Welcome To Mountain Land

F and figures prove that tourism is one of the largest revenue-earning sectors in Nepal. And why not? Mount Everest is strategically placed here and the Himalayan Range offers a whole range of activities from hiking to trekking to rafting.

First and foremost is of course, trekking. The most popular trekking trails are the ones leading to the Mount Everest base camp and those around the Annapurna Mountains. Mountaineering on Mount Everest is for more serious climbers, since it is not only expensive, but also very dangerous for novices as the slopes are steep and covered in snow.

By far, the most popular activity is rafting, since there are many rivers in Nepal. To truly enjoy a rafting trip, one must go camping for a full day, as rafts go through both forests and canyons. Also, there are around eight national parks to visit, featuring different activities for the tourists.

The Ministry of Tourism in Nepal has listed some very interesting statistics related to tourism and tourists in 2008: Most tourists arrived in Nepal by air than land. Average length of stay was more for males than females. Most of the tourists were in the age group of 31 to 45 years. Most of the tourists belonged to Asia, closely followed by Western Europe. The top five countries from which the most tourists visited Nepal were: India, Sri Lanka, China, U.K. and U.S.A. Most of the tourists came for holidays, closely followed by those who came for mountaineering.

On another very interesting note, the Nepali government has declared 2011 to be "Nepal Tourism Year." An official website has been set up, detailing the various tourist points all over Nepal. According to this website, the Nepali government has set certain targets for itself. It is aiming to welcome one million international tourists. It is also set to disperse at least 40% of the international tourists into emerging and new tourist areas. It also hopes to attract investment on tourism infrastructures.

Some of the aims and objectives of this Year, as specified by the website, include: establishing Nepal as a choice of premier holiday destination with a definite brand image, improving and extending tourism-related infrastructures in existing and new tourism sites and promoting domestic tourism for sustainability of the industry.

The website - http://nepaltourismyear2011.com/ - also lists specific holiday destinations, festivals and special events, plus a travel guide for the benefit of the visitors.

All in all, one can definitely state that Nepal is one country, which has the potential to come to mind as a potential holiday spot. However, one can easily surmise that the government will have to invest in the construction of alternative tourist spots, if the image of Nepal as a destination for mountaineers and trekkers has to be diversified. The presence of Himalayas does contribute to this image, but it must be considered that not everyone is looking to go on expeditions, trek and climb mountains. Hopefully, the Tourism Year 2011 will help broaden the image of Nepal and at the same time, encourage investors to develop a more diversified tourist infrastructure.

Fact And Fiction

So what are the facts? And how do we get them straight? It is vitally important here to actually delve into the pictures painted by Afghan writers themselves, because only they can give a first-hand account of the reality.

Abdullah Qazi, who runs a popular Afghanistan-based information portal, Afghan Web, has given a rather bleak outlook. He says that repression of women is still quite prevalent in the rural areas of Afghanistan. "They (girls) are still forced into marriages and denied a basic education. Numerous schools for girls have been burnt down and little girls have even been poisoned to death for daring to go to school," he writes. He, however, says that urban Afghan women have an easier time as they get education and participate in public life.

The economic and political conditions are not very encouraging either. The Centre for Research on Globalization, a Canada-based research organization and media group, has challenged the claim that the Afghan government is working towards a pro-women agenda. In his article, John W. Warnock has pointed to legislation passed in early 2008. "...the new legislation limited guardianship of children to fathers and paternal grandfathers, that a wife could not leave her house without the permission of her husband, that women could only inherit moveable property, and that the wife is "bound to preen for her husband, as and when he desires." A wife is allowed to work outside the house "unless her work affects the interest of the family in a negative way," he writes. Warnock is adamant that life even for an urban Afghan woman is not easy.

A report by ‘Womankind Worldwide' (UK-based group) in February 2008 reinforced this. It basically stated that the legal system in Afghanistan does not practically support women. There are elaborate laws which favor women; however, such laws are hardly implemented, with the result that quite a lot of innocent Afghan women land in jail.

Other statistics by ‘Womankind Worldwide' are not very encouraging either - 60% of marriages are enforced upon women by their families while 87% of the women surveyed had undergone abuse on a physical and psychological level.

Reading "official" and "unofficial" versions of what is really happening in Afghanistan, one does get the impression that large scale information propaganda is going on. The highly positive stories and pictures of Afghan women, which sound too good to be true, are actually as fictitious as they can get. In-depth interviews with common Afghan women portray the real side of the picture - a picture not pretty at all. Afghan women are still the victims of a patriarchal mindset, and no law can ever change that. Is anyone willing to take the government to task and make things better? Or will everyone, international governments included, continue to feed us the false stories?