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BY A CORRESPONDENT
October 16, 2006
Who says a red carpet is rolled out for the tourist from India in Nepal. There has, no doubt, been big talk about the Nepal government luring Indians to stabilise the Himalayan kingdom's drooping tourism sector. However, a report on Saturday terms this as nonsense. A group of Indian tourists returned home after being thrown out of their hotel by Maoist guerrillas.
The Indians who were was staying at a Pokhara hotel was flummoxed to see a group of youths barge into the hotel and force the all out. The young men, feared to be Maoist guerillas, threatened the hotel manger asking for rooms free-of-cost to stay.
A commotion followed and the people in the hotel, including the Indians were asked to scoot .
It is not just the Indians who were meted out such an unfortunate treatment. Another report from Kathmandu says three French nationals, who had gone to remote Dolakha district in northern Nepal, to help build a truss bridge for the villagers, were extorted by a group of Maoists. They were asked to pay up around $900, it s learnt.
Significantly, the two incidents have occurred less than a month after the Maoist chief Prachanda apologised to a top French climber's widow for his cadres' misdemeanour, and refunded the money extorted from her and said that tourists would not be harmed by his party.
The Maoists had added then that the would also like to take this opportunity to reassert that foreign tourists are most welcome to visit Nepal and they need not fear any security hazard or any other inconvenience due to the ongoing political conflict in the country.
Even with relative peace in the countryside in the aftermath of the peace process, Nepal has still not been able to revive its tourism sector, partly due to the Maoists running amok in the rural areas and extorting tourists.
Accrding to statistics, the number of visitors coming to Nepal by air in September fell by 7.4 per cent to 25,484, compared to the same month last year. The decline was mostly due to a fall in the number of Indian tourists.
Now with such incidents being reported, the tourism scene in Nepal is likely to be further hit. Statements made by Maoists that tourists are absolutely safe have been diluted beyond repair. It is now left to the them to make amends.
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