ICAT 2007 On Accessible Tourism in Nepal - Maheshwar Ghimrie

1. Sharing on Accessible Tourism in Nepal
ICAT, Conference 2007
Bangkok, Thailand

2. Background•Nepal is one of the least developed countries in the world with approximately 30% of the population living below the poverty line. Agriculture provides a livelihood for over 80% of the population and accounts for over 40% of its Gross National Product. Over 85% of the total population lives in rural areas of the country. Nepal is located in South East Asia wedged between China on the edge of the Himalayan mountain range and India. Nepal is a country of large geographic diversity. There are three main geographical regions including the Terairegion, the Hill region and the Mountain region. Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, is located in the north-east part of the country.

3. Background
•Nepal is a multi-lingual, religious and ethnic society. The National Language Policy Advisory Commission has listed 60 living languages in the Country. According to 1991 census more than 50 percent of total population has Nepali as their mother tongue.

4. Background•The population of Nepal was 22,736,934 as of the 2001 Census. The mix between males and females is almost equal with males accounted for 49.96% of the total population and females 50.04%. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2002, 14.2% of the population lived in urban areas while the remaining 85.8% lived in rural areas.

5. Legal Provisions•Nepal has legal provisions on disability, but not written obligatory sentences, some of the legal frame: •The Disabled Persons (Protection and Welfare) Act, 1982•The Disabled Persons (Protection and Welfare) Rules, 1994•The Act provides a range of rights and facilities for PWDs as follows: •(Free Education, Health, Employment, Transport, Social Security etc.) •Education Act, 1971•Social Welfare Act, 1992•Child Act, 1992•Local Self-Government Act, 1999

6. Legal Provisions•Building code of Nepal has provision of accessibility assurance of public buildings, but no effective monitoring system is present and very few buildings fallow it. Roadways, transportations, and hotels are mostly inaccessible. International chain hotels have the accessibility in their building. In some cases their garden, swimming pools and other area of premises are not made accessible. Majority of understanding of accessibility is “Ramps, slope and elevators”; they forget about people with visual impaired, deaf and other.

7. Tourism•Nepal is one of the popular tourist destinations in world. Nepal has popular trekking routes; most of world highest peaks are in Nepal which gives wide opportunity. Tourist visit Nepal for Cultural Heritage, Hill Stations, pilgrimages, and many more. Comparing to the area of country it has diversified natural beauty of it. •Promotional activities on tourism are running without the thought of accessible tourism.

8. We did trek for…. •As an advocacy organization DHRC-Nepal felt the need of initiation on this issue we organized one trekking program with; •The purpose of the trek is the society will be more aware and their attitude will change from a negative to positive one. •The disabled people taking part will have their self esteem raised and as a result work more effectively for the disability movement

9. We did trek for…. •A new geographic area will have more knowledge of the Human Rights of disabled people, and a new local organization will be formed to act as pressure groups for their local community. •The video film that is produced will be a tool for training and future publicity. •to spread information about the Human Rights of disabled people to new communities and encourage them to form their own local organizations to act as a pressure group for the Rights of disabled people firstly in their community and also nationally. •Influence the tourism sector of Nepal to accommodate more fully for PwDs

10. Challenges•To make favorable policies regarding accessible tourism•Influence and convince public and private sector for this issue•Shift them from charity mind set to rights based and make realized that it’s a profitable sector / part of market•Clear role and responsibility of disabled people’s organizations

11. •This forum could be the better place to exchange ideas, resources and make regional/sub regional plan for collective campaigns. People of 21st century want to see; rather than hear stories!

12. Once peace process of country is sustained, there will be a high percentage of account of tourism to the economy country. So we are here to learn more!

13. Thank You