in housekeeping, and as kitchen help, gardener and guard. About 70-80% of our employees are locals. Month passes, salary ripens. Mother gets sick, they don�t have to sell chickens anymore to buy her a Cetamol . With the salary, they can fulfill their basic needs and save some. Their living standards have improved." Radha Krishna Lamichhane, Spokesperson, Nagarkot Naldum Tourism Development Committee: "What the locals say is also right. Although many have earned money by washing dishes and the like, they should say they have benefited from hotels. However, there is still some lack of understanding between hotels and locals. Because the hoteliers are not from around here, they do not understand the social dynamics. Or are they not interested in learning? I myself am confused." Mitra Bhattarai, Marketing Manager, Club Himalaya: "Whether you buy 1 ropani or 4-ana land in Nagarkot VDC, you can build a house taking up all the plot. However, hotel owners should leave 30-40% of the plot for the garden. There is no requirement for parking � which means our government is not thinking ahead. The government should stipulate that at least 30-40% of plot should be left for garden and parking. If all hoteliers are profiting, they should put a proper sewage disposal system in place. This is the problem. But Club Himalaya has an agreement with a person from Bhaktapur. He comes to Nagarkot every other day � takes all our waste and turns it into fertilizer. And he brings back the fertilizer, which we then use in our gardens." PT Sherpa, Managing Director, Kathmandu Environment Education Programme: "I see a solution to the conflict. Instead of lamenting that only the outsiders have benefited, and made big houses, the locals should organize, form a work group. Women can form a mothers� group. And showcase local cultures to the tourist, or establish village homestays. Chances are many visitors are already tired of staying in big hotels only. In the village they can learn culture, language and eat local food such as dhindo and gundruk. If the locals can implement the concept of village home stay, then they can benefit from tourism to Nagarkot. Equitable benefit sharing then becomes possible." |
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4. Wrap-Up Lila Bahadur Baniya, Manager, Sustainable Tourism Development Network, Nepal Tourism Board: "Thanks to the influx of tourists, Nagarkot has seen development of physical infrastructure, including big hotels. Many hotel beds go begging. Even then, there is a situation of conflict between the hoteliers and the local community because the latter is not benefiting directly from tourism. "To benefit the community, hotels must develop packages not only to benefit themselves but also the community. This calls for community-based approach. By this I mean, if a group of guests come to their hotels for three days, they can keep them in their hotels for two days and in the homestays run by the local community on the third day. This way direct benefit sharing can happen. Moreover, locals get a chance to directly interact with visitors. This creates tremendous goodwill. Also cultural programmes can be shown in villages, for there is a big difference between showing culture programmes in hotels and in villages. "Such village-level cultural programmes can bring about a sea change in the way locals perceive tourists and big hotels. If locals nurture negative perception of tourists, they will treat them negatively, which will have a long-term impact on tourism. Most marketing is through word of mouth � word gets around. So this impacts negatively on tourism promotion and marketing. So attempts should be made to dispel misgivings and misperceptions and create understanding. "Certainly community-based tourism must be given emphasis. It is not ethical to think in terms of the bottom line only. Another aspect of business ethics is to give something back to the community. If interlinkages can be created between village homestays and hotels in the future, I am confident that the conflict between the hotel owners and local community will be resolved, as the locals come to see for themselves that tourism indeed benefits all." |
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5. Related Links a.
Radio script of episode 2, Nepali version (PDF) |
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