Kathmanu: Impact Of The Earthquake On Tourism

Impact of the earthquake on tourism

Kathmandu:

Kathmandu is the city that almost every tourist from abroad will first arrive at. It still has not fully recovered from the quake and visible ruins still exist throughout the city. Some temples that tourists would have previously visited have been pulverised, so there are less attractions in Kathmandu until is fully rebuilt. The fact that Kathmandu still needs reconstruction may deter tourists.

Nonetheless Kathmandu will remain the most visited location in Nepal firstly because it is the arrival point for most tourists, but many of the less built-up areas around Kathmandu have been flattened and are places that most tourists would not want to visit.

It took a couple of months after the earthquake

This can be explained as climbers effectively had less than a month’s worth of a window, which was the first 24 days of April, compared to a total of two seasons. In the spring, as far as Everest is concerned, the Nepalese government was focusing on rescuing climbers that were on Everest and stuck under tons of snow and ice caused by the avalanche. Everest was considered unsafe to climb due to ruined routes. A lot of equipment has been lost by organisations and firms that plan mountaineering expeditions, as well as workers being killed, this has lead to long-term cancelled ascent plans. Once the event of the earthquake had settled, the next focus was uncovering and fixing routes. The government introduced policies to limit how many people are ascending Everest. A permit is required to scale Everest and to get the permit, one needs money as well as sufficient experience, sufficient experience meaning proof of having scaled a mountain at least 6,500m high. This means that the affect of the earthquake on tourism in is not only due to the unfortunate events that couldn’t be predicted, but also willingly cut down by the government, for safety

Another article from Time magazine is titled: “Two Years After the Devastating Earthquake, Nepal’s Women Have Become Easy Prey for Traffickers”. The headline alone can prompt any readers to not go to Nepal, as it may not be safe. The article does state that it is only Nepalese women that are targeted in this act of human-trafficking, alluding to the fact that it is safe for tourists. But abhorrent stories about slave trade can never be misconstrued as a safe haven for tourists either.

Official government sources may paint a bad picture for Nepal. For example, the website of the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade states that the “official advice” when visiting Nepal is to exercise a high degree of caution. That is not inherently bad advice, as being cautious does lead to safer situations and the like. But a tourist looking to visit countries, perhaps with family comes across the warning to exercise a high degree of caution, it is not a very convincing way to have people come to