Nepal each year draws thousands of visitors who climb its pristine mountains and explore its diverse culture, but it believes it can bring new impetus to its tourism industry by tapping its rivers.

Whitewater rafting was introduced to the Himalayan kingdom decades ago but has ebbed in recent years, leading Nepalese authorities to launch a fresh promotion campaign hailing its rivers as an unspoilt attraction.

Nepal will host an international whitewater-rafting competition in November which it is hoping will bring 200 foreigners to face off with 150 contestants from Nepal.

"The objective of this festival is to attract sports adventurers from the world over and to promote rafting and kayaking in Nepal," said Mahendra Singh Thapa, president of the Nepal Association of Rafting Agents.

Some 1.25 million people are employed directly or indirectly by tourism in the country of Mount Everest, but the number of visitors has been inconsistent since 2001 when the massacre of Nepal's royal family and a violent turn in a Maoist rebellion frightened off foreigners.

"We had over 40 000 rafters coming to Nepal in the 1990s but only around 20 000 to 25 000 come now," Thapa said.

"We have very good prospects in the future as we can give good service provided we have a better political situation," he said.

Regulation needed
Environmentalists also warned that as the government promoted tourism, it needed to introduce regulations to protect what makes Nepal a draw for rafters: its clean riverside beaches and fresh mountain water.

"It is high time that the government focuses on building and activating a strong environmental development program to control pollution in the rivers as increasing pollution may cause a decline in the inflow of tourists," said environmentalist Hari Prasad Sharma.

Nepal has 200 swift whitewater rivers, of which 16 are permitted to rafters. They stretch in distance up to 360 kilometres. For upwards of $30 a day, a rafter can have a fully tailored package of fast-paced rowing and evenings filled with drinks and fine dining.

Rafts can carry eight people plus a guide which are preceded and followed by kayaks rowed by lifeguards.

"These 16 rivers are world-class owing to their natural setting and unpolluted water," Thapa said.

One of the most heavily promoted routes is on the Trishuli river where over four days rafters can glide amid the mountain kingdom's beauty from 1200 metres down to 425 metres.

Some 10 000 people are employed by whitewater rafting in Nepal and Thapa believed that with the promotion campaign that figure would grow. Thapa himself has felt the impact of the rafting industry's growth.

He spent 15 years serving as a guide to rafters and then 11 years managing a rafting company, whose clients were largely Europeans and North Americans. "Whitewater rafting has become one of the key components of Nepal's tourism industry," he said.

Tek Bahadur Dangi, chief executive of the Nepal Tourism Board, said rafting is as important to tourism in Nepal as mountaineering and trekking: "Rafting Nepal is one of the important chapters of tourism in Nepal generating employment and good revenue, apart from giving a good publicity about the Himalayan kingdom to the outside world."


AFP

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