Discussion and recommendations Tourism marketing and promotion

Tourism marketing and promotion is an important element of the overall development of tourism. This is particularly important for a growing tourist destination like Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, and Pokhara in specific. In the initial phase, tourism of Pokhara had been promoted and developed automatically by mountaineers, words of mouth of visitors, the recommendations of friends, and appealing message of the travelogue writers. In that period, this destination was also largely promoted by hippies and backpackers. Now a days, Pokhara is marketed and promoted with advertising, sales promotion, internet marketing, travel fairs, road shows, etc. Almost every respondent  during  the  collection  of  feedback of  this  chapter argued that word of mouth and friends' recommendations are very effective marketing tools for Pokhara. Apart from these, internet has also become other  prominent  tool  in  marketing Pokhara.  Guide  books  and  travel blogs are also important tools for the promotion of overall destination promotion  of  this  region.  Travel  agents  are  found  important  mainly for packaged programs of tourists. The average duration of stay of the incoming international tourists in Pokhara is very low. It is claimed that average period of staying is only for 2 nights. But tourists visiting for adventure purposes have generally longer period of staying than those who come for other purposes.

The majority of tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara claim that Pokhara is not promoted and marketed properly in the tourism market. There have not been sufficient promotional campaigns and programs for Pokhara. The current state of tourism marketing and promotion is not that much encouraging, effective and commendable. It may be the consequences of the overall minimum priority and investment by the state in tourism sector till now. However, NTB, tourism entrepreneurs and other tourism related organizations have been conducting relevant activities and campaigns. In this context, several institutions have given different forms of brands and also applied different marketing strategies coincided with the destination appeal and image of Pokhara while promoting their tourism products and services.

There is a lack of comprehensive scientific and authentic statistics on tourists with the various patterns related with their behaviors and activities in Pokhara. There is no application of any proper data collection, processing and analysis strategy. Without the sufficient data, the market segment of Pokhara could not be classified. In absence of the proper data, it is nearly impossible to draft marketing plan and take correct decisions to form proper strategy.

Most of the tourism entrepreneurs of Pokhara are not so efficient and competitive in marketing and promotion strategy in comparison to such entrepreneurs in Kathmandu. Majority of the entrepreneurs do not have wide knowledge in e-commerce. There is a lack of the skilled manpower, especially the people of cross-cultural and multi-lingual communications except English. Not many entrepreneurs have direct contact with foreign travel operators except few prominent entrepreneurs. It is high time Pokhara competed with other tourism cities of Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, . We have also observed unhealthy competition with the trends of price reduction in the tourism market of Pokhara. The government has no proper attention on visionary policy formulation and effective regulation regarding the promotion of domestic tourism. Pokhara holds the capacity to attract tourists for all seasons. Although there are many events in the local level, these cannot easily come up as effective for tourism promotion. After all, Pokhara has some challenges like making tourists stay longer, encouraging shopping and setting expenditures and additional fascinating sports with extra activities.

It is recommended that a 10 years master plan urgently needs to be formulated through the coordination between government and tourism stakeholders.  This  will  not  only  help  in  addressing  the demands  and

future vision of tourism, but also help on branding and overall package development of tourism in the long run. There is no particular concept and plan regarding the future sustainability of tourism. It is necessary to establish the lasting positive image of Pokhara as a responsible and sustainable tourist destination under mainstream global tourism trend. In order to accomplish such wish, the currently formulated Code of Conduct manual and Corporate Social Responsibility guideline at destination level should be strongly implemented.

For the marketing approach, even one brand can help in a more effective way than diversified approaches. The theme "Pokhara for all seasons" has the strength of appeal for Pokhara. Since Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan have been established as golden triangles for tourists’ movements in Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , there are further needs to develop Pokhara, Chitwan and Lumbini as silver triangles and Pokhara, Jomsom and Manang as adventurous triangles.

As the repeated visitors and the adventure lovers are potential tourists in Pokhara, the government and concerned agencies should come up with special policy to encourage such types of tourist market segments, which could allow additional activities and offer more attractions to these visitors.

Tourism of Pokhara is still suffering from the tendency of centralized policy formulation by the government. It is high time Pokhara itself participated in the formulation of overall tourism policy which covers both marketing and promotional aspects.   The need of the decentralization on the authority to formulate such policies is also linked with the local authority to issue permits of the mountain peaks and some restricted trekking trails from Pokhara.

Since Pokhara is a major tourist destination of Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , where nearly one- third of total international tourists visit, the regional office of NTB in Pokhara should be upgraded with more rights and authorities. It should be restructured with enough financial, human and technical resources. There must be adequate share of budgetary allocation for the promotion and marketing of tourism in Pokhara. The upgrading with higher capacity and resources could have following positive implications in marketing and promotion of Pokhara and its surrounding areas:

To increase the period of tourists’ stay and their expenditures, Pokhara could be developed as the tourist hub. From tourism hub of Pokhara, side trips could be organized to surrounding villages. To properly identify

the tourism market segments of Pokhara according to numbers of their arrivals and the trends of their per day spending. To fulfill the vital needs of the production and publications of tourism statistics associated with Pokhara and Annapurna region. The lack of complete picture of various trends of international tourists’ statistics is the preliminary barrier to strategically and effectively plan and implement tourism marketing and promotion. Moreover data of Indian tourist and domestic travelers to Pokhara are also not accounted for. There are urgent needs of complete package of statistics on the following variables.

Table 5.4 Recommendations for tourist statistics publications

Statistics on tourists’ arrivals number wise
For international tourists with other variables	For domestic tourists with other variables
Nationality-wise	Nationality-wise
Purpose of visit	By purpose of visit
By age	By age
By mode of entry (by surface/By air/ through trekking) in Pokhara	By mode of entry (by surface/by air/through trekking) in Pokhara
Season-wise	Season-wise
Average length of stay	Average length of stay
Per day spending in US$	Per day spending in NPR
Packaged or independent Travelers	Packaged or independent travelers
Portion of repeat visitors	Portion of repeat visitors

Source: Designed by author

The regional office of NTB in Pokhara itself can act as a centre of collecting,  processing,  analyzing  and  producing  complete  statistical report on scheduled basis. With its restructuring, the regional office of NTB in Pokhara should work in close association with PTC, Civil Aviation Authority of Pokhara, Pokhara tourism office, ACAP, and several tourism associations, for the production of statistics.

y       To   execute  tourism   marketing  and   promotional   campaign through single door approach. NTB regional office, Pokhara, in association with PTC could act upon it.

y       To facilitate and capacitate Pokhara to focus on boarders' city promotional campaign and domestic tourists on its own.

y      To make tourism entrepreneurs effective and skillful in marketing.

y      To be able to establish a media centre and an effective crisis management team to handle any unforeseen crisis in tourism industry in Pokhara.

y      To produce a tourism master plan of Pokhara. There is the lack of proper conservation of natural and cultural heritages. There is a big challenge in the sustainability of the tourism industry in Pokhara without a proper master plan.