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In this ongoing series, we explore how humans of travel are mitigating the ongoing COVID19 outbreak. Saran Subba, Founder and MD, Hi on Life reflects upon Nepal’s capability to deal with crises in the tourism industry.
It is really strange times to be alive. The rapid COVID19 outbreak is something we were never prepared for. It seems like it is going to be a long journey back to normal times. Surely the world will face the worst financial crisis once this virus problem is over.
Tourism around the world will suffer for sure, but I can speak of how it might impact Nepal. Nepal has the experience to go through crises that have affected tourism, like during the civil war with the Maoist and then the earthquake in 2015 that killed over 10,000 people. The biggest advantage that the people of Nepal have is that it is an agriculturally rich country and most people have their own homes and fields where they can at least survive on agriculture for the time being.
Our company also had to can cancel several treks and expeditions for this spring and currently, the autumn season has also started to look grim. Most of our staff working for treks and expeditions lives in their villages in the mountains. We only hope that this virus is not spread to the mountains. If it does, then it will end in catastrophe since there are not even health posts in some villages let alone hospitals. We have asked all our staff to stay in the villages.
After the 2015 earthquake, our company made a team within our staff and went on relief campaigns with essentials like food and tin roof sheets to make temporary shelters. If this problem is not solved soon, then perhaps we will have to plan a relief package for our staff and their families since most of them work as freelancers and daily wagers. We think we can sustain our staff for at least a year even if there is no tourism, and we hope that it doesn’t take more than that for the tourism industry to revive. If not, then we might have to look into domestic sectors like local restaurants or even organic farming.
At the moment we are looking into possibilities to offer a holiday of a different sort.
Source: travelnewsdigest.in