Issue #160: "More Than Mountains!" - Creating Lifetime Experiences in Nepal
"Lifetime experiences are a very powerful tool for taking a country forward like Nepal"
Welcome to Issue 160 of Asia Travel Re:Set.
Something a little different this week…
We’re headed to the Himalayas for highlights from our fascinating interview with Raj Gyawali, Founder of socialtours in Nepal, on the High-Yield Tourism Podcast.
So let’s follow that train of thought…
Thanks for checking in.
PS. If you’ll be at ITB Asia in Singapore this week - see you there!
"More Than Mountains!" - Creating Lifetime Experiences in Nepal
As you commodify your tourism products, your yield goes down.
The High-Yield Tourism Podcast speaks to thought leaders worldwide - so far, in South Africa, Canada, Zanzibar and Nepal (and, upcoming, Australia) - about how they are rethinking their tourism strategy to improve the quality of experiences for visitors, and increase the yield for local travel operators and communities.
In a fascinating interview, my co-founder of High-Yield Tourism, Dr. Jens Thraenhart, spoke with Raj Gyawali, founder of socialtours in Nepal and Partner in Norway-based Ethical Travel Portal, about the changing contexts of travel in Nepal - and ways to optimise shifting patterns of demand to drive better outcomes.
Here are 5 key takeaways:
1) Taking Nepal’s Tourism Potential to Another Level
“Tourism requires a lot of focus. In Nepal, the focus has to be on the brand image about lifetime experiences - which are a very powerful tool for taking a country forward like Nepal. We must bind the industry together to focus on delivering the essence of lifetime experiences every day, on every trip. This enables you to create brand ambassadors around the world to take Nepal’s tourism potential to another level without spending a lot of money on marketing.”
2) Commodified Experiences = Low Yield
“Over many years, we have limited our tourism potential to a small number of products that operate smoothly because we are the highest nation on earth and we have all these beautiful mountain ranges. Therefore, our products have become commodified. As you commodify, your yield goes down. This has been a classic problem in Nepal, which means our current per night spend is USD45. That is incredibly low for a country that provides the experiences that Nepal can. The yield could be immediately boosted once we focus on the Lifestyle Experiences branding.”
3) #NepalMoreThanMountains
“#NepalMoreThanMountains is a hashtag we are using. Yes, mountains do define the Himalayas - even on the southern side, the flatlands, where the water supply from the snow in these mountains is what enables them to survive. But Nepal’s uniqueness and the lifetime experiences we provide do not come only from the mountains. The mountains provide the scale and the canvas. The people who live in the mountains, the 150 different ethnic groups that live in this country, they are the ones who create the lifetime experiences. Developing visitor experiences that combine this scale with the cultural vibrancy of our people can provide higher yield.”
4) Travellers are Part of the Eco-System
“Getting travellers a seat in the tourism ecosystem is very important. A lot of the time in the travel industry, we don’t look at travellers as part of the ecosystem. We just look at them as people who are paying money. We don’t bother to get them to understand. We just look at them as a consumer and look at their preference, and deliver on that basis. Bringing travellers into the eco-system, into the tourism development process, will deliver better products, better experiences - and a better yield.”
5) Rethinking ‘Artificial Seasonality’
“In Nepal, we have been very focused on European and North American markets, which are based on ‘blue sky travel’. Visitors from those countries don’t like rain or other weather patterns. Nepal actually has 360 days of sunlight per year, but that focus created an artificial seasonality. To combat that, it is a matter of having the right market focuses. We can bring people from countries who don't see rain to enjoy the greener areas of the country during rainy season, and feel the vibrancy in the culture - such as during a rice-planting festival. In this way, you turn low seasons into shoulder seasons, and you don’t have empty periods.”
Listen to the full interview, Building High-Yield Tourism into Lifetime Experiences in Nepal, with Raj Gyawali, socialtours, here…
Or search for High-Yield Tourism on any podcast app.
Asia is Back on the Global Map!
After playing catch-up with the rest of the world since 2022, Asia is once again pivotal to conversations about the future of global tourism.
We are in the middle of the Fall travel conference season, and Asian themes are centre-stage at major events from Beijing to Perth, Singapore to London. The content and tone has altered, though, reflecting the unfolding of an entirely new era.
So, ahead of us both speaking at ITB Asia in Singapore next week, Hannah Pearson and I run down this season's Top 8 Travel & Tourism Conference Topics on The South East Asia Travel Show.
In a packed show, we discuss the shifting influences of Gen Zs, Indigenous Tourism, Blended Travel, Superapps, Over-tourism, AI, Muslim Tourism, China & India and the increasingly fluid definition of Experiences.
Click the above live link to listen to Asia is Back on the Global Map: The Top 8 Travel & Tourism Conference Topics of Fall 2024.
Or search for The South East Asia Travel Show on any podcast app.
And, that’s a wrap for issue 160.
Asia Travel Re:Set will return next Sunday.
Meanwhile, find me at LinkedIn, The South East Asia Travel Show and High-Yield Tourism.
Happy travels,
Gary