Much to my extreme chagrin, this week’s topic was posted less than 24 hours in advance, leading to frantic weekend emails to my boss and anyone that might have my boss’s phone number, wondering what the bleep I was going to write about, only to have the topic be posted at 1pm on Monday. Which is AFTER my typical deadline. Who was bothering to check TTOT in the middle of a weekday? After all this weekend’s drama? Not a chance.
But I digress. I love you TTOT, never change.
This week’s topic is about tourism in Nepal. Specifically, tourism in Nepal following the devastating earthquake that occurred this spring and destroyed many tourist attractions. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed over 8 700 people and displaced many from their homes on April 25th, taking with it many famous cultural heritage sites. Nepal’s economy relied and still relies heavily on tourism, but currently it is not high on many travelers’ destination lists because many are unsure how enjoyable it would be to crawl over the rubble of what used to be Kathmandu Durbar Square. Some depressing Before and After photos on India Odyssey Tours shows some of the best tourist sites collapsed to the ground following the earthquake.
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Image source: Wikipedia
Earlier this summer, Nepal reopened many of its tourist sites, according to The Telegraph. At the same time, the UN’s cultural agency warns that the buildings in Nepal may still be unstable and risky to visit (this information is from June, so information may have changed since then). If you were to do your own research on whether Nepal is safe to visit, you will be bombarded with a media battle, with Nepalese sources saying that Nepal is safe and that many important heritage sites have been preserved, and foreign sources saying that Nepal may or may not be safe.
Image source: Wikipedia
On the other side of Nepal travel destinations, it seems that the wilderness trails, mountain paragliding adventures, and other non-urban destinations are largely unaffected by the earthquake, but their tourism rates have also drastically dropped this season. This means that many of the small towns with nothing but tourism as their income have suffered, even though they are largely unscathed by the earthquake.
Image source: Wikipedia
Should you go to Nepal or not? Well, the way I see it, I never want to do something just because I feel bad for someone. At the same time, this may be a great opportunity to get some great travel deals in Nepal, and not feel like just another tourist in the swarm of foreigners that usually bombard Kathmandu during the summer. Summer isn’t over yet, some adventure may yet await you!
