Examining Contemporary Tourism and Hotel Issues

This report examines the contemporary tourism opportunities and issues related to accommodation in Pokhara, Nepal. It analyzes the factors contributing to the destination's growth and discusses the risks and concerns.

Running head: EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
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Author Note

1EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
Executive Summary:
The purpose of this report is to examine the contemporary tourism opportunities followed by
the issues related to the accomodation in Pokhara, Nepal. The report provided an analysis for
the destination’s development by mentioning the factors which contributes in its growth. The
paper also contains a detailed discussion of the issues and risks concerning the depletion of
the natural resources of the city. It puts stress on the factors such as social media,
accommodation and transportation structure in influencing the tourism industry of Pokhara. It
is concluded by the findings of the analysis and the concerns of the tourist destination
Pokhara, Nepal.

2EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Tourist market potential:........................................................................................................3
Transport Development:.........................................................................................................4
Accommodation development:..............................................................................................5
Crisis and Risk management:.................................................................................................6
Social media influence:..........................................................................................................7
Visitor experience development:............................................................................................8
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Nepal deserves to get the identity of being the ideal tourist destination for mountains.
It has been successful in conducting various activities for tourists such as trekking, soft
walking, rural home experience, cultural tour, eco tourism, sightseeing and adventure sports
activities. One of the best tourist destinations of the world is in Nepal and that is Pokhara,
which is located at 827 meter altitude in the central part of Nepal with a magnificent blend of
beauty and culture. The beauty of this area is composed of snow-capped mountains, Seti
River Gorge, a blanket of vegetation and a range of lakes (Joshi 2017). The diversity in socio-
cultural aspect adds mystery for the tourists. The growth of Pokhara’s tourism at national as
well as international level have been remarkably good. Pokhara’s economic, environmental
and socio-cultural domains have reflected positive potential, thereafter attracting international
business opportunities. The paper will discuss upon the emergence of various newer
segments in market for business activities, the influence of development in transport and
communication over the growth in this sector. Along with it there will be discussion on the
identification of the communication platform for marketing strategies and then analysing the
prospective tourist experience activities for better strategies of establishment. The current
trends of accommodation with the risk involved will also be studied for a comprehensive
market analysis of the chosen destination.
Discussion
Tourist market potential:
The potential of a tourist driven market can be identified by dividing the population in
terms of their requirements, behaviour, beliefs and cultural inclination, which can be
achieved by market segmentation. The areas, which are considered to be the market segments
of the tourism industry, are hotel and hospitality, restaurants, adventure sports, cultural

4EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
activity and exposure (Ghimire et al. 2018). Need for segmentation is applicable for the
visitors or travellers but not the destination or offered product. The segmentation can also be
done according to the ‘purpose of visit’, such as for business purposes, relaxation, adventure
sports and cultural exposure.
There can be improvement in the hospitality sector of Pokhara in regards with serving
the increasing rate of tourism with different purposes for travelling. Airbnb’s concept is
slowly being accepted by a large number of people, it connects the hosts to the traveller with
a wide range of accommodations, which suits every budget type. A tourist can have a
completely different experience of ‘living in a place’ instead of staying. There is a scope of
enormous opportunity to invest in unique homes, which can be converted into an Airbnb for
addressing different needs of the travellers. Each Airbnb homes are designed differently
reflecting a theme of the country’s culture or a reflection of host’s personality with facilities
providing comfort like a home.
Transport Development:
A major role is being played by the transport and communication segment in the
growth of tourism industry since it enables the transit of goods and travellers. Transport helps
to facilitate the utilization of the services and activities offered by the tourism industry such
as for adventure sports, sightseeing, communicating from their own country to the destination
all of which depends on the transportation network (Nepal, 2019). The Nepal government has
the target of elevating the economical position of the country by 2022 by transforming the
country from underdeveloped to a developed country. According to the National Planning
Commission, new policies are needed to be formed for a better resource planning and
allocation. There has been a selection of few sectors for investments in order to achieve the
set targets and transportation is one of the major areas for such investment (Murton 2016).

5EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
The influences of transportation developments on growth of Pokhara are as follows:
 There has been an impact in the economical growth because of the development of
international airport in Pokhara as it has increased the inflow of tourists form other
countries.
 The inflow of travellers due to transportation increases the job opportunities in the
market thereafter improving the living standards of the local residents.
 Urbanization has led to the development of transportation that in turn have
smoothened the flow of trading activities in Pokhara as the process of import and
export has become easier through cargo aircraft.
 Development in air transportation has attracted the time sensitive travellers thereby
increasing the rate international travellers.
 Connecting the various offerings from the tourism sector like trekking, soft walking,
eco tourism and sightseeing, thereby enhancing the tourism business (Qu et al. 2015).
Accommodation development:
There has been an increase in the commitments in foreign and domestic investments
in Nepal because of the significant increase in the numbers of hotels and other means of
accommodation. The improvement in the occupancy rates in hotels have contributed in the
earnings from foreign exchange value (Jha 2015). Pokhara also facilitates home stay in some
of its rural areas which projects a completely different experience of being close to the
traditions, food culture and their living style for a traveller (Baniya and Thapa 2017). This
can attract the population of socio-cultural researchers to Pokhara. This facility works under
Homestay Tourism Programme which was initiated for sustainable tourism practices, which
implies the optimum utilization of resources (Khand and Maharjan 2016). They have around
more than 250 hotels which does not include the number of home stay, two of them are

6EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
categorized as five star hotels. It has accommodations ranging from premium customers to
the backpackers (Fort, Adhikari and Rimal 2018).
Crisis and Risk management:
Few risks and crises that can hinder the development of Pokhara are mentioned below:
 The climatic transition in Pokhara is very uncertain and a heavy drop in temperature
results in the lower rate of inflow in tourism.
 The failure of the political leaders in the management of the various transitions in
politics (Smith 2015).
 Inequality in the society as well as in the work culture resulted in steady development
of women in Pokhara which disabled them to contribute in the tourism and other
important sectors by their full potential.
 One of the potential risks of Pokhara can be the depletion of its natural beauty and
resources because of the heavy rate in migration from neighbouring towns and rural
areas.
 Increasing rate of awareness and promotional activities are attracting travellers from
around the world and accommodating them with the available resources that can be a
great risk for the ecological structure as it will mark the increase in infrastructural
development.
 Poor management of various areas in Pokhara like rivers, parks, can cause depletion
of resources.
 With the increasing rate of migrants and tourists, limited natural resources can be in
danger causing issues in biodiversity frame.
 Due to shortage in fuel, farmers have experienced a hindrance in the fertilizer as well
as raw materials supply (Kuwano et al. 2016).

7EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
 The earthquake in the year 2015 in Nepal has caused terror among the travellers
(Stolle et al. 2017).
 Pokhara lacks country level promotion in comparison with other tourist destinations
such as Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Malaysia and Thailand (Khanal and Regmi 2015).
Social media influence:
The customer brand relationship have transformed because of the development in
social media marketing. It reflects tremendous influence on marketing a product, service or
idea. Social media now a days helps in forming strategies of choosing the customers and
select a medium to directly target the customers for the communication of the offerings. It
involves interactive communication with customers which can ensure trust and loyalty of the
customers (Bhandari 2018).
Stronger destination positioning, attraction of new tourists and branding can be
achieved only through the contribution of media and social media acts a vital role in this. The
former Secretary General of United Nations World Tourism Organization, Mr. Francesco
Frangialli, very rightly expressed in this reference that tourism in the recent times is highly
dependent on the reports of the media. Now a days most of the people make these travelling
decisions on the basis of information from several sources of media like radios, articles,
social media, television, movies, internet, magazines, newspaper, books, destination wedding
videos and many more. Many people are almost unaware of many destinations but are getting
aware of such destinations only through the help of media.
Social media has changed the different ways how the different organizations or the
companies communicate and market their services with and to the targeted demographics.
The increasing use of the internet and the social channel in the recent times has changed the

8EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
travel marketing. Most of the tourist spots are now have their social media pages in facebook,
instagram, several websites as well as several tourism pages like tripadvisor and makemytrip.
In the context of Pokhara, it has been seen that media has played a huge impact. There
has been a decreasing trend in the arrival of the tourists at the time of the armed conflict but
the tourist arrival rates increased in the later period after the agreement of peace process. This
proves that media, especially social media has played a huge impact in the tourism growth of
the spot. Pokhara is now registered under several tourist sites as well and the place is being
rated on these sites. Several travellers write their travelling experiences and post the photo on
such websites. Most of the travellers now go through such experience comments and photos
before booking for the tourist spots and hence information is easily and readily available. It
has helped finding better hotels and accommodations, restaurants, side scene areas, special
foods and any other unknown areas by just a click.
Visitor experience development:
There are various sectors which has the potential in contributing to the tourist’s overall
experience in Pokhara:
a. Adventure tourism sector: It is considered as one of the fastest growing sectors in
Pokhara but it lacks awareness internationally. A spatial-linkage model of adventure
travel has been proposed for connecting the remote frontiers of Nepal with the global
economy of tourism (Bir 2016). This model will ensure a series of gateways, which
will be on the way of the adventure travel destinations (Shahi 2017).Hinterland
tourism destinations, multi-use parkland as well as hilltown gateways were few of the
results of this model, which marked an opportunity of economical growth (Sharma
2018).

9EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
Activities include trekking, rafting, rappelling, paragliding, mountaineering,
rock climbing and bungee jumping. Presence of hills adjacent to the Pokhara valley is
the prime spots for hiking, thereby attracting the adventurous travellers (Baral 2016).
It is also a famous spot for trekking, which requires a two weeks long period in
completing 120 km. It also attracts mountaineers by offering rock climbing courses.
Air sports have become a new trend in Pokhara (Poole et al. 2016).
b. Sustainable accommodation: The concept of sustainable accommodation is
becoming popular in Pokhara, Nepal. It is basically a step taken by the governing
bodies to preserve the natural resources from the overutilization and
commercialization. Home stays and Airbnb are few of the ways by which this can be
implemented. Increasing construction level due to the heavy demand of tourists and
the migration of people form the neighbouring villages can have a greater impact at
the availability of natural resources and the beauty of the valley (Pokharel and
Acharya 2015).
Conclusion:
Therefore, it can be concluded from the paper that Pokhara, Nepal is one of the best
tourist destinations, which has a wide range of offerrings for the travellers. A variety of
customer segments provide business opportunities for a large number of industies in Pokhara.
The economy of Nepal depends greatly on the development of its tourist destinations. The
tourism industry enables foreign exchange inflow in the country as well as it attracts
international businesses to explore the markets of Pokhara. There are various development
factors in Pokhara, which influences the growth of the city such as transportational
development, infrastructural development as well as the impact of social media. Development
in transportation and communication majorly contributes in the growth of the tourism sector
by becoming a transit network for tourists and for import-export purposes in Pokhara.

10EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
However, Pokhara has some issues and future risks with the increasing demand and
exploitation of natural resources which needs to be addressed to save the sole industry of the
city. Pokhara needs to improve its infrastrucal strategies by increasing accommodation
sustainably to meet the increasing inflow of demand. The presence of Pokhara in social
media platforms have helped in forming an identity of its own, thereby attracting a diverse
population for various purposes of travelling. Lastly, the growing tourism industry in Pokhra
is paving way for a large number of business sectors, which can help in the economic and
socio-cultural development of the destinaion.

11EXAMINING CONTEMPORARY TOURISM AND HOTEL ISSUES
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