Tourism in Pokhara: Nepal’s pride and means for peace and prosperity

Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, undoubtedly deserves its identity for an ideal mountain tourist destination  as  it  has  successfully  conducted  the  mixture  of  myriad tourism activities like soft walking, mountain sightseeing, trekking, mountaineering, community based tourism, rural/village home-stay tourism, eco tourism, adventure-sports tourism, etc. Amidst various prime tourist locations of Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , Pokhara in central Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, is cosmically blessed and naturally gifted.

Consequently, it has become one of the world’s most attractive tourist destinations with the perfect blending of the unparalleled prettiness of the nature and mystery of culture. From touristic perspective, Pokhara with the area of 123 sq. km, certainly remains full of unlimited natural attractions, cultural beauties, biological diversities and ultimately has become a proud-worthy spot of Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, . The spectacular views of scenic Annapurna Himalaya range, the shortest distance of snow capped mountains (Mt. Fishtail on just 28 km away), the harmony of exotic mountains, eye catching lakes and the mystical form of   Machhapuchhre mountain reflected into Fewa Lake, are the praise worthy features of Pokhara that have made to fascinate thousands of tourists, especially from abroad.

Situated at an altitude of 827 meter, Pokhara possesses climatic varieties, contrast vegetations, various scenic Lakes, attractive gorge of Seti river and ranges of snow-capped mountains. A number of authors, interpreters, critics (Adhikari and Seddon 2004; Bezruchka and Lyons 2011; Bhadgaonle

2006; Khatiwada 2004; Kshetry 2012; Raj 1993; Tripathi 2008; Tripathi and Singh 1996; Fort 2010; Paudel and Kazunori 2000; Herzog 1952) have highlighted about numerous attributes of Pokhara ranging from trekking and travel to histogenesis and geomorphologic dimensions along with other social and functional characters. Pokhara Valley and its surroundings are not only equipped with unique natural phenomena like nine lakes (e.g. Begnastaal, Nyureni, Gunde, Khashte, Rupa, Maidi, Dipang and Fewalake) and  world’s three highest mountains [Annapurna I (8091m), Dhaulagiri (8167m), Manaslu (8164m)] but also various extraordinary and unlimited cosmic vibration like mild temperature (ranging from 2 degree Celsius in the winter to 35 degree in summer), the highest precipitation in Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, (rainfall with 5600 mm/year or 222 inches/year), Seti-Gandaki river- system, strange caves (e.g. Gupteshwar Mahadeve cave, Mahendra cave, etc.) and amazing falls (e.g. Davis fall) along with thrilling deep Seti Gorge with more than 500 meter underground flow.

The huge socio-cultural diversity is another inevitable mysterious attraction of tourism in Pokhara. The overall population of Pokhara has been emerged out of numerous ethnic groups3, a number of classes and creeds along with hetero-lingual, who follow different cultures, celebrate distinct festivals, perform a number of rites and rituals and ultimately reflect  the  collective  traditional  lifestyles.  These  ethnic  communities have their rich demographic, cultural and religious features which are institutionalized through the spiritual institutions of faith centers like Buddhist monasteries and Hindu temples.

The physiographic uniqueness of Pokhara is not only limited with the motive of how to attract tourists, it rather explores opportunities for policy makers and planers to take necessary precautions and preventive measures from the possible natural disaster analyzing related risks and their effects (UNDP 2008).

Pokhara is not untouched from the Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, ’s stormy transition. It is obvious that this Himalayan kingdom has been passed through massive structural changes like the transition of monarchy to democratic republic, high public expectation to high frustration, armed insurgency to relative peace (negative peace), close and narrow circle of stakeholders to multiple stakeholders with diverse and often contradict positions and expectations. The constitution, the President and the government all are in transition.

Further political decision makers are largely failed to manage political transition.4     However, all these transformations are not only weakness of its own. They are not only undertaking the myriad of challenges, but also providing great opportunities. Therefore, national concern is laying on addressing these challenges and grasping some possible opportunities. Coming out from the domain of these challenges and succeeding in these areas at national level will obviously affect the tourist destination of Pokhara in both ways, directly and indirectly.

The remarkable growth of tourism both at international and national levels and its induced potential positive benefits in economic, socio- cultural and environmental domains have created growing attention and look at tourism with a passion for peace. Tourism as a force for peace has been a popular positive message relayed by the academicians, consultants and industry in recent years (Upadhayaya 2011; Upreti et al. 2013). There was a phase when Pokhara was only a mountain tourist destination, but now it is rapidly growing its popularity on its own various attributes and there are increasing numbers of tourists’ arrivals. Consequently, we have come up with such highly researchable expedition with this book Tourism in Pokhara: Issues, Trends and Future Prospects for Peace and Prosperity.

Different chapters of the book have amply demonstrated different aspects of tourism with an effort to bridge the linkage of tourism with peace and prosperity in Pokhara. The past, present and future trends of various tourism related issues as discussed in this book are largely affected by the patterns of political-economy, governance, local tourism entrepreneurs’ commitment,  practice  of  inclusion  and  exclusion,  structural  patters of tourism authorities, etc. In this context, chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the state of tourism in the past and present and possible way-outs for prosperity and peace of Pokhara in future through tourism. Methodologically, the knowledge and information of this chapter are acquired through both secondary and primary information. The secondary information is acquired through the review of published and unpublished literatures. The primary information is based on multiple sources of societal learning like field visits in course of doing researches (PhD and senior level), observation of various sites, focus on group discussions, interactive seminars and a number of interactions and interviews with the experts of tourism sector in Pokhara.