Tha Gaze - Vol 2

Tourism and Shopping Activities
Ramesh Raj Kunwar *
Abstract Shopping is a multi-dimensional activity that involves social interaction, economic exchange, and very often, the participation in non-purchasing activities. Tourism shopping is considered as one of the most important activities of the tourists destinations. To make shopping as convenient as possible, almost tourist destinations provide shops which feature gift items and particularly local handicrafts and art work. In the shopping areas of each community which caters successfully to tourists are found quality gifted souvenir shops featuring items of particular interests to visitors. The items which are bought by the tourists at their destinations will be consumed by themselves or provided their friends, relations or neighbors as a gift. This is generally called souvenir which reminds one's own visit in the past. Key Words: consumption, shopping behaviour, social relationship, authenticity, sensuous appreciation, vacation sequence, minidrama, shoppertainment and neophilia. Introduction "Get me out of this irritating natural stuff and back to the mall!" This 1999 comment by a female tourist in Volcano National Park, Hawaii, overheard by Lori Otterstrom, quoted by Timothy (2006:1), is very enlightening to this study. This emphasizes the depth and breadth of relationships between tourism, mass consumption, and shopping. For this tourist, an essential trip to the mall while on holiday in Hawaii was interrupted briefly by an undesirable side trip to a natural site. Tourists are the consumer; therefore, this has been started from the study of the consumption studied by several scholars of several disciplines. According to Holt (1995), consumer research has traditionally conceptualized consumption practices under two broad headings the purpose of consumption and the structure of consumption.
* Professor Dr. Ramesh Raj Kunwar is tourism educationist and anthropologist by profession. He is the former Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. He is also the former Dean of then (Royal) Nepalese Military Academy, Kharipati, Bhaktapur. Currently he is teaching at the Central Dept. of Culture, Kirtipur Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. E-mail: kunwardr @ yahoo.com
2 Journal of Tourism and Hospitality (Vol. 2)
In term of purpose, consumers' actions may be ends in themselves (autotelic) or means to an end (instrumental). Structurally, consumption may be focused directly upon the object of consumption (object actions) or, conversely the object of consumption may serve as a focal point for interpersonal action. Thus with the combination of these two dimensions of consumption practices lie four possible ?metaphors' of consumption: (1) autotelic/object actions; consuming as experience; (2) autotelic/interpersonal actions: consuming as play; (3) instrumental/ object actions; consuming as integration; and (4) instrumental/interpersonal actions; consuming as classification. All types of tourism and tourist activities are; in one way or another, a form of consumption. But it is the consumptive activity of shopping at the tourist destination. History of Consumption The 18th century, however, brought about the initial stages of industrialization and consumer capitalism soon followed. Heavier industrialization during the 19th century spread greater wealth to more people and sectors of society, as industrial capitalism began to pervade the social economics of Western Europe and North America. With affluence came in patterns of consumption " thus allowing the middle and upper classes to accumulate wealth (Friedman, 1994). Consumption practices are more commonly considered a status/identity signifier, a means of achieving social distinction. That is especially within de-differentiated, post modern societies, consumers utilize, consumption object to create self-identity and to classified themselves this process of consuming- as - classification is not, of course, a new; in the 1920s, positional consumption (conspicuous consumption) was identified by Veblen (1925) whilst this so-called ?aristocratic model' (Thurot and Thurot, 1983; in Sharpley, 2006: 316) of tourism development point to the inherent and long-held role of tourism as a social classifier. Veblen (1934) studied this social class in the 1890s in the United States and developed a theory of 'the leisure class'. Eating expensive food, drinking costly wines, wearing fine clothing and jewelry, and purchasing fine furniture for their stately homes became central to the lives of the leisure class of the 1800s (Campbell, 1994; Davis, 1966a), ushering in the age of mass consumption. In this way, according to Satterthwaite (2001: 8), rarities became common place by the middle of the 20th century; mass consumption had spread throughout Europe and North America among all but the very poorest groups in society. As products became more diverse and variations in size and quality expanded consumption was no longer the exclusive province of the upper class: even the working class, employed in menial jobs, joined the through of mass consumers, although patterns of consumption were still underscored by class distinctions (Bocock, 1993). Consumption has been a key force in the development and sustainability of modern capitalism (Appleby, 1993). 'Consumerism, that is the active ideology that the meaning of life is to be found in buying things and pre-packaged experiences, pervades modern capitalism' (Bocock, op. cit., 50). As utility theory of demand suggests, people purchase what they want and producers manufacture what is demanded (Friedman, 1994). Modern mass consumption is based almost entirely on desire rather than needs and thus at its very core, consumption is as much social and cultural as it is economic (Timothy, 2006:3). Early in the 1800s, sociologists and anthropologists became interested early on (in the
Kunwar: Tourism and Shopping Activities 3
1800s) in the ways in which consumption manifests in society and in various cultural contexts. Most of the sociological literature indicates that the consumption of commodities is based more on their socially conditioned meaning than on their functional use (Brown, 1992; Newby, 1993). Veblen's study shows that consumerism gradually became connected to social identity and self image with considerable implications for social inequality and individualism. Consumption does not just benefit from objects or services but, rather, it is the act of consuming objects itself that it is a sign of personal and social identity (Baudrillard, 1988). Also of concern has been the effect of social relations on consumption patterns or influences of the social reference group (e.g. class, gender, age, friends, ethnicity, family) (Miller, 1998; McCracken, 1987). Anthropological perspectives have tended to focus on material culture and its various uses (Campbell, 1991; in Timothy, 2006:5), as well as the cultural significance of consumable commodities. Cultural artifacts and celebrations as commodities to be promoted and consumed by various groups and resultant changes in their forms and functions are of considerable interest to cultural theorists (Cohen, 1988a; Graburn, 1976, 1984). The spatial dynamics of consumption were recognized in the 1930s by German geographer Walter Christaller who developed Central Place Theory to describe the retail hierarchy of cities and towns. He theorized that the size and spacing of towns and villages were a result of people's consumptive behavior. consumption is not only about products: it is also about consuming places, spaces and time- not just at the point of purchase but also in the production and distribution of goods and services. Consumption 'creates spaces and transform places (Sack, 1992: 25). The psychological research focuses on consumption utilized by the retail sector in a effort to understand consumer behaviors, expectations, desires, the influence of store design, atmosphere, and environment on customer satisfaction and choice. Besides those studies, the psychologists are also concerned with the study of motivations and decision-making processes behind different forms of consumption emotions, moods that affect consumption performances (Downs, 1970; Hirschman, 1984). More recent research on the psychology of consumption has tended toward the symbolic significance of material objects and concepts about self (Campbell, 1991). Issues such as lifestyle and life cycle, sexuality, the body fashion, and materialism have recently been spotlighted in psychological research on mass and individual consumption (Solomon, 1992). Historians have long looked to pre-industrial societies for an understanding of (post) modern mass consumption before, during and after industrialization (Campbell, 1991). Much thinking in the 18th and 19th centuries was geared toward production and work as being fundamental to people's lives and to their very sense of identity, and it was from this perspective that class distinctions were viewed (Bocock, 1993). Today's notion of leisure hardly existed at that time; work was the essence of life and was done as a means of survival. Class distinctions were recognized by consumption patterns rather than production, and consumption became defined as leisure the conceptual opposite of the notion of production or work (Edwards, 2000:3). According to Bocock (1993), this transformation marked the change from modernity, into post-modernity because it entailed a social paradigm shift from production and
work to consumption and leisure. In postmodern capitalist societies, therefore, leisure is the essence of life and work is done as a means of achieving leisure. From the view point of social science research perspective, leisure has been defined in three primary ways. First, it is commonly identified as a type of activity. Hiking, bowling, river rafting, playing football, reading, stamp-collecting, and cooking may all be considered forms of leisure from this perspective. Second, leisure may also be seen as a measure of timetime that is free from obligations such as work, taking care of the home, oneself, and family. Finally leisure is often seen as a state of mind, or a specific experience, resulting in feelings of satisfaction excitement, fun and belongings. However leisure in many cases may be a combination of any or all of these elements. Thus leisure pervades many aspects of modern living. It is an important component of lifestyle and plays a major part in quality of life (Mannell and Kleiber, 1997). Tourism as Consumption Tourism is certainly one of the most important targets of modern day consumption and is generally viewed as an extreme form of leisure. Pleasure travel, for example, takes place in leisure time, is a recreational activity, and occurs within the framework of a leisure state of mind. By extension, then, tourism may be seen as a form of leisure consumption (Walvin, 1992). Tourist consumer behavior is a complex process; it is ?discretionary, episodic future oriented, dynamic, socially influenced and evolving (Pearce, 1992a: 114). Typically, it is seen as a process or ?vacation sequence' (van Raaij and Francken, 1984; in Sharpley, 2006: 307) comprising a number of inter-related stages, from the initial need identification/motivational stage through the actual consumption and evaluation of tourist experience (Gilbert, 1991; in Sharply, op.cit.). As Pearce (1992a) points out, tourism consumption occurs over a life time, during which tourists may progress up or climb a travel carrier ladder as they become more experienced tourist. The two specific characteristics of tourism consumption process are found in two studies carried out by Parrinello (1993) and Solomon (1992/1994). First, it is generally accepted that the process begins with motivation, the ?trigger that sets off all events in travel'. It is the motivational stage that pushes an individual from a condition of inertia into tourism - consumptive activity, that translate needs into goal - oriented consumer - behavior. Second, tourism occurs in a world where the practice of consumption in general is playing an important role in people's social and cultural lives. That is, most tourism generating society are becoming characterized by a dominate consumer culture which influences all forms of consumption, including tourism (Solomon, 1994: 536; in Sharply, 2006: 307). The act of consuming in general and specifically in leisure can be seen from two perspectives. First, is the actual activity of consuming tangible products by ingesting (e.g. eating and drinking) or by using in a physical way (e.g. buying new shoes and clothes). Second, consumption also refers to utilizing services or items that will not be physically expended. This includes listening to music, watching a movie, taking a walk, and staying at a hotel. This second type is commonly known as symbolic consumption (Urry, 1995). Thus, the act of travel
not only includes physical consumption (e.g. dining out), it also includes purchasing air tickets, hotel nights, and guiding services, which fall more clearly under the purview of the second type of consumption. Shopping Characteristics Shopping as a tourist activity has not received attention in the literature commensurate with its significance; it is one of the most common motivations for cross-border travel and is nearly always noted as the principal and most common activity undertaken by tourists (Timothy, 2006: 12). Shopping is as one of perhaps many activities undertaken by people who primarily travel for other reasons. Leisure shopping is a form of experiential or playful consumption that produces experiences enjoyed for their own sake (Bloch et al; 1991:445). Heung and Ou (1998) define tourist shopping as the expenditure of tangible goods by tourist either for consumption in the destination (excluding food and drink items) or for export to their home countries.
Consumption
Shopping as Consumption Demographics & Psychographics Product-related Attributes Shopping as Leisure and Tourist Activity Percsived or Expected Outcomes Customer Service & Retail Management Destination and its Characteristics Personal Needs
Cultural Background
Price Differentials
The elements of leisure and tourist shopping (Timothy, 2006: 13)
The elements of leisure and tourist shopping shoppers demographic and psychographic characteristics (e.g. age, gender, level of affluence, behavior), personal needs (ego enhancement, socialization, functional needs, a sense of escape), cultural background (nationality, race, ethnicity, traditions), and perceived or expected outcomes (acquiring authentic products, finding novel experiences and merchandise, buying gifts for people at home). The extrinsic influences are primarily comprised of retail venue features (store environment, size, type), the destinations and its characteristics (heritage cities, beachfront communities, rural areas), customer service and retail management (catering to the needs of foreign visitors, providing customer comfort, thoughtful salespeople), price (relative prices, special prices, cost differentials in different countries), and product- related attributes (quality, authenticity, variety)(Timothy ,2006:13). Carr (1990) designed a functional leisure shopping continuum, which suggests that there may be different degrees of functionality and leisure in shopping behavior. There are four types of shopping as suggested by Carr (ibid.) as Quartermastering shopping (routine), technical shopping (mechanical items), expressive shopping (clothing, make up, jewelry etc.), and recreational shopping (pure leisure activity). As mentioned above, the travellers from all parts of the world enjoy shopping. Even the most casual observation of traveller behavior world show that shopping seems to be the first and last thing visitors do upon reaching and leaving a destination. For many people, shopping is the main reason for travelling. Impact of Shopping Tourism There is no doubt that shopping can add to travel pleasure. Travellers enjoy purchasing unusual gifts and personal items are disappointed when they find little selection or nothing to buy at a destination. The role of retail products impacts the travel and tourism in various ways. Products can help advertise the destination: Certain products such as carpets, food and liquor, art objects and handicrafts become synonymous with a definition and are recognized even by those who have never visited the area. Products add to the excitement of the destination: Very few tourists spend all their time on the beach or observing the beauty of mountains, lakes or natural surroundings. Shopping is valued as a leisure activity in its own right. Products support a retail industry: Retailing is an important source of employment for local residents. Products can create or support a cottage industry for local handicrafts: This helps to preserve native art forms and culture (Gee et al., 1997: 424). Stone (1954) was among the earliest scholars to categorise shoppers by their motivations and actions. His typology, which focused on home-wives of the 1950s, was comprised of four consumers types: economic shoppers (attention on price, quality and varieties) personalizing shoppers (interpersonal relationship with store employees) ethical shoppers (specific type of stores), and apathetic shoppers (disliking shopping).
Stephenson and Willet (1969; in Timothy, 2006: 17) later presented similar four-part typology comprised of store loyal, convenience, compulsive, and price/bargain conscious shoppers. Lesser and Hughes (1986) have identified seven types of shoppers: Inactive, Active, Service, Traditional, Dedicated Fringe, Price, Transitional Convenience, Couponsaver Innovator, and Unclassified Shoppers. Finn et al. (1994: 46) identified five types of shoppers. They are mall specific shoppers known as light consumer, multiple shopper, leisure users, social users, and combined purpose consumers. Bloch et al. (1994: 33) have also categorized into four types of mall shoppers known as mall enthusiasts, traditionalists, grazers, minimalists. In conjunction with leisure time, Johnson and Howard (1990) proposed a three-part typology of leisure-shopping environments. The first form is ambient leisure, which entails the creation of a pleasant shopping environment The second form is what Johnson calls magnet leisure in a new generation shopping mall. The third form is heritage destination leisure, which emphasizes historic areas as the main attraction for leisure visitors with nearby shops and eating establishments feasting off the traffic. Browsing or window shopping is an important form of the non- purchase behavior.... Jarboe and Mc Deniel (1987:48); in Timothy, 2006:29) hypothesize that browsers will tend to demonstrate several unique characteristics: they are more inclined to shop in stores where they had not previously planned to shop; while they may not plan to make any actual purchases, they enjoy looking around; browsers are more likely to buy merchandise they had not previously planned to purchase; when going from store to store, they are more liable to look at window displays; and finally, they generally spend longer in malls and shopping centers than non-browsers. Butler (1991) noted that relationships between shopping and tourism could be divided into two categories. The first is where the primary purpose of the tourist trip into shop. The second is where shopping is done as a secondary activity during a trip which might be motivated primarily by something other than shopping (e.g. sunbathing, ecotourism, etc.). Three primary factors stand out most clearly as the driving forces behind shopping as a primary reason for travel: the merchandise being sought, the destination selected, and price advantages. It is not uncommon for people to travel in search of specific items they wish to purchase (Timothy,2006:42-43). In the context of textile crafts, Crippen (2000) argues that there is a distinct group of tourists who choose a destination because of a textile production technique, such as batik or ikat. Crippen (2000: 271) calls this form of tourism 'textourism' or specialized tourism featuring textiles as a sole or key element. Personal selling is an important marketing tool in the hospitality and tourism industry. The objective of personal selling is to locate the potential buyer, persuade the buyer to purchase the company's products or services and close the deal. Since people to people interactions is a
major aspect of personal selling. It is of great importance to know and understand the buyer's cultural background and attitudes toward negotiation.(This is why local traders often ask travelers the question: 'Where are you from?) This means that personal selling processes will vary from culture to culture. Cultivating relationships and building trust are essential skills required for sales personnel to do personal selling in this type of environment (Chen and Pizam, 2005:194). International Shopping Centres Many shopping centers and malls have begun to meet the changing needs of consumers and have begun, in essence, community centers, offering a wide range of recreational attractions in addition to shopping (Brennan, 1984). This new mall form, which has really only developed since the mid-1980s, was dubbed by Sargent (1988:20) as 'leisure shopping and entertainment interbreeds' and provides what some observers call 'shoppertainment' (Beddingfield, 1999).West Edmonton mall of America are among the most widely cited forms of 'shoppertainment' phenomenon,.. (Timothy, 2006:27-28). In 1988 in Hawaii, 38 million people visited the Ala Moana Shopping Center alone. Of the total number of tourists who shopped at the center, 12% were Japanese, who spent US$ 80 million at the mall that year (Chain Store Age Executive, 1989; in Timothy, 2006:48). The transformation of malls into tourist destinations in their own right and major leisure centers has led to what Finn and Rigby (1992) have termed the 'mega-multi-mall,' indicating a recent reorientation of purpose for large shopping centers to places of leisure and social interaction. Likewise, Sawgrass Mills Mall in Sunrise Florida, receives an average of ten million foreign tourists each year, of which four million are from Latin America. According to Keown (1989), relative prices are one of the most influential factors in generating shopping tourism. He hypothesized that the cheaper the prices in the tourist destination, the more popular the destination would be for shopping. 'Nearly every one likes a bargain; nearly every one likes to buy; nearly everyone likes to have a reason for going some place different to do so (Lundberg, 1990: 46). In the USA, 'Every week thousands arrive with empty suitcases ready to be filled' (Painton, 1994: 58).That is why shopping tourism is also sometimes called 'suitcase tourism' (Gee et al., 1997). While the result of all studies conducted on the activities engaged in during vacation vary depending on time, location, and participant preferences, they almost inevitably include reference to shopping. In a generic sense shopping tends to be either the most favored holiday time activity or following at a close second (The Business Times, 1998; Travel Weekly, 2001). Shopping studies in Hong Kong illustrate that there are cultural differences in spending patterns and that Asians spend the majority of their money on shopping while visitors from North America and Europe spend more on accommodation. In Heung and Qu's (1998) analysis, mainland Chinese and Taiwanese visitors spent 61% of their money on shopping. US residents and Canadians spent in the order of 28% on shopping and European and Australian tourists spent between 32 and 37%. Based on the total expenditures by Taiwanese tourists to the island of Guam, Mok and Iverson (2000) proposed three part taxonomy of tourist spenders: light spenders were those who spent less than US$ 879 on their trip to Guam; medium spenders were
travelers who spent between US $880 and US $ 1206; and heavy spenders were the tourists who spent more than US$ 1206. The authors' findings suggest that Taiwanese tourists spend significantly more on shopping than any other local expenditure category (Timothy, 2000:72). Travel for the purpose of shopping is especially common in Border States or countries.... A study of the Mexican visitors to the U.S. shared that 61% of the Mexican who visited Arizona listed shopping as their primary motivation for the trip. Various countries have developed international reputations as shopping Meccas. In Europe three countries the United Kingdom, France and Italy stand out as place offering a wide range luxury and specialty goods. English silver, French fashion, and Italian leather products are examples that quickly come to mind when shoppers think of those countries (Gee et al., 1997: 423). Approximately, for one and half decade (1975-1990), Nepal remained as another Mecca for Indian tourists to buy Chinese goods either in Kathmandu or in the southern border areas of Nepal Terai region. Nepal is still a popular tourist destination in South Asia, where more than three hundred thousand tourists love to buy traditional art and crafts which bear more cultural aesthetic values. Promotional Policies In relation to promotional policies, two kinds of alliances have developed in the shopping arena in recent year. In some location, major mall companies and other tourism related retailers have begun forming cross-sectoral linkages. For these endeavors alliances are formed between retailers and bus companies, tour operators, hotels and even airlines (Andruss, 2000). The primary purpose of these coalitions is to promote shopping as an important tourist's activity and to increase sales through collaborative promotional efforts at a regional and/or national level.(Timothy, 2006:73). Butler (1991) observed that self-esteem, prestige, nostalgia, vanity and economic savings drive tourists to shop and can affect their choices of destination and merchandise. Regarding tourists' propensity to buy, Mok and Lam (1997) and Littrell (2001) have recognized that demographic characteristics, attitude towards other cultures, currency exchange rates, life styles, purpose of travel, mode of transportation, where they are staying and exposure to the destination culture also may affect shopping behaviour and product purchases (Timohty, 2006: 76). For heuristic purposes Mok and Lam (1997) categorized these variables into four types of influences that affect tourist shopping behavior: tourist attributes, travel attributes, destination attributes, and situational attributes. Throughout history, people have purchased souvenirs or keepsakes in one form or another to remind them of their momentous journeys (Gordon, 1986).Very often, mementos help people upon their returned home to remember the special times they shared or the local culture or heritage they enjoyed (Littrell,1990). Several categories of meanings were developed the most important were associations with place and culture and personal memories of travel. Shopping Brand To achieve success in retailing visitors the travellers, needs must be understood and met.
The following marketing and merchandising tactics should be carefully considered and planned, always bearing in mind the psychology of travel spending when visitors are consciously seeking unique gifts and products to take home and subconsciously less inhibited with regard to budgets: Brand names and logos Product and package size Price points Sensory attributes (colour, feel, taste, and aroma). Preferred purchase times Location of stores and merchandise Product advertising/ promotion (Gee et al., 1997:425). Souvenirs Souvenirs, derived from the Latin word subvenire, which means 'to come to mind', are an important symbolic adjunct to the tourist industry, providing the tourist with something tangible to take home while simultaneously providing local employment in an arts and crafts industry (Smith, 1989: 201). tangible to take home Souvenirs provide travellers with a reminder of their experiences, as well as tangible evidence that they were there (Hitchcock, 2000). In the words of Swanson (1994: 18; in Timothy, 2006), when someone sees or touches their souvenirs following a trip "they are not only remembering that they were there but proving they were there." Likewise, in many instances, after returning home from a trip souvenirs and other collectibles validate and can function to prolong the travel experience (MacCannell, 1976). Gordon (1986: 135) argued that souvenirs are purchased as a way of locating defining, and freezing in time a short lived experience and allows people to bring remnants of an extraordinary world. In Levy's (1959: 118) words, 'people buy products not only for what can do but also for what they mean.' However, Love and Sheldon (1998) point out, souvenir may simply function as decorative objects at home. Perhaps the most widely recognized meaning of souvenirs for tourists is that they make intangible experiences tangible. Souvenirs' physical existence assists in defining, freezing in time, and locating an ephemeral experience in extraordinary time in ordinary time and space (Gordon, 1986). Souvenirs are key in boasting of places visited or lived and are symbolic of tourists' travel achievements, for they demonstrate the reality of one's existence in a particular place at a particular time (Timothy, op. cit., 103). Buying souvenirs, for some people, is to demonstrate an appreciation of the workmanship of the items. Some tourists find considerable pleasure in watching artisans demonstrate their skills. When tourists observe artisans painting batik, weaving baskets, throwing pottery or carving wood, a special meaning is established and they are more inclined to purchase craft items (Anderson and Littrell, 1995: 340). For many tourist shoppers, this is an attempt to connect with local craftspeople- an intimate human interchange which can transcend cultural differences between buyer and seller (Littrell, 1996: 109). As one tourist described an Indonesian textile hanging in her home, "the more I look at it the more detail I appreciate in it"
(Littrell, 1996: 109). Buying keepsakes on vacation also enhances people's collections at home. Gordon (1986: 140-44) identified five souvenirs types. The first are pictorial-images (postcards, books, posters, photographs), the second type is what Gordon calls piece-of-therock souvenirs (rocks, shells, plants, wood, fossils, bones, pinecones), the third type is called symbolic shorthand (replicas of famous attractions, miniature images manufactured items that represent images of the place where they are purchased), the fourth type is called markers (items no representative of the place but marked with words and logos, coffee mugs, coasters, shot glasses, spoon), and fifth type is called local product (indicative of local merchandise, foods, drinks, cooking utensils, clothing, handicrafts).Often handicrafts e.g. very popular Nepalese wooden art, stone art, bronze art, paintings and embroidery) are symbols of spiritual, consciousness or religious events. Gordon's taxonomy is very much place-bound, which is not surprising since tourism is place- bound. type of souvenir, which initially is event- based this type is termed here situational souvenirs and refers generally to disaster and wars (Timothy, 2006:101). Two broad types of souvenir purchasing tourists can be identified: those who buy highquality fine art and those who buy tourist art on in other words, various collectors and causal buyers (Simons, 2000). One of the most common types of souvenirs is handicrafts and art. Handicrafts are goods produced by hand with special attention to design, quality, and material used. They may have primarily decorative function, a utilitarian function or both (Littrell et al., 1994). Through handicrafts, indigenous societies are able to create positive images and portray their most esteemed attributes to outside world (Graburn, 1976). In the context of the Americas, Feest (1992; in Evans, 2000) identified four types of arts and handicrafts: Tribal art, Ethnic art, PanIndian art and Indian Mainstream Art) which vary according to the artists' self-evaluation, his/ her relationship with the consumer, and the art's function and meaning (Timothy, op. cit., 106107). Many souvenir stores are found in tourist destinations. Antique shops sell a range of local antiquities and imported goods that appeal to collectors. Galleries and shops are popular where special forms of art depict local creative styles and fashions. However, perhaps the most common form of souvenir store is the ubiquitous curio shop which abounds wherever tourists congregate. Souvenir shops are typically clustered near major attractions (Pearce, 1998; Prentice, 1993) and the right kinds of shops can enhance the attractiveness of a place for tourists (Timothy, 2006:119). Research studies commonly find that heritage/ cultural tourists are more inclined to have high level of disposable income and a tendency to spend more money during their vacations than other types of tourists (Hotel Online Special Report, 1998). As a result, the heritage industry has begun to broaden its economic horizons by expanding into the retail sector (Prentice, 1993). Edwards (1989) found that heritage- site visitors have a relatively propensity to shop and most desire to purchase souvenirs to document their travels Authenticity According to Getz (1997:315), authenticity means genuine, unadulterated "the real thing". For many years, observers have argued that people often travel in search of authentic experiences and places (MacCannell, 1976), although the theoretical view of authenticity is often very different from the form of authenticity that tourist seek (Cohen, 1988a). Despite reserv-
ing a good share of criticism in recent years among scholars (Brown, 1996), authenticity is an important aspect of the visitor experience in the realm of heritage tourism and level of satisfaction, with a trip or specific site and it often comprises much of the appeal for visiting historical places. Generally authenticity is seen as social construction of objects and the meanings that envelop them. In other words, authenticity is a subjective notion that may vary from place to place, culture to culture and person to person. The subjective perceptions of souvenir authenticity can be negotiated by salespeople, consumers' own knowledge and experience, social tradition and the producers' techniques and manipulations of materials and processes (Shenhav- Keller, 1995; in Timothy, 2006: 78). In their study of handicraft purchasing, Littrell et al. (1993) identified eight criteria that tourists use to judge the authenticity of the craftworks they purchase. These include: originality and uniqueness, cultural and historical integrity, aesthetics, workmanship, craftspeople and materials, shopping experience, function and use, and genuineness and truth in advertising (ibid., 79). Culture has a significant effect on the tastes, preferences and behaviors of consumers of hospitality and tourism products and services (ibid.). Tourist shopping is characterized by the need for novelty. Aesthetics is an important part of the novelty association as well. Littrell (1996) calls this 'sensuous appreciation', which refers to multisensory attachments to souvenir items. Colors, designs, beauty, style, and softness are all adjectives that describe sensuous appreciation. The most important venue for boredom/excess time is probably airports, where retail shops capture passengers' attention and take advantage of their share time in transit (ibid.82). Gender Naila Kabeer(1994; in Maslak, 2003: 114) describes gender as a process in which a biological, categorical distinction of self shifts to a socially prescribed gendered category of self defined in terms of masculinity and faminity. Kabeer thus views gender is an interactive dimension of all "institutional locations" and "organizational relations that influence the individual identities, present practices, and future opportunities of women and men in very specific ways. Even people who do not normally like to shop (primarily men according to most studies) participate more in shopping activities while on vacation. Some women indicated that it was unusual for their husbands to go shopping with them at home, but their husbands would be shopping companions on trips. Several women smiled and recalled singular moments when their husbands purchased 'special' souvenirs for them when shopping together (Anderson & Littrell, 1995: 339). Handicraft markets are a highly gendered space. In some part of the world, males dominate the market scenes, while in others; women are the dominant vendors (Wagner, 1982). Regardless of which gender dominates, working in craft markets and producing handicraft for sale locally at the community level and economically at the household level (Swain, 1993). According to the literature, in most parts of the world, women are the primary producers of tourist handicrafts, because these tend to be based on traditionally defined women's items, including mats, hats, baskets, shell crafts, purses, tapestries, clothing and jewelry (Nawson,
1984; Swain, 1993). Men tend to be producers of more masculine art forms such as wood carvings and prints (Wolfe- Keddie, 1993). Anderson and Littrell (1995;in Timothy, 2006:84)have shown that gender was found to be a variable in determining who is more prone to purchasing souvenirs and gifts for others while on holiday. Women, according to the research studies that have examined gender differences in shopping are more in claimed to buy gifts for other people and they devout more time and attention them men to selecting gifts for others. Another less typical reason for tourist shopping is altruism. Japanese tourists are perhaps the best-known shoppers of all traveling nationalities. Shopping in one of the most popular pastimes among Japanese tourists of all ages and they typically spend thousands of dollars shopping in each trip, nearly three times as much as Europeans and North Americans (Bureau of Tourism Research, 1990; in Timothy, 2006: 86). In modern Japanese society, branded products possess a prestige that creates the impression of sophistication, international stature, and good taste (Hobson & Christensen, 2001). Handicrafts were originally produced to fulfill ceremonial or practical needs but, as artisans became exposed to the outside world and as demand for local, indigenous handicrafts became more widespread, the very nature of handicrafts and traditional art forms began to change (Swanson, 1994). Arts and crafts, cooking utensils, shelters, canoes, clothing, weapons, furniture, baskets, and adornments which once were produced for functional purposes (internal demand-see Graburn[1976] and Cohen [1993b]) and crafted from indigenous materials (e.g. bone, wood, stones, shells, etc.) became commercialized or commoditized for tourists and other outsiders (external) consumption (Nason, 1984; Holder, 1989). In the process, their very forms, functions, and meanings changed. This course of change resulted in tourist kitsch (Cohen, 1992) or what Graburn disdainfully refers to as 'airport' art or 'tourist' art. Acculturation Graburn's conceptualization of the processes of change in tourist art is from functional to commercial arts that begins as tourists (or others outsiders) endeavor to purchase examples of functional embedded arts, the results in local people beginning to make replicas for sale. Most reproductions will adhere to near traditional designs that satisfy aesthetic traditions. Replicas of masks in Africa are an example of this form of change. In the first process, change usually takes place within the following set of conditions: continuity of traditional artistic value, preserved role of the artist, the ability of the crafters to distinguish between sacred and secular art forms, a continuous supply of original materials a market affluent enough to afford the handiwork, and buyers who know and care enough about traditional art to demand some level of 'authenticity.' The second process is the transformation from commercial arts to souvenir arts/ novelties. This is usually characterized by a development from tradition and changes in production processes and materials. While basic patterns and designs may be maintained, the size and intricacy of detail may diminish. Conditions for this type of change include: a mass tourist market; willingness among producers to stray from tradition, usually for economic reasons; a cessation of the customary role of the artists allowing others to enter and compete a depletion of traditional materials; new materials and techniques become cheaper, more
abundant, or faster; and there is a large market that does not particularly care for 'authentic' handicrafts (Graburn, 1984: 400). The third process entails re-integration into souvenir arts. These are arts introduced from some previous historic era re-introduced either through tourism or other forces of cultural change. The remaining processes (popular and assimilated arts) depict changes more from within traditional societies and minority groups as they become more accultured and formally educated (Graburn, 1984:401). There are many ways of understanding the types of changes that occur to ethnic arts as a result of tourism. Based on a review of the cultural commoditization of literature, Cohen (1992: 20-24) identified eight types of changes that occur in tourist art products throughout the process of commoditization: (i) Traditionalism versus innovation in motifs and designs (ii) Naturalism versus abstraction motifs, (iii) Standardization versus individualization of products, (iv) Simplification versus elaboration of motifs and designs, (v) Restraint versus exaggeration (vi) Gigantism versus miniaturization, (vii) Introduction to novel materials versus return to native materials (viii) Product for show versus use. Obviously, tourism is not only culprit in changing traditional arts to tourist arts. As Cohen (1992: 4) noted, a common misconception of ethnic arts in that they are historically stable, traditional cultural products, which have been rudely shaken by the acculturative influence of expanding west. In fact tribal and ethnic arts have been continually changing throughout the history under the impact of internal forces and external contacts. Handicraft villages represent one form of what Getz (1993b) terms 'tourist shopping villages' (TSVs) small communities that attract visitors and whose appeal lies in their recreational/tourism retailing opportunities, usually in attractive settings surrounded by natural or cultural amenities (Getz et al., 1994: 2). In their research on TSVs-near Calgory, Alberta, Canada, Getz et al (1994) found three types of businesses that tend to personify TSVs: local services, tourist services (e.g. lodging, tea rooms, ice cream parlors, clothing, candy, books, antiques, pottery, bakeries, souvenirs, restaurants, toys, etc.), and festival-oriented services (e.g. gift shops, food and beverages services, antiques, art galleries and bakeries). Informal Sector The term 'informal sector' was initially used in the early 1970s in the context of dual economic systems in Africa, which were viewed as being polarized into formal and informal sectors. In some traditional societies, street hawkers now being recognized enumerated and taxed are receiving official assistance from public agencies in charge of tourism and economic development be considered only semi-informal (Timothy and Wall, 1997). The concept of 'informal sector' (Tokman, 1978) has frequently been employed in accounts of Third World tourism. For some (Davis, 1978:303), it is very much the locus of the 'underemployed residue' one finds in the service sector as a result of dualistic development involved in modernization. In tourism, for instance, hotel employee room boys, waiters and receptionist, whilst outside, on the pavements there are hawkers, 'black market' profiteers, pimps, guides, prostitutes and thieves. As in other countries (Wahnschaft, 1982: 431), this informal sector operates without government sanction or registration procedure ( Bromley, 1979); in
some countries it is strictly illegal, falling outside the regulation that protect the formal, approved sector (Davies, 1979; see in detail Crick, 1992; Sharpley and Telfer, 2006; Sorensen and S, 2008). Hawkers, or street vendors, are among the most ever present retail intermediaries in tourist destinations through out the world. These peddlars may operate illegally, in that they are not licensed by local authorities and much of what they offer may be of dubious quality and legality. In most tourist areas vendors typically sell a variety of products, including hot food, clothing, jewelry, drink, services and various souvenir items (Timothy, 2006:142). Vendors many itinerant, moving from place to place and roaming around beachfronts or main tourist thoroughfares, or they may be stationary, with a small shop or stall near a tourist attraction. In most cases, the peddlars are a part of petty capitalism the informal employment sector, together with street food sellers, pedicab drivers, unlicensed guides, prostitutes, and unauthorized guest houses (Griffith, 1987). Location Of particular interest are physical planning and merchandising, shopping destination planning, as well as effective management techniques for the people involved in tourist and leisure retailing to create positive images, increase customer satisfaction, and build patrol loyalty. According to economic and retail geographers and retailing specialists, there are several principles that should guide the site selection process. Pedestrian and vehicle accessibility is another vital consideration in location decision-making (Bearchell, 1975).'Pedestrianization streets have brought shopping into the leisure realm perhaps more than any event '(Roberts, 1987:87). Jansen-Verbeke (1991) argues that, in historic urban areas, pedestrian traffic should receive higher planning priority than vehicular traffic (Timothy, 2006:166). Location analysts refer to a ' trade area' as being a major indicator of location choice in retailing. The term generally refers to the geographic region from which a shop draws its customers, although there are other interpretations as well (Gist, 1971; in Timothy, 2006:150). As the old adage goes, location is everything. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that 'a great location may not guarantee success (but) a bad location will almost always guarantee failure' (Schroeder, 2002: 23; in Timothy, 2006:140). The environmental ambience can add value to the shopping experience and the product image in the mind of the buyer. Shopping is an experience in which people act out their innermost hopes, dreams, aspirations, and desires. A shopping excursion is a personal minidrama for the customers. The merchant is the playwright. The designer supplies the background with furnishings, lighting, spatial relationships, and form to create the mood for buying (Barr and Broudy, 1986:2; in Timothy, 2006:152). Conclusion The study of shopping tourism is still untouched in Nepal. Approximately, three hundred thousand tourists, out of half million tourists, involve in shopping in different tourists destinations of Nepal. Kathmandu valley is the prime shopping destination of Nepal. Tourists' shop-
ping in Nepal is considered as one of the important activities of tourists visiting Nepal. Nepal is very rich in cultural heritage and its cultural aesthetic values. Therefore, the tourist buys the cultural products because they are culturally motivated culturally inspired, and culturally attracted. But, it does not mean that they do not buy other things like books, carpet, pashmina swal, tea, music, traditional garb, trekking and mountaineering equipment and other trinket art. Shopping tourism has attracted to the author for making and maintaining academic subject in the field of tourism studies. Shopping tourism plays very important role of preserving, conserving, revitalizing and commoditizing the cultural traditions and products of the tourists' destination. The informal sector of tourism will be directly benefitted from producing and selling local art and craft. However, tourist-shopping behavior is another important aspect of this study. It is believed that the souvenir establishes the symbiotic relationship between the hosts and guests. Shopping is also considered as an important source of income of the people of host country. Simultaneously, it helps to promote tourism at the destination. This study will be very important impetus tool for the future research work who will do research in this area particularly in Nepal. It is high time to study about shopping tourism in Nepal. References Andruss,P.L., 2000, How malls tap rich vein of foreign tourists, Marketing news, (4 December), pp. 6-7. Anderson, L. and M.A. Littrell, 1995, Souvenir-purchase behavior of women tourists. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 328-48. Appleby, J., 1993, Consumption in early modern thought in J. Brewer and R. Porter (eds.) Consumption and the World of Goods, London: Routledge, pp. 162-73. Barr, V. and C.E. Broudy,1986, Designing to Sell: A Complete guide to Retail Store Planning Design, New York: McGraw-Hill. Baudrillard, J., 1988, The system of objects, Art Monthly, pp. 155-58. Beddingfield, K., 1999, Mall tourists, National Geographic Traveler (May). Bearchell, C.A., 1975, Retailing: A Professional Approach, New York: Harcourt. Bloch, P.H., N.M. Ridgway and S.A. Dawson, 1994, The shopping mall as consumer habitat, Journal of Retailing 70 (1), pp. 23-42. Bloch, P.H., N.M. Ridgway and J.E. Nelson, 1991, Leisure and shopping mall, Advances in Consumer Research 18, pp. 445-52. Bocock, R., 1993, Consumption. London: Routledge. Brennan, D.M., 1984, Bloomingdales boutique concepts, Restaurant Business 83 (9), pp.179-94. Brown, G., 1992, Tourism and symbolic consumption in P. Johnson and B. Thomas (eds.) Choice and Demand in Tourism, London: Mansell, pp. 57-71. Bunn, S., 2000, Stealing souls for souvenirs: Or why tourists want the real thing in M. Hitchcock and K. Teague (eds.) Souvenirs:The Material Culture of Tourism, Aldershot: Ashgate, pp.166-93.
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M-Commerce and future perspectives in Tourism

Roman Egger *
Introduction Our Western civilised society is often referred to as the information or knowledge society, and if we take a look at our everyday life we see that we actually do work with information all the time and that our processing of this information is becoming increasingly mobile. It is an undisputed fact that both our society and the world of business are characterised by the intertwined tendencies of globalisation, communication, mobility and virtuality. These developments have given rise to the information society, and based on modern information and communication technologies they are changing the pattern of economic and social life. Parallel to the development, commercialisation and professionalisation of the Internet, mobile communication has become a fixed part of our daily lives and our society over the past few years. Mobility in general, being contactable any time, and the supply of information independent of time and place are modern demands ensuring booming markets and new services. The support of mobility thus not only meets existing demands but also simultaneously creates new ones. There is no doubt that there is no other technology that has spread as fast as mobile communication. Tourism, with its typical characteristics and high information intensity caused primarily by the change of locality, is an industry that is predestined for the use of mobile services. The mobile information society Triggered by a series of basic innovations, our society is today in the fifth Kondratieff cycle, the information and communication technology cycle. The development of today's information society needs to be seen as an evolutionary process that is based not only on technological achievements alone. The division of labour for processes that once belonged together - also referred to as Taylorism or process management - brought about changes in the social structure, as division of labour calls for coordination, and optimum coordination requires improved information supply. The targeted processing and distribution of information was optimised by the introduction of new information and communication technologies (ICT) and has thus become more and more established. At the same time as the demand for information changed and resulted in new media use, social changes brought about more leisure time, more flexibility and more mobility. However, we had enjoyed mobile freedom even before the mobile phone so triumphantly conquered the scene. The portable radio or the walkman were historic consumer devices of mobile information
* Dr. Roman Egger is professor and Head of Tourism Research Department at Sulzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria. e-mail: roman.egger@fh-salzburg.ac.at www.tourismusforschung.at
supply. The acceptance and use of mobile consumer devices in tourism, that make us ubiquitous recipients of information on holiday, was preceded by multi-faceted developments. It can generally be assumed that every technical revolution also has massive effects on the structures of business and society, and in the case of mobile communication these effects are particularly noticeable. Calling home via the bluetooth hands-free headset telling your family that you will be late, or the business traveller who downloads the illustrations for his presentation from the Internet while on his way to his talk, the colleague who checks his e-mails during the meeting on his smartphone or the teenager who takes some photographs with his Handycam and uploads them mobile to Facebook - all these mobile situation and actions have become familiar in our everyday lives. Mobile technologies For some years there has been a trend in mobile communication that is referred to as TIMES-convergence, i.e. the convergence of telecommunication, information, media, entertainment and security; this trend is pushed mainly by the use of new technologies and applications. The convergence in mobile communication takes place at a technological, content, function and economic level and leads to a structural change of the media system. This is particularly apparent in smartphones, such as the iPhone or the G1. Making phone calls is by no means the main function of the end device any more. Equipped with transmission technologies, such as WLAN, UMTS, GPS and Bluetooth, these devices allow for a wide range of new mobile services that will also become increasingly important in the context of tourism.
Fig. 1 Convergence of mobile applications and services Source: own illustration based on Goldhammer et al 2008
Egger: M-Commerce and future perspectives in Tourism 23
Other end devices, such as PDAs and notebooks, are increasingly included in mobile communication and support the user in his or her search and processing of information independent of place. A number of mobile technologies of relevance for tourism are presented below without going into the technical detail. Mobile communication networks/GMS-HSDPA With the introduction of flat rates and volume-based tariffs, mobile telephony has more than doubled in Germany since the year 2005. Two thirds of Germans say that life would be inconceivable for them now without mobile phones. The technological basis for that are numerous network technologies. A series of standards have been developed for mobile communication networks, with the GSM network being the widest one in Europe. Expansions of this fully digital standard (2G), aiming at higher data transmission, are GPRS and EDGE. UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) makes a data transfer rate of up to 7.2 Mbit/s possible and represents the third generation of mobile communication (3G). For UMTS, too, there are technological enhancements of the standard available allowing for even higher data downlink (HSDPA) and uplink (HSUPA) rates. The necessary area coverage and availability of suitable end devices provided, UMTS now offers those transmission rates that are required for tourism-relevant applications. With UMTS, three different services emerged that can be seen as relevant for tourism. The simplest variant is mobile Internet access; M-Commerce is the possibility to buy products and services; and the third, probably most interesting service in terms of tourism, are Location Based Services, LBS, which will be discussed in more detail below. Network technologies are, however, only one technical variant of mobile communication. There are numerous other technologies that can be used in individual situations or support the network technologies. WLAN & WiMax WLAN is a wireless local area network that provides connection to existing networks thereby expanding the infrastructure. End devices are mainly laptops, handhelds and smartphones equipped with a WLAN chip set. Since they depend on hot spots (areas provided by WLAN), services can be called "presence-based services". With radiuses of some 100 metres, the range of WLAN hot spots is very limited, however, and normally restricted to individual rooms, a building floor, company premises, etc. Operators are private people, companies or authorities and not network operators as with classic mobile networks. The general aim of WLANs is to replace inflexible cable connections and to create new options for ad-hoc communication. In the context of tourism, wireless network access is mainly offered at airports, in trade show centres, cafs and hotels to provide passengers and guests with access to the Internet in seminar rooms, hotel rooms or the lobby. The mere wireless network connection for guests, however, has not been the limit to possible WLAN uses. WLAN can be used to transfer data for internal information processing, to optimise processes and make them more efficient. Originally, there had been concerns that WLAN and UMTS could compete, but meanwhile both wireless technologies are seen as solutions that complement each other.
Another telecommunications technology that may really enter into competition to UMTS in future is WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). This broadband technology is seen as a worldwide 3G standard and makes data transfer of up to 108 Mbit/s possible. WiMax has a range of up to 50 km which could make this technology particularly interesting at destination level. GPS The global satellite navigation system has been a well established mobile technology for many years and is also successfully employed in tourism. Modern and attractive tourism provisions must fulfil demands in the context of flexible organisation options, environmental sustainability, location-specific information supply and the highest possible level of safety. GPS based routing and mapping functions can offer clear value added for destinations where the experience of nature and outdoor sports are central elements, but also for city and study trips. In addition to determining one's position by means of the terminal device, there are numerous platforms on the Internet where GPS tracks can be selected and downloaded according to region, requirement, height difference, etc. The respective data material can be completed with points of interest (POI), such as information about sights, providers of tourist services or rewarding view points. RFID & NFC RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a wireless communications technology for the provision of information for the identification of objects and people. RFID systems consist of a tag and a writing device/reader. The RFID technology is based on electromagnetic waves sent by the reader. When these waves intersect the antenna of a tag (induction), the tag is identified and the data allocated to the tag are reproduced on the reader. When the transponder leaves the reading field, communication stops and the transponder chip is again inactive. The use of this technology is replacing the former barcode labelling and opens up many new possibilities and applications in the tourism context. RFID technology is highly prevalent. All German passports issued after 1 November 2005, for example, contain RFID chips. Such chips are also commonly used in keycards for RFID access control systems of mountain cableways, museums and local public transport facilities. In the field of aviation, in particular, there are several scenarios where RFID is employed: many airlines and airports use RFID technology to trace baggage. Every year some seven million pieces of luggage get lost worldwide, and the average tracing, finding and/or replacement costs amount to 100 euros per piece. At the International Hong Kong Airport (HKIA), the reading rate of the tags is as high as 97%, while the formerly used barcode system identified only 80 percent of the objects. RFID technology is already successfully employed in catering, in cargo handling, the maintenance of aircraft - i.e. in areas where there is a lot of logistics involved. NFC (Near Field Communication) is a transfer technology that is similar to but much more powerful than RFID; it is based on the standard of contactless smartcards. As suggested by its name, it is not the range that makes it so powerful. With its exchange of data between devices over a 10-centimetre distance, it has been developed for small distances or contact
Fig. 2 RFID technology Source: Egger, Phl (2009) areas. Contrary to RFID, the two devices used are equal (initiator and target) - this is what makes the technology powerful as the devices can work in both operating modes. This ensures three modes of application: peer-to-peer where NFC devices establish a bidirectional data link; a reader/write mode where one NFC device is used to read and/or describe external tags; and smartcard functions or card emulation mode (compare Madlmayr, Scharinger 2009). These possibilities open up a range of new applications for tourism. In future, the mobile phone could be the key for your hotel room or for your rental car: As soon as you have booked your room or car, a text message with the respective key is sent to your mobile phone. Amadeus, Air France and Nice airport are already testing NFC with a view to making mobile boarding procedures easier. This system competes with 2D-Barcodes mBoarding standards as are used by Lufthansa, for example. Deutsch Bahn is currently testing an NFC solution called Touch &Travel that is intended to make public passenger transportation even easier and safer. At the beginning of the journey, the passenger registers by mobile phone at the Touch&Travel-point and deregisters after having reached the point of destination. At the end of the month the customer will then receive a collective invoice. The technology has not yet become established in Europe, but the NFC forum supported by companies such as Sony, Nokia, Microsoft, various credit card institutions and telecommunications companies push its distribution. The implementation of NFC chips is planned primarily for mobile phones, so that the phone can in future be used as contactless chip card or RFID reading device. Bluetooth & infrared For sake of completion, bluetooth and infrared technology should also be mentioned, even though they are of only minor relevance in the context of tourism due to some drawbacks. Bluetooth may be integrated as a standard in virtually any mobile device and cover distances of up to 100 m, but the two-phase link connection and the complex way of entering a code to accept the connection proved to be unsuitable for most practical applications. Infrared, with
data transfer rates of up to 4Mbit/s is a fast transmission technology. Installing infrared technology may be very cheap, but the major disadvantages are the necessary direct visual contact between the communicating objects and the small distance of one metre maximum that can be covered.
Fig. 3 NFC touch point and 2D barcode M-Commerce There are various definitions of M-Commerce and complex and varied interpretations as to what is to be subsumed under this term. For this contribution, a simple definition will be used that was provided by Zobel (2001): M-Commerce means "all services, goods and transactions exchanged via mobile devices". This also includes transactions that are initiated by mobile device but completed off-line. Hence there are numerous different forms and aspects of mobile business, ranging from mere support of synchronous and/or asynchronous communication and the use of the Internet as an information and distribution medium to comprehensive business including B2B and B2C value generation chains and processes (compare Picot, Neuburger 2002). Gora and Rttger-Gerigk (2001) refer to a number of features that are relevant for successful M-Commerce solutions: Localisation: Localisation information will be key for M-Commerce. Entirely new service qualities will be possible if these data are combined with personalised information supply. This applies to both B2C and B2B. Personalisation: By creating personalised offers, an enhanced basis of communication, closer customer relations and consequently higher acceptance will be created. Customers will be able to choose an offer that is tailored to their individual preferences, while suppliers will be able to meet customer requirements in a more targeted manner. Location-independence: The fact that users have access to information and can carry out transactions independent of place and time is one of the biggest advantages of M-Commerce. Safety-identifiability: In the short term, safety is one of the most important factors; in the
medium term a certain, common standard will become a matter of course. Safety has generally improved compared to traditional Internet access, and the end devices have the potential to serve, for example, as electronic wallets as clear user identification is possible - among other things via the SIM card. Convenience: Mobile consumer devices are considerably cheaper and easier to operate than PCs, which in the end breaks down psychological barriers the users may have (use inhibition threshold). There are also satisfying approaches to solving the problem of displays or screens that are too small and the issue of lacking keyboards. Low cost: End devices and connection fees are becoming cheaper and there is a clear trend towards transparent flat rates. The price war between network operators is already in full swing. Experts expect that the next step will be an abolition of contractual obligations towards telecommunications providers. So what remains - especially in the context of tourism - is the cost trap of roaming fees; but here, too, the situation will improve in future for consumers, because the European Parliament has already adopted new EU regulation for SMS and data roaming services. Mobile technologies are going to revolutionise tourism; mobile services are already being used in numerous sectors of the tourist industry. As mentioned above, the possibilities of localisation and personalisation will be key for the breakthrough of mobile solutions. The future will see demands for the pro-active design of the relevant products plus demands for reactive approaches to travellers' requirements in all their holiday phases. Be it on the journey or on site at the destination, hardly anybody wants to do without the convenience of being contactable any time any place and without the possibility to retrieve location-specific information. It is not so much the transmission technology, but the price, the convenience features and the usability, i.e. the intuitive operation of the mobile device, as well as the swift and safe access to information and communication that are important to the user. Convincing and relevant content provided in the right context are considered to be the most decisive criterion for acceptance. Mobile services in tourism Mobile terminals make transactions independent from time and place. Applications in tourism, such as mobile ticketing which contains reservations and bookings are attractive business models. According to Killermann and Vaseghi (2001) there are two complementary business models in M-Commerce: In the Communication Services model, the focus is more on communication between two or more customers. In such an environment, the service provider offers one or several communication media or communication channels. Typical products in this field are telephony, e-mail, SMS or MMS. The service provider ensures availability of the channel of mobile communication. In the Content Services model, the customer's interaction with the content provided by the service provider prevails. Typical products of this business model from the point of view of the customer are information services. Customers can access these contents from their mobile device from any place. Below, some selected services are presented that are of high relevance for tourism.
SMS & MMS Short Message Service (SMS) is a telecommunications service for the transmission of text messages. Even though there are distinctly more powerful technologies available on the market, the high usage rate of SMS is holding many companies back from advancing their services to the latest state of technology; they still rely on the older but tried-and-tested technology instead. Guests will, for example, receive SMS alerts providing location-specific information about news and events, snow conditions or weather forecasts, if they booked the service on the web beforehand. It is also possible to order tickets for buses, trains, the cinema, concerts and museums via SMS. These services will, however, become obsolete over the next few years with increasing market penetration of smartphones, coupled to flat rate tariffs for mobile Internet use,. LBS In addition to mobile Internet access and the option of purchasing products and services (e.g. mTicketing), Location Based Service (LBS) are highly promising services with great potential in tourism. This special variant of mBusiness provides the user with location-specific information and services; in this case, the information transmitted refers to the geographic position of the device. Location Based Services (LBS) are based on the possibility to localise the caller by means of his (switched-on) mobile phone. The traveller can be localised with the help of various technologies, such as GPS, Cellular Triangulation or Time of Arrival measurement, and s/he can be sent a location-specific map as well as all the corresponding information. A user can then retrieve information and applications on his/her mobile device that are specific for his/her current place of stay. In addition to individualised localisation, a customer-specific profile can be developed that acts as a filtering system and thus ensures the highest degree of personalised information. All experts agree that LBS will play an important pioneering role in the development of mobile services. The most popular services are interactive city guides as well as reference to restaurants, petrol stations and cash machines nearby. The penetration of the market with a new generation of smartphones, such as the iPhone or the G1, triggered the development of applications that are already very popular. Qype Radar, the mobile version of the online rating portal www.qype.com, was, for example, ranked sixth in the German-language shop for iPhone applications. The actual position of the user is determined by GPS and recommendations on restaurants, accommodation and leisure activities, etc. can be retrieved with the mobile device. It is also possible to calculate and display customer-generated contents and ratings for selected objects as well as the route to take to get there. By this means, tourism web 2.0 elements are made available for mobile users. A similar solution under the name of NRU (say "near you") is available from lastminute.com. Another, highly innovative, location based service, is the augmented reality application "Wikitude" developed for Google Android (operating platform of the Google cell phone). Augmented Reality is the linking of real space to digital information in the form of information levels displayed on the screen. The mobile device calculates the position of objects and displays the information that is available about these objects in Wikipedia and Qype as an overlay over the object display.
Tourist organisations will in future face the competition of content providers and aggregators and will need to meet the challenge of restructuring their information and make it usable for mobile devices. An important point here will be to make sure that the provision of information by external suppliers is in line with the strategic orientation of a destination. The future of M-Commerce - Challenges for tourism M-Commerce should not be regarded simply as a new version of E-Commerce, but as its logical and evolutionary further development. Providers from outside the industry have already successfully penetrated the tourism market with their IT know-how in eTourism. This will also be the case in the mobile sector when technology oriented companies use their know-how advantage to position themselves in the tourism environment. The key to success in particular at the destination and intermediary levels thus lies in strategic partnerships. The requirement for this in the tourism business, however, is the ability to correctly evaluate the services and the application. The following questions may be of value insofar as a first assessment of a mobile solution is to be made. - Does the service offer a tangible user benefit and is this communicated clearly? - Is the use or handling of the service logical and intuitive? - Who offers the service and how/by whom is the locally relevant information maintained and updated? - For what spatial unit is the service available? - Do the transmission technology and the end device comply with the situational requirements? - Is the service represented in an optimal manner on the appropriate mobile end devices or can it run on different technology platforms?
Fig. 4 Oype Radar and Wikitude.
Is it assumed that the user has an appropriate end device in his or her possession? What business model underlies the service and how/by whom is this charged? Do appropriate language mutations exist for the service in order to make it available to guests from abroad? The comprehensive blanket provision of a service will in future play a decisive role in the acceptance of M-Commerce. Information search for a tourism provision via a mobile end device will only happen to an appropriate extent if the user perceives this possibility as a routine activity. The prerequisite for this is on the one hand the constant availability of the service and on the other simple operation of the end device. Inadequate market penetration is predestined if certain services are only offered for specific destinations and if the user must first check the availability of a service before using it. In future, the requirements of a proactive design for appropriate products together with a reactive attitude to the needs of the traveller in each of his or her vacation phases will be set. If the consumer is individually supported before, during and after his or her stay, the service provider gets added value for its product and can differentiate it against the competition. A number of hurdles will need to be overcome in order to effect an extensive penetration of mobile end devices in tourism. - Tourism decision makers must achieve a fundamental level of awareness about the potential application of mobile services in tourism and through this be in a position to evaluate the contribution these services can make for their business. - Technical standards will also continue to be one of the central challenges in achieving network effects and an appropriate penetration in the future. These problem issues will need to be clarified at an international level. They will require a dialogue between mobile network operators, service providers and tourism experts. - The preparation and processing of location sensitive information is necessary together with geo-coding at local, regional and national levels in order to develop location based services. Which business models are the most suitable for this, who is to emerge as content or service providers and what role destination and tourism organisations will take on in future, are only a few of the questions that have remained open to date. References Egger R. & Buhalis D., eTourism Casestudies. Management and Marketing Issues, Elsevier 2008 Egger R. & Phl T., un-published working paper 2009 Goldhammer K. & Wiegand A. & Becker D. & Schmid M., Goldmedia Mobile Life Report 2012. Mobile Life in the 21st century. Status quo and outlook, Bitkom 2008 Haid E, RFID im Tourismus. Grundlagen, Einsatzgebiete, Umsetzung, VDM 2007 Killermann U. & Vaseghi S., Wege zwischen Technologie und Wertschpfung, in: Gora W. & Rttger-Gerigk S. Handbuch Mobile-Commerce, Springer 2001 Madlmayr G. & Scharinger J., Neue Dimensionen von mobilen Tourismusanwendungen
durch Near Field Communication Technologie, in: Egger R. & Jooss M. mTourism. Mobile Dienste im Tourismus, Forthcoming Picot A. & Neuburger R., Mobile Business - Erfolgsfaktoren und Voraussetzung, in: Gora W. & Rttger-Gerigk S. Mobile Kommunikation: Wertschpfung, Technologien, neue Dienste, Gabler 2002 Zobel J, Mobile Business und M-Commerce. Die Mrkte der Zukunft erobern, Hanser 2001
Mountain flights in Nepal

Vinaya Shakya*
Abstract This paper explains the importance of Mountain Flight or Everest Experience in Nepalese tourism as an additional product in a short time. Those who are not comfortable with trekking and mountaineering either due to the lack of time or physical fitness could take advantage of Mountain flight to experience the worlds highest peaks in front of them, including the top of the world, Mt. Everest (8,848m). The flight lasts for a maximum of one hour. The author believes that a tourist having less time will plan even in the last minute for this additional activity while visiting Nepal and experience a lifetime achievement in the air. Key words: Mountain flight, tourism, tourist, flight seeing, As far as research methodology is concerned, the author has followed synchronic approach, which has been supported by diachronic evidences. Besides this, data have been collected through interviews with different personalities of different backgrounds related with the topic. Air Service in Nepal Nepal was completely unknown to the outside world until 1951 and the development of surface transport took place only during the last three decades. Today surface transport has taken subsequent progress and almost every corner of the most remote part has airfield connection except some mountain areas of Nepal that are Government owned. It was in 1951 that a private carrier namely Indian National Airways (INA) began air services between Kathmandu to Patna, and Kathmandu to Calcutta. Another Indian Airlines Corporation (IAC) lineage, Himalayan Aviation, operated domestic services to connect Kathmandu with Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Simara, and Biratnagar (Satyal, 2000:168). The Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation, RNAC (Now Nepal Airlines Corporation, NAC) was established on 01 July 1958. It was formed with government and private capital joint venture. It was first operated from Kathmandu to Biratnagar, Simara, Pokhara and Bhairahawa with a Dakota DC-3 fleet. The then government of Nepal took over full ownership of RNAC on 12 Oct 1959. It started international flights to Patna, Calcutta (Now Kolkata) and Delhi,
*
Vinaya Shakya is Master in Tourism Administration from Pondicherry University, INDIA. He is one of the tourism educationists of Nepal. Currently he is serving as Senior Manager to the Yeti Airlines Domestic (P) Ltd. of Kathmandu, Nepal.
Shakya: Mountain flights in Nepal 33
the capital city of India on 16 January 1960. With the progressive development of RNACs fleet strength, it expanded international flights to Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh in 1963 with DC-3. It expanded to nearly a dozen national destinations by 1965 (Satyal, 1999:48). RNAC introduced tourist oriented mountain flights to view the majestic panoramic views of the Himalaya in east Nepal including the Mount Everest, Sagarmatha in Nepali, which means abode of the Earth, in October 1968. This is one of the best schedule air services exclusively to tourists for viewing the magnificent mountain panorama at its best. (ibid.). The open sky policy in Nepal was adopted in the eighth plan (1992-97). The private sectors were encouraged to operate air services both domestic and international. The provision was made under the National Civil Aviation Policy, 1992 that came into effect during the same plan period (Adhikari, 2005). Tourism in Nepal Tourism in Nepal, like in most countries, is a phenomenon and relationship arising from activities like travel and stay of nonresidents as far as they do not lead to permanent residence and are not connected with any kind of earning activities. Those activities made by tourists include recreations, holidays, adventures, businesses, and other special interests and activities. There are four key components of tourism, namely attraction, accessibility, accommodation and amenities, all of which are equally important and are required for the development of tourism (Bhatia, 1996). Tourism, by all means, is a peoples industry; it is run by the people, for the people at the core-be it guests or hosts, and it is their well being and enrichment, which should be the primary goal of tourism development (Kunwar, 1997:98, 2009). Mountain Tourism in Nepal As far as tourism typology of Nepal is concerned, Coppock (1978: Price, 1995:205; in Kunwar, 2010:51) has developed the typology of tourists. They are jet set, mountaineer, packaged trekker, individual and cultural nomad. Mountain tourism is the pioneer of all tourism in Nepal that started from 1949, the year Nepal opened for tourists. It often relates to Nepalese tourism while talking about mountain tourism because of the identity Nepal has earned as the mountainous country in the world. Foreigners always treat Nepal as a Himalayan country. The image of Nepal as a beautiful Himalayan country cannot be ignored, but in the meantime, it is important as well to look into the diverse culture of this country (NTB, 2009). Eight out of 14 highest peaks above 8000 meters are situated in Nepal. Because Nepal has a unique nature and unspoiled culture, the Himalayan region has indisputably a better scope for adventure seekers in this region. The conquest of Annapurna was in the early 50s and it opened a new era for mountaineers, but it was also important because the country was unknown to the rest of the world until that time. What until yesterday was hidden behind mystery, magic and fascination suddenly lost
its veil of unreality to become an easy target of trekkers, climbers and tourists around the world (Herzog,1991). Tourism in Nepal began only after 1950. Nepal was mapped in the world map after the successful ascent of Mount Annapurna 1, (8091m) in 1950, June 3, by two French National Luise Lachenel and Maurice Herzog. This was a landmark to show the presence of Nepal to the outer world. Another successful expedition on the third pole of the world, Mt. Everest 8848 m on 29 May 1953, by legendary Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary was an additional benefit that helped position Nepal as an adventure destination for the adventure seekers also known as mountain lovers and mountaineers (Shakya, 2007:2). To every mountaineer, mountains are important. They visit them to escape the stresses of every day life, climb them to challenge themselves and to enjoy the beauty (Martin, 1998). The various activities involved in mountains are known as mountain tourism. Trekking, camping, climbing, skiing, sky diving, mountaineering, nature walking, river rafting, mountain biking, mountain flight etc. come under mountain tourism activities. These activities include the tourists and local peoples involvement and generate economic activities. Mountain flight The tourism products of Nepal are mountains, deep gorges, flat terrains, green jungles, beautiful nature, friendly ethnic people, cultural diversities and unexposed villages. These days people are not interested in the same product for a long time. Varied tourism products and adventure destinations may attract longer stay of tourist. To be in the competitive market they must be noticed. For this, the concerned authorities should work in different ways. Creating a different image is not an easy task. The entrepreneurs should keep their eyes in and around the competitive and novel market. The diversification in tourism products may help in creating self-employment in the respective tourism spots. In this context, mountain flights will be an alternative activity for those having less time and weak physical fitness but those who have a keen interest for spectacular panoramic views of the Himalayas including Ganesh Himal in the west, Gauri Shanker (7143m), and Mt. Everest in the east of Nepal. Mountain flights appeal to all categories of travelers. For those who are restricted by time or other considerations from trekking, climbing and mountaineering, these flights offer a panoramic view of the Himalayas in just an hour from the airport. It is even recommendable to those visitors who do not like to trek heavily, and yet do not want to miss the opportunity to triumph over the mountains from air. Such activities can be seen in New Zealand as flight seeing. Flight seeing offers tourists an experience of untouched nature of wilderness, while at the same time educating them about the areas they fly over via in-flight commentaries. In addition, scenic flights are environmentally friendly as they discharge low levels of pollution and create low levels of noise pollution for wildlife and other tourists. Flight seeing is a non-consumptive activity, taking nothing out of the environment other than perhaps photographs of the environment they come to experience. In terms of adventure tourism, flight seeing could be classified as an
example of passive adventure. Those taking scenic flights do so to experience and see nature close to hand (Westwood and Boyd, 2006). This is a type of a tourist gaze from air. The romantic gaze is for the more aware, elite group who appreciates magnificent scenery, value solitude and has the cultural capital to draw meanings from places. The romantic gaze involves further quests for new objects of the solitary gaze, the deserted beach, the empty hilltop, the uninhabited forest, the uncontaminated mountain and so on (Kunwar, 2010:51) From the comfort of a fully pressurized aircraft available in Nepal, tourists will experience an hour-long breath-taking mountain view of the highest peaks from as close as five nautical miles. Guaranteed window seat as well as emergency oxygen mask is available for each passenger on board through which the tourist can gaze at the natural beauty. A mountain flight gives a tourist the opportunity to experience spectacular views of the Himalayas. It becomes a must-do activity for any visitor to Nepal, and one of the most popular activities amongst visitors. Wandering in the sky, tourists will observe the natural serenity, beautiful mountain valleys, deep gorges, large open clear skies, lush flora and fauna of the valley and sights of nature. During a mountain flight, tourists will encounter the tallest mountains in the world, providing spectacular views of Mount Everest, Kanchenjunga, the Tibetan plateau and many others. It has given many mountain lovers of the world an opportunity to touch their wildest dreams from the untouched Himalayan heights of Nepal. In the early hours of the morning, tourists will witness the beauty of the Himalayas including eight of the worlds highest mountain peaks within camera range. A visit to Nepal simply cannot be considered completed until one sees the beauty of the extraterrestrial Himalayas on board a mountain flight. The modern state-of-the-art pressurized aircrafts fly at the height of 25000 feet giving a life time of opportunity to the tourists to view the mighty Himalayas.(Yeti; Everest Flight, 2010) As the aircraft lifts up and heads towards the east, passengers do not have to wait too long to find out what is in store for them. There they are the mountains, as they always have been. In 18 October 1923, the famous mountaineer George Mallory once replied to the question Why do you want to climb Mount Everest? as Because it is there (Robertson, 1999:215). It is still there and waiting for the mountain lovers to visit in the near future. The first mountain that can be seen is Langtang (7234m). The valley of Langtang, which is not visible from the mountain flight, is considered the most beautiful in the whole Himalayan region. The far left visitors see Goshaithan, also called Shisha Pangma in Tibetan language, standing at the majestic height of 8,013m in the Nepal Tibet border. She is related with many Hindu mythologies especially that of Lord Shiva. Immediately to the right of Goshaithan, there appears Dorje Lakpa (6966m), a mountain that looks like the number 8 lying down and it is covered with snow. This mountain has a Tibetan name, which means the mountain of many sacred thunderbolts. This mountain is considered a holy mountain for Buddhists and the permission to climb it was given only in 1964 AD, and it was not climbed until 1981 AD. To the right of Dorje Lakpa is Phurbi-Ghyachu (6637m). As the plane moves along, the mountains come closer and closer. Next on the vision is Choba-Bhamare, the smallest one of the lot standing at 5,970m but singularly stubborn, as it
has never been climbed. The tourists then see another mountain that has a religious value Gauri-Shankar, the names of the Hindu god and goddess, Lord Shiva and his consort Gauri, who are said to protect this mountain, standing at a proud height of 7,134m. The summit had a history of unsuccessful attempts till 1979AD. Gauri-Shankar, the holy mountain is sharp and very eye-catching during the mountain flight. As the aircraft moves towards the land of the rising sun, the eastern Himalayas, a succession of glorious mountains follow. Melungtse (7,023m), a plateau-like mountain stretches up to Chugimago (6,297m) which is still a virgin, waiting to be climbed. At an altitude of 6,956m, Numbur mountain resembles a breast, a maternal source in the sky providing pure milk to the Sherpas, one of the ethnic groups of Nepal of the Solu Khumbu region. Next is Karyolung, an intensely white mountain that at 6,511m gleams with the rising sun. Cho-Oyu is the eighth highest mountain in the world. Reaching a height of 8,201m, it appears stunningly beautiful from the aircraft. Next on the menu is Gyanchungkang, at a majestic height of 7,952 m, considered an extremely difficult climb. To the right of Gyanchungkang is Pumori (7,161m). As passengers get closer to Mt. Everest, another mountain called Nuptse (7,855m) is visible, which means West Peak, signifying its direction from Everest. Finally, there is Everest (8,848m) itself, known as Sagarmatha by the Nepalese and Chomolungma by the Tibetans. The Mountain was discovered in 1852 and is the highest mountain of the world. It is named after Sir George Everest, an English surveyor. Sagarmatha, meaning top of the universe, is the name given by Nepali Historian Late Baburam Acharya, which means, mother of the world. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgey Sherpa were the first people to climb Everest on 29 May, 1953. Much has been written about Everest; but to actually witness it face to face during a mountain flight is something else. Lhotse (8,516m) 4th highest peak lies to the south of Everest; the name given by the Sherpas is South Peak. The first ascent of this mountain took place in 1956 by the Swiss. It is a different feeling as one comes face to face with the worlds tallest mountain standing there in all its splendid glory, beautiful and enigmatic (Visit Nepal; 1998). History of Mountain flights in Nepal Nepal is a mountainous country and almost all the flights to each corner of the country is a mountain flight in a way. Any destination from the capital will give you an additional view of the mountains. In 3rd April 1933, Royal Air Force Lieutenant David McIntyre and the Scottish Marquess of Clydes-dale, flew two open-cockpit Westland aircrafts and completed the first over flight and aerial photographic survey of Mount Everest. The British Mount Everest team battled extreme cold and high winds as they photographed the previously unknown crest of the 29,028foot peak (http://timelines.ws/countries/NEPAL.HTML). The government owned a national airlines company, the then RNAC which began its tourist oriented mountain flights to view the majestic panorama of the Himalayas of Eastern Nepal including Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) in October 1968. This is one of the scheduled air services created exclusively for tourists to view the magnificent mountain panorama at its
best (Satyal, 1999:48). The mountain flights operated at sunrise as well as at sunset during the tourist seasons October and May by turboprop HS 748s (Avro-Hawker Siddeley) (ibid., 52). These flights took up to 19000ft. The airline sometimes conducted mountain flights by DHC6300 twin Otters, which provided beautiful view of the rivers and gorges below. It extended commercial mountain flights with Boeing 727 and 757 carrying big volume of tourists at a time. After the liberalization in civil aviation policy in 1992, a number of private companies started private airlines operations in Nepalese sky and started domestic flights in various domestic tourist destinations all over the country. Almost all private airlines operated mountain flights especially in Mt. Everest region, east of Nepal. From the establishment, Necon Air, (1992-2003) and Nepal Airways (1992-1998) were the two private airline companies that started commercial mountain flights by Avro HS 748s. Necon Air tried to extend this type of mountain flights to western Nepal as KathmanduEverest-Pokhara and vice versa. However, it was not successful in its schedule operations. Everest Air (1992-1998) (Nepal Air Charter Services) started one window one passenger by Dornier, Do 228 in the year 1992. This new concept had taken pace in the competitive market of mountain flights. Rest of the airlines needed to follow the concept to grab passengers during that period. Cosmic Air (1997-2008) launched mountain flights by SAB 340A model aircraft and Dornier Do-228. In the same way, Skyline Airways (1998-2002) launched mountain flights by Dornier and Twin otter DHC6-300 Aircraft. Shangri-La Air (1999-2003) and Mountain Air (2000-2003) started mountain flights by Beech craft B-1900C. Buddha Air (Estd.1997) came into the Nepalese aviation sector in 1997 with Beech craft, B-1900D carrying 18 windows seats for all 18 passengers. It introduced flying high at 25000ft altitude and 3 nautical miles (1 Nautical= 1852m) near to Mt. Everest during mountain flights. Yeti airlines (Estd.1998) started one-hour Everest experience flight in British Aerospace Jetstream, J-41 with 19 window seats in 29 seats aircraft. All passengers got the opportunity to view mountains from its cockpit during the flight. The company allowed the mountain flight passengers on the J-41 aircraft to look at the mountains and take photographs from the deck. The flight crew closely monitored such entries so that the passengers would not be able to touch any equipment/ instrument in the cockpit. The passengers at flight were allowed to enter one at a time in the cockpit (Operational Manual, 2009). Yeti Airlines also tried to offer Pokhara mountain flights that showcased Dhaulagiri (8,167m, 7th highest peak in the world), Machhapuchhre (6,993m, Fishtail), Mt. Annapurna (8,091m, 10th highest peak in the world) and Mt. Manaslu (8163m, 8th highest peak) in a half an hour flight but it did not work. Agni Air (Estd. 2006) now has the same J-41 aircraft for mountain flights in the east of Nepal. Similarly, Guna Air (Estd. 2009) operated mountain flight by Beech 1900C. Daily flights from Kathmandu-Pokhara-Kathmandu provide passengers wonderful views of the central Himalaya from Langtang, Ganesh, Himalchuli, Manaslu, to the Annapurna ranges.
Flights to Jomson from Pokhara give very close-up views of Nilgiri and Machhapuchhare. The Kathmandu-Nepalgunj flight offers a majestic panoramic view of the entire Himalaya of western Nepal. The flight from the eastern part of Kathmandu to Bhadrapur provides great views of Mt Everest, Makalu (8,463m, 5th highest peak) and Kanchenjungha (8,586m, 3rd highest peak). Data Analysis Out of 3342 mountain flights in 2009, Buddha Air handled 54.25% (1813 Flights) while Yeti Airlines handled 28.46 % (951 Flights) of mountain flights (Table No.1 & Chart No.3). Five hundred and ten mountain flights operated in November 2009 only (ChartNo.1) out of which 242 flights were operated by Buddha Air and 109 flights by Yeti Airlines (Chart No.2). The number of mountain fights which was 265 in September 2009, increased in the month of October and nearly doubled to 480. June and July seemed to be the slack months for mountain flights because of the monsoon season. During the whole year of 2009, the total number of visitor arrivals by air was 378,712 in aggregate, out of which 26% came for trekking and mountaineering, 8% were holiday makers, 4.5% business travelers, 10% pilgrimage, 4.8 official visits, 2% meetings and conferences, 0.1% rafting, 36.6% others and 7.9% for unknown purposes. (Annapurna Post, 8 Sept. 2010) Private airlines serve 55141 passengers for mountain flight sight seeing programs. (Table No. 2) Buddha air handled 52.93% (29187 pax) of mountain flight passengers whereas Yeti Airlines accounted for 30.88% (17026 pax) of mountain flight passengers in Nepal.(Chart No.6). October and November have the highest no. of passengers for mountain flights numbering 8251 and 8799 respectively by private airlines (Chart No. 4) out of which 4294 passengers took Buddha Air for mountain flights and 2008 passengers preferred Yeti Airlines (Chart No.5) Majority of the passengers in mountain flights are from America, and United Kingdom, Germany and France from Europe, and Japan, Korea, and China from East Asia while India dominates the SAARC region. The tariff for a mountain flight is USD 154 in Yeti Airlines and USD 160 in Buddha Air. Mountain flight operation depends on the demand and supply basis. Yeti Airlines, Buddha Air, Agni Air and Guna Air operate mountain flights every morning from 6:30 am to 8:30 am. From the data table No. 1, an average of 17 Mountain flights took off in a day in tourist season i.e. October and November 2009, while during the slack season i.e. in July 2009, only 5 mountain flights per day were operated by these airlines. Generally, a one-hour flight gives high enough satisfaction to nature lovers. As the main intention is to view the majestic Himalayas and its ranges, almost all the airhostesses and stewards serve as guides to show the beautiful peaks and pinnacles including the top of the world, Mount Everest. Mountain flights are last minute decisions and optional activities generally motivated by the guides and travel agents in the Nepali context.
Table No. 1 Mountain Flight MTN Flight 2009 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total Share Chart No. 1
Yeti 62 75 99 116 87 70 50 58 59 120 109 46 951 28.46
Buddha 128 162 186 206 124 90 71 122 140 229 242 113 1813 54.25
Agni 2 3 12 5 4 16 23 16 34 53 26 194 5.80
Guna
14 16 25 31 50 97 106 45 384 11.49
Total 190 239 288 334 230 180 162 234 265 480 510 230 3342 100
Chart No. 2
Chart No.3
Table No. 2 Passenger on Board POB 2009 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total Share Yeti 1057 1301 1797 2073 1587 1289 907 997 1014 2208 2008 788 17026 30.88 Buddha 1970 2498 2835 3205 1921 1355 1128 1918 2282 3956 4294 1825 29187 52.93 32 65 177 80 63 268 447 255 675 905 463 3430 6.22 206 188 351 388 696 1412 1592 665 5498 9.97 Agni Guna Total 3027 3831 4697 5455 3794 2895 2654 3750 4247 8251 8799 3741 55141 100
Chart No.4
Chart No.5
Chart No.5
Conclusion Mountain flight is an alternative attraction in Nepal. Those having less time but keen interest to witness the highest peaks from air, mountain flights are highly recommendable to tourists visiting Nepal to acquire a lifetimes achievement in an hour. It is a true experience that one can witness from his /her naked eyes and share with pride the pictures taken which will be important souvenirs to last for a lifetime. References Adhikari, Rabindra, June 2005, A study on Building Confidence in Tourism through Crisis Management, Kathmandu, Nepal Association of Tour Operators (NATO). Annapurna Post, 8 Sept. 2010 Bhatia A.K. 1997. International Tourism: Fundamentals and Practices, New Delhi, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Data Source: 2010, Yeti Airlines Domestic (P) Ltd., Kathmandu, Nepal Herzog, Maurice, 1991, Annapurna Paper presented at the conference organized by The Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan, (HAT-J) Tokyo. Kunwar, Ramesh Raj, 1997, Tourism and Development, Kathmandu, Laxmi Kunwar. Kunwar, Ramesh Raj, 2002, Anthropology of Tourism: A case study of Chitwan Sauraha, Nepal, Delhi: Adroit Publishers Kunwar, Ramesh Raj, 2010, Tourist and Tourism: Science and Industry Interface, Kathmandu, Ganga Sen Kunwar Martin, F. Price, 2-4 May 1998, Why are mountains important?, The International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation, (UIAA), Barcelona. Nepal Tourism Board (NTB). 2009 (March). Newsletter Vol 10/Issue 90. Operational Manual, 2009, Second Edition, (Government approved), Yeti Airlines Domestic (P)Ltd. Robertson, David, 1999 (Second Edition), George Mallory: Bibliotheca Himalayica, Faber and Faber Limited Satyal, Yajna Raj, 1999, Tourism in Nepal: A Profile, Delhi: Adroit Publishers. Satyal, Yajna Raj, 2000, Tourism in Monograph of Nepal, Delhi: Adroit Publishers. Shakya, Vinaya, 20 May 2007, Tourism Development in Nepal: Our Challenges and Strategies, Vision paper presented to Nepal Tourism Board, Kathmandu. Sherpa, Ang Phurba and Ramesh Raj Kunwar, 2002, Nepalese Climbers on Mt. Everest, Kathmandu: Pema Chhamji Sherpa. Shrestha, Hari Prasad, 2000, Tourism in Nepal: Marketing Challenges, New Delhi: Nirala Publications. Smith, Valene L.(ed.)1989, Hosts and Guests the Anthropology of Tourism, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Visit Nepal 98, The Official Travel Manual, 1998, Kathmandu: Nepal Tourism Board. Westwood, Nicholas J. and Stephen Boyd, 2006, Mountain Scenic Flights: A Low Risk, Low Impact Ecotourism Experience within South Island, New Zealand, in C. Michael Hall and Stephen Boyd (eds.) Nature-Based Tourism in Peripheral Areas: Development of Disaster? First Indian Edition, New Delhi: Viva Books Pvt. Ltd., pp.50-63. Yeti Airlines Domestic (P) Ltd. Experience the spectacular of Everest Flight (Brochure), 2010. Websites http://timelines.ws/countries/NEPAL.HTML http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/issue/15/Travel/8136 http://yetiairlines.com/yeti/home http://www.welcomenepal.com http://www.nepaltrekkinginfo.com/nepal/mountain_flight.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nepal-related_topics#Airlines_of_Nepal Acknowledgements In such kind of study, the researcher has to take help from different resourceful people. Therefore, the author would like to acknowledge U.B. Shrestha, Pradeep Bikram Shah, Govinda Poudel and Ankur Jung Rana of Yeti Airlines Domestic (P) Ltd. Kathmandu. The author extends gratitude to Mr. Saral SJB Rana of Tara Airlines and Rupesh Joshi of Buddha Airlines, Kathmandu. Finally, the author gives sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Ramesh Raj Kunwar who thoroughly checked this paper.
Importance of Lumbini in Tourism Development in Nepal

Thosapala Hewage*
Abstract Tourism has become one of the worlds largest industries which transfer real resources from capital surplus countries to developing countries. Although tourism plays an important role in Nepalese economy in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment creations, it has not been developed as required. Nepal can benefit from different types of tourism if available potential is fully exploited. At present, tourism is concentrated mainly in trekking, mountaineering and nature based activities. This paper highlights the importance of Lumbini in promoting religious tourism. Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha is one of the most sacred places for Buddhists all over the world. It is the Land of Peace that attracts non Buddhists too. Basic infrastructure in and around Lumbini needs to be developed, if tourism is to be promoted in that area. Lumbini is surrounded by important world heritage sites such as Kapilvastu and Devdaha. But there are several Buddhist and Hindu religious sites in Pokhara and Kathmandu that most of the tourists/pilgrims are not aware of. It is very important that these places are included in tour packages. The potential of development of religious tourism in Nepal, taking Lumbini as a centre of excellence is enormous and the Government of Nepal and other responsible agencies need to play a proactive role to promote it. For this study, the information was collected from both primary and secondary sources. Key Words: Religious tourism, Buddhas birth place, Land of Peace, Tour packages, Centre of excellence, Basic infrastructure Introduction Tourism is a complex social, cultural, religious and economical development, and one of the most significant phenomena and the worlds largest industry. In the 21st century, people
a
Thosapala Hewage is the Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Nepal. He has done Post Graduate Diploma in Development Economics from University of Cambridge, U.K. and Master in Philosophy (M. Phil.) in Policy Analysis from Univrsity of Wells, U.K..
Hewage: Importance of Lumbini in Tourism Development in Nepal 45
are increasingly mobile. It is said that one cannot understand the world today without understanding tourism. There are many definitions of Tourism. For the purpose of this article, Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destinations outside the places where they normally live and work, and their activities during the stay at each destination. It includes movement for all purposes (Tourism Society of England 1976). Tourism is a very important source of foreign exchange earning. It is an un-risky procedure for transfer of real resources from industrially capital surplus countries to developing countries. There are different types of tourism. Among them, leisure tourism, sustainable tourism, cultural and religious tourism, eco tourism, heritage tourism, medical tourism, wildlife tourism, war tourism and disaster tourism are very common. In 2008, there were over 922 million international tourist arrivals globally with a growth of about 2% compared to 2007. In 2009, international tourist arrivals fell to 880 million representing a worldwide decline of about 4% as compared to 2008 mainly due to economic recession affecting all developing countries. International tourism income grew to US $ 944 billion in 2008, corresponding to an increase in terms of 1.8% on 2007. There has been an up market trend in the tourism over the last few decades, especially in Europe where international travel for short breaks is common. Tourists have high level of disposable income, considerable leisure time and are well educated and have sophisticated tastes. WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any given time. Tourism is a labour intensive industry offering employment to skilled, semi skilled, and unskilled manpower. It employees large number of people and provides a wide range of jobs. According to James Robinson, ex-president of the World Travel and Tourism Organization, tourism industry accounts for 9% of global GDP and employs 235 million people. Present Status of Tourism in Nepal Tourism plays an important role in Nepalese economy, particularly in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment creation. Nepal opened to the rest of the world only during the early fifties. Early days tourism was mainly concentrated in the Kathmandu valley and only a few mountaineers visited the Everest and Annapurna regions that are major attractions even today. With the increase in tourist numbers, Nepal developed the necessary infrastructure such as international airport in Kathmandu, a full fledged hotel sector, construction of domestic air strips, tourism related public and private institutions and travel and trekking agencies. The tourism industry in 1998 accounted for an average of 46.6% of total exports, 23% of total foreign exchange earnings (US $ 161 million) and 3% of GDP. Total number of tourist arrivals in 1998 was 463,684. In 2009, total number of visitor arrivals was 509,752. Of the total arrival of tourists in 1999, around three-fifth came for holiday or pleasure and a little more than one-fifth came for trekking and mountaineering. Rest came for business, pilgrimage and for official purposes. Total earnings in 2008 was US $ 351,968,000/-. The average income per visitor per day is around US $ 73 (Nepal Tourism Board). There are about 24 online airlines in operation in Nepal. The hotel and restaurant sector employed about 114,000 people
in 1998. Although data are lacking, it is known that other sectors have both direct and indirect employment related to tourism. The tourism development has, so far, been concentrated in a few major locations of central and eastern areas, and confined to a few major products. While cultural tourism is confined to Kathmandu and Pokhara, trekking is popular in the Khumbu, Langtang and Annappura regions, and Chitwan mainly focuses on wildlife and eco-tourism. In addition to the above mentioned vulnerability of tourism in Nepal, due to external factors and international media publicity of Maoists activities such as bandhs and strikes have adversely affected the growth of tourism industry. Tourism development and its expansion have been limited by unmanaged urbanization, environmental degradation, and pollution in Nepal. Lack of institutional co-ordination among key agencies involved in tourism development is also a barrier, i.e. trekking permits are issued by Immigration Department, mountaineering permits are issued by the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, and the Nepal Mountaineering Association and park entrance permits are issued by the Department of Parks and Wildlife. It is also visible that participation of local communities in tourism activities is minimal. If tourism is to benefit people in the given area, the locals should participate actively in tourism development work. Cultural and Religious tourism also play an important role in Nepal. Even then, it is difficult to state that the Nepali Government has given due recognition to cultural tourism as in the case of leisure and nature based tourism. Some of the world heritage sites are not properly conserved and preserved. In Lumbini, tourists come and spend only a few hours and get back to India where basic facilities are available and cultural and religious tourism is promoted aggressively. Nepal is exceptionally rich in terms of archaeological monuments and historical places, and has a unique cultural diversity as well as natural beauty. Hence the tourism in Nepal has enormous potential but it has not been fully exploited yet. Although tourism has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in Nepal, it has not been promoted nationally and internationally as required. This can be done collectively by the countries in the region under the umbrella of SAARC. Prospects for Tourism Development in Nepal Nepal has a wide range of places of importance for tourist attractions. Tourists are drawn to Nepal by its unparalleled natural beauty, the challenges of its mountain climbing, its rich wildlife and biodiversity, and unique religious and cultural heritage. Tourism in Nepal varies from less adventurous and more pleasurable activities such as village visits, home stays, and walking and hiking trips for non trekkers to the more adventurous and challenging activities such as trekking, mountaineering and white water rafting. There is a need to develop the combination of spectacular and diverse tourism resources and a largely rural based population, and deliver the benefits of development to the remote rural areas. Community based tourism can generate a sense of pride in the local population and make funds available for maintaining or upgrading cultural assets such as archaeological ruins, historic sites, traditional crafts production ( UNEP, 2001).
Although tourism in Nepal grew and actually flourished after the first ascent to Mt. Everest in 1953, it is characterized by the presence of fairly large proportion of tourists who remain in the urban areas. In view of the above, one can suggest that Nepal can benefit from different types of tourism such as eco-tourism, religious and cultural tourism, and even other forms of tourism if available potentials are fully exploited. Pokhara to a certain extent can be sited as an example of regional growth due to tourism development. But this can be further improved with better infrastructure facilities such as roads, electricity, water, communication etc. Eco-tourism can also offer opportunities for generating local revenues through informal sectors such as tour guides, vendors, and involvement of local people in selling local handicrafts. However there is a need to preserve the cultural identity of the local community. Nepal is a country of ancient culture. Cultural tourism has been conceptualized by UNESCO during the seventies and it was regarded as a force for cultural preservation. Cultural tourism was also defined as the absorption by tourists of features resembling the nourishing lifestyles of past societies observed through such phenomena as house styles, crafts, farming equipment, dress, utensils and other instruments and equipments that reflect the lifestyle of any particular community during a particular time ( Smith, 1977). Further, Zina identified handicrafts, languages, traditions, art and music, paintings and sculptures, history works and technology, architecture, religion, educational system, dress and leisure activities as elements of cultural tourism. There is enormous potential for development of the cultural and religious tourism in Nepal. Places such as Maipokhari (related to Shiva and Parvati), Pathibhara (Temple of Pathibhara Devi), Dhanush & Dham (Birth place of Sita) Tansen (religious festivals such as Baishakh Purnima, Gai Jatra, Tihar are performed) Shaileshwori (Shaileshwori Temple), Ramaroshan (Pancha city of Goddess Parvati), Surma (Surma Devi Temple) Bikram Baba (an old tree worshiped by Hindus) are very important cultural and religious places that can be promoted for tourism development. Among other things that the tourism authorities should do sufficient publicity internationally and nationally to promote tourism development. The government in coordination with Nepalese travel trade sector and concerned organizations/experts have decided to observe the year 2011 as a national tourism campaign. During Nepal Tourism Year 2011, Nepal expects to achieve one million international arrivals, additional investments on tourism infrastructure by 50% and also to promote eco friendly domestic tourism. Nepal Tourism Board has identified the importance of Nepal from the worlds view. Nepal among 50 places to see before you die BBC Everest base camp listed in the 20 Journeys of a lifetime UKs observer Climbing Mt. Everest among BBCs 50 things to do before you die Annapurna trail of Nepal declared one of the 12 best walks in the world USA Travel Magzine Explore voted Annapurna circuit as No. 01 in iExplores hiking and trekking trips 2003
Second position in the most prepared country category out of 180 countries UK Best Eco Tourism Destination in the world by Tourism Market Trends : World overview As former Secretary General, HE Mr. Nihal Rodrigo said, Special texture of the SAARC Region is its diversity which ranges from Nepals soaring snow-caped peaks to Bhutans richly decorated Buddhist monasteries, the bush grass forests and the mighty rivers of Bangladesh to the teeming cities of India, Sri Lankas temples and ancient arts to the turquoise sea and brilliant white beaches of the Maldives. This diversity needs to be exploited to the maximum benefit of the country. Importance of Lumbini Lumbini is situated in Rupandehi district of Western Terai of Nepal. It is 227 km. away from Kathmandu. The flight takes 35 minutes from Kathmandu to Bhairahawa Airport. The distance of Lumbini from Airport is 18 km. Butwal is considered the gateway to Lumbini. Likewise, many international visitors go to Lumbini from Sunauli, the border of India. Lumbini is 22 km away from Sunauli. Lumbini where Gautama Buddha was born in 623 B C is one of the most sacred places of all Buddhists. World wide attention is focused on Lumbini not only because pilgrims and tourists visit it from all over the world but also for all mankind, Lumbini has a special meaning as a place of meditation and spiritual renewal, a centre of cultural exchange and a symbol of peace. This is one of the most important reasons behind the high acclamation of Nepal and is a treasured heritage for the country. Lumbini is also famous for the highly civilized inhabitants and the natural prosperity of the place. It is said that the place even holds the devotional Buddha feelings of the air. Mahaparnirvana Sutta Buddha said about Lumbini as Ananda, Lumbini where the Thathagatha was born, is a place which should be visited and seen by a person of devotion and which would cause awareness and apprehension of the nature of impermanence. At this place, Ananda, who was on a pilgrimage to this shrine, if they should die with devotion in their hearts during the courage of the pilgrimage, will after their death and dissolution of the body be reborn in a good destination, a fortunate celestial realm. Today devotees and visitors from all over the world come to Lumbini, the timeless place where ancient monuments glorify the birth place of Buddha and bear witness to the record of the noteworthy visits by famous dignitaries. They deeply immerse themselves in the calm spiritual atmosphere of Lumbini. Emperor Asoka along with a team of pilgrims made a pilgrimage to Lumbini in 249 B.C. This could be the first recorded religious tourism in the world. He erected a stone pillar bearing an inscription stating clearly hida buddha jate sakyamuniti (here Sakyamuni Buddha was born). He also laid importance to the marker stone and constructed few other structures to make the exact birth place of the Buddha. The restored garden and surroundings of Lumbini have the remains of many of the stupas and monasteries. The next pilgrims according to the recorded history were the three famous Chinese travelers; Tseng Tsai (4th century AD) Fa-Hsien (5th century AD) and Hiuen Tsang (7th century AD)
who visited Lumbini. They reported to having seen the Asoka Pillar with horse carved on the top of it. For decades the sacred place remained, neglected due to various reasons. However, after the visit of various dignitaries such as King Mahendra, UN Secretary Generals U. Thant (1970), Kurt Waldheim (1979), Boutros- Boutros Gali (1993), and Ban Ki-Moon (2008) it again became a place of such importance. Out of the six UN Secretary Generals, four have visited Lumbini and made speeches and sent messages regarding the need to develop Lumbini. Most of them could not do much work on Lumbini due to their limited speeches and messages. However, U. Thants visit was significant. U. Thant wanted Nepal Government to develop Lumbini as an international pilgrimage and tourist centre in 1970. A master plan was prepared for the development of Lumbini and the Lumbini Development Trust was established to implement it. In 1997 Lumbini was declared as a World Heritage Site. The rich cultural heritage of Lumbini attracts religious tourists because of its sacred garden which spreads over 8 sq. km. covering the entire valuable riches of this area. The Maya Devi Temple is the heart of all monuments at the sacred site. Other important places are the marker stone, the Nativity sculpture, the Pushkarani Pond, remains of various viharas and stupas , artifacts and the Asoka Pillar. Another attraction is the Sarus crane sanctuary where hundreds of cranes, hundreds of Blue bulls, 27 species of animals, 207 species of birds, 44 types of fishes and herds of Nilgai animals are protected. This sanctuary along with greenery can definitely be of interest for nature lovers. This will add a natural attraction on the cultural destination. Nepalese and international monasteries representing different architecture and culture of Buddhist and Buddhist organizations are other attractions of Lumbini. Some of the important sites round Lumbini which are important in terms of religious and cultural values are Tilaurakot (capital of Sakya kingdom), Niglihawa (Kanakamuni Buddha was born and attained enlightenment), Arorakot (natal town of Kanakamuni Buddha), Sagarhawa (Sakya were massacred), Gotihawa (Kakusanda Buddha was born and attained Nirvana), Devdaha (capital of Koliya kingdom) and Ramagrama (out of the eight astha dhatu was deposited and a stupa was built by a ruler of Koliya dynasty). Lumbini is not only a sacred complex for Buddhists but also for Hindus as well as other religious people due to the peaceful land. The Government of Nepal is making arrangements to develop Lumbini as the Land of Peace. It is very important as the teachings of Lord Buddha are meant for peace and harmony. Peace pagodas, peace bells, eternal peace lighst were constructed by the Japanese to symbolize Lumbini as a Peace City. Various conferences, seminars are conducted in Lumbini on peace. The Cultural Centre of Lumbini is dedicated for World Peace. The purpose of visit or the motivation for travel is the main driving force that makes tourists move away from their home to a destination where they can get what they want. 60% of the tourists were interested in Buddha and Buddhism. That is why they moved to get their feet over to the land where Buddha was born. Out of the 66 countries visiting Lumbini, Sri Lanka and Thailand have been at the top two, both representing Buddhism as religion of the majority.
Number of tourists arrivals in Lumbini although declined in some years, overall there is an upward trend. Tourist arrivals in Lumbini according to various sources are as follows: 1964 2000 2001 2002 2003 1023 46174 35936 26438 39869 2004 2005 2006 2007 47813 51655 62680 71053
(Source: Tourist Information Centre)
To promote and enhance cultural Tourism, a unique cultural organization named Lumbini Cultural Buddha Bihara Greet Sadak Natak has been formed to promote and conserve the local dances, songs, drama, painting, weaving, food, drinks, dresses and ornaments of Lumbini area (Giri, 2007). This organization attracted tourists as they could get a glimpse of cultural values of Lumbini area. Promotion of Tourism in Lumbini Although Lumbini is Buddhas birth place and declared as a world heritage site, and many pilgrims visit the place, it has not yet been developed to attract more tourists, especially to stay in Lumbini and spend several days. Despite the presence of posh hotels in New Lumbini Village, transportation (both air and road facilities) in Lumbini hinder it to be an attractive tourist destination for many reasons. The main reason for this is that the basic infrastructure facilities such as roads, communication, water, electricity, hotels, restaurants, and trained guides are not available to meet the needs. Even the concerned government authorities seem to have paid less attention to develop Lumbini as a major tourist and pilgrimage site. Todays Lumbini is a small sleepy town in the South-Western Terai plains where the ruins of the old city can still be seen. Excavation commenced by the Archaeological Department of Nepal has stopped halfway due to various reasons. These need to be carried out systematically and valuable archeological sites have to be preserved. The development of Lumbini and its surrounding areas have been formulated in the Master Plan prepared by Prof. Kenzo Tange. The Master Plan is still the basis for all the development works being carried within the Master Plan area of 1 mile by 3 miles. Lumbini Development Trust was established in 1985 to implement the Lumbini Development Plan. The Master Plan that should have been fully implemented by 1995 is being implemented at a snails pace mainly due to lack of needed resources (Gautam, 2007). One informant said, If we implement the plan at the current pace, it wont be materialized even in a period of 200 years. However, once the Master Plan gets fully implemented, Lumbini will surely be an attraction for the tourists worldwide. The concerned authorities of Tourism Development of Nepal should work hard to promote and publicize Lumbini and other sites of the area as major tourists and pilgrimage sites.
Similarly efforts should be made to implement the Lumbini Master Plan as soon as possible so as to give a new look to the area and promote it as a number one pilgrimage tourist destination of Nepal. According to Gautam (ibid.) proper package programmes are needed for the development of tourism in Lumbini. When the flow of tourists in Lumbini is not satisfactory, tourists rarely reach Kapilawastu, the site where the Palace of Suddhodana was located and other Buddhist sites of the area. Therefore, package programme could be the best way of promoting the tourism in the area. At present Bhairahawa is the only domestic airport available to visit Lumbini but its facilities are minimal. From Bhairahawa to Lumbini there is about 19 km to be travelled by road transport. The road is not satisfactory and that needs to be improved to make travel comfortable for tourists. Construction of Lumbini International Airport would be an added attraction to tourists so that foreign tourists could fly directly to Lumbini and spend a few days there. Many of the tourists who arrive in Kathmandu do not include Lumbini in their destination programme. Also local tourism entrepreneurs and hoteliers of Lumbini & Bhairahawa have failed to take advantages from the tourists visiting Lumbini. Instead, the entrepreneurs of bordering Indian cities like Sunauli have been benefitting from them. The tourists stay in the Indian Hotels of Sunauli and Gorakhpur and the guides ferry them here (Lumbini) in reserved buses in the day time. Such tourists who arrive here via India do not spend even a single night in Lumbini or Bhairahawa (P. Neupane). This is due to the non availability of required facilities for mass scale tourism and no encouragement by way of promotion of tourism in Lumbini. Lumbini University, Lumbini International Research Institute and Lumbini Museum are additional attractions in Lumbini where tourists like to visit It is encouraging to note that so many leaders of Nepal have made promises regarding making Lumbini a great tourism spot with its development and have pushed for completion and implementation of its Master Plan. Recently on the occasion of 2554th birth anniversary of Lord Buddha, the Speaker of the Constituent Assembly said, Though it is the historic place for world peace, we have not been able to do justice to this great place. But from now onwards we will do what can be done to make this a place to grab the worlds attention. However, it is believed by many that all these promises and commitments in the past have been limited to their speeches only. In addition to the areas that we have discussed above, Giri(2007) has identified following for the promotion of healthy tourism in Lumbini and its peripheral areas. Attraction Improvement Tourists should be informed of all the sites properly, concerning the monasteries, meditation centers, museum, New Lumbini village etc. at Mayadevi temple. A Lumbini festival should be organized on the occasion of Buddha Jayanthi each year. Art reflects the accurate authentic evidences of the past lives and ways of the people. Museum plays a vital role to conduct exhibitions, conservations and preservation of the art remains. In this situation, concerned architectural fragments, sculptures, paintings, photography, replicas of Buddha
etc. should be collected and properly displayed in Lumbini Museum for the promotion of cultural tourism. Trained Tourist Guides Tourist-guides should be capable to interpret native languages of the guests, especially Thai, South Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Cambodian languages. Such trainings should be conducted at local level and local people should participate in these programmes. Preservation of Aboriginal Culture Local cultural activities like Biraha, music and dances should be organized. Tharu culture and life style among others of the Lumbini area should be preserved. Hotel and local community groups should be made aware of these cultural activities. Awareness Program Awareness programs should be carried out by organizing meetings, seminars, workshops and symposiums to make conscious of their sacred monuments, rituals, functionaries, religious processions and festivals. Local people should be motivated to know that these are the potential sources for the growth of tourism in the region. Training Programme Governmental and non-governmental organizations should also organize tourist awareness training programmes in the neighbouring villages of Lumbini complex including and extending the programs to other places as well. The youth of the localities should be trained to conduct tourist activities in future. Hospital facility Thousands of local people as well as pilgrims come here for the purpose of tourism and daily activities. There is a need for hospitals with good doctors to provide health facilities to the local people and foreign delegates. The health services of International Buddhist society, Cross Flow and R K Project are not sufficient to cater to the needs of the vast number of pilgrims. Drinking water Drinking water is directly provided from the boring-system. It is not purified with the use of proper chemicals and hence arsenic problem prevails. Purified water should be supplied using reservoir system through chemical treatment. Toilet (Sanitation) facilities Toilet facility should be provided near the temple, monastery and vihara to the visitors without charge otherwise open toilet-tradition will create a great problem of pollution.
Art & Craft Products The tradition of local art and crafts should be encouraged, i.e. basket and mat weaving, moulding the images of Buddha and local products should be supplied for sale in the market. It will encourage involving the tourist activities with the local people. Tourism Information centre A tourism information centre, especially for the motivation to visit Lumbini, should be operated at Butwal, Bhairahawa Lumbini-road (Buddha-choka), Kathmandu, Narayangadha and other proper sites in Nepal and foreign countries. Tourist materials Being such a popular Buddhist pilgrimage site, cheap and reliable informative tourist materials, viz. pamphlets, booklets, cassette, maps, VCD, tape recorder and photographs are not available in proper sites. These materials should be made available to the tourists having interests in knowing the details about Lumbini. Transportation Qualitative rickshaws and bicycles should be provided as preferred means of transportation to visiting sites at reasonable rates at this complex. Gautam Buddha Airport of Siddharthanagar should be upgraded to International Airport to increase the flow of tourists in Lumbini. Environment Creation The authority should be careful about stopping the begging monks and beggars, controlling noise, and cleaning the garbage and litters. Industries should not be established about 10 km east, north, south and west from the sacred complex of Lumbini. About 3 km to the right and left side of Siddharthanagar to Taulihawa road should be strictly prohibited to establish polluted factories. It should be developed as a Peace Land of the world. Co-ordination of concerned agencies Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), District Development Committee (DDC), Village Development Committees (VDC) and other such agencies have carried out integrated programs for the development of Lumbini and its outskirts for a long time. Their action plans and programs are duplications due to lack of proper co-ordination among them. As a whole, coordination committee should be constituted among the governmental and non-governmental organizations, not only for tourism but also for social changes in the Lumbini area. Proper Advertisement and Management Various requirements should be made available to increase the number of tourists as well as to increase their length of stay. National and international mass media, viz. TV, VCD, Radio, Internet and e-mail facilities should be used to advertise this sacred complex. Local groups and communities should be made aware to mobilize local resources to promote all the
pre-requisites for attraction to this area in the international markets. LDT, local VDCs, DDC and STDC must be active to use natural and cultural heritages of Lumbini complex. Promotion of other Religious Places Mushrooming of new luxury hotels, other facilities and upgrading of Bhairahawa Airport to an International Airport shows a positive sign that Buddhist tourism is strong in Nepal. Technically, Buddhist tourism is defined as the phenomenon in which the cultural, historical and ethnic components of a society or place are harnessed as resources to attract tourists, as well as to develop a leisure and tourism industry. It is also argued that cultural modification contributes to the detraction of social customs, the alienation of residents and the creation of homogeneity between places. Sometimes many planners and developers warn that the economic attraction of tourism and the need to cater to tourists are key reasons for the mythic reconstruction of places and the falsification of histories and identities. It has been widely accepted that when a cultural event is co-opted as a destination area by tourism, it becomes a consumer product. A number of important points must be raised to throw light on the wider context of the co-modification process. First, communal assertions of identity, increasing local appreciation of heritage and civic awareness have contributed to a new urban renaissance. Changes in urban cultural landscapes are best understood as the outcome of multiple factors that interact with one another. It would be an oversight to consider local cultures as passive and proclaim that tourism is the most important agent of social change. Second, heritage should not be considered as a relic, but as a dynamic and multi-purpose resource or a form of capital that has been moulded and transformed for diverse audiences. The modification process has helped to balance between visitors and the local community by fulfilling the needs of residents that could have been either marginalized or totally neglected. It has become possible for the heritage entrepreneur to serve multiple goals at the same time without alienating any particular group of people. Buddhist tourism products are geared towards global audiences as well as home communities. It is imperative to explore the heritage development process as traversing (or attempting to traverse) the tourist-local divide. Buddhist tourism development takes varied forms in different places depending on the success of the planning authority or entrepreneur in bridging the tourist-local gap. Conclusions and Recommendations The potential for development of Buddhist tourism in Lumbini is enormous. Presently no constructive plan has been developed or aggressive campaign has been carried out to explore the available potential. The Government of Nepal needs to get the help of UNESCO and seek required resources to develop Lumbini as an attractive tourist destination. The Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) has to play a pro-active role in promoting tourism in Lumbini as it is the legally constituted body that has the powers to do so. LDT should make all the necessary arrangements to implement the Lumbini Master Plan with the help of
UNESCO and donor agencies. The International Committee for the development of Lumbini initiated after the visit of UN Secretary General U. Thant in 1970 needs to be reactivated in order to accelerate the development process. Tour packages to be developed taking Lumbini as the centre of excellence in religious tourism. Packages can include trekking and sightseeing to the neighbouring districts like Palpa, Syangja, and Kaski (Pokhara) or Chitwan National Park for nature tour. Priority needs to be given to upmarket tourism. Aggressive publicity and promotional programmes have to be carried out by respective agencies within the country and overseas. Publicity materials need to be prepared in a careful manner and distributed among countries where tourists arrive from the most. Bibliography UNWTO, World Tourism Barometer, January 2010. WTO. Bidari, Basanta, 1990, Lumbini: The Birth Place of Lord Buddha, Ancient Ceylon, Srilanka, No. 7, Vol. II. Bidari, Basanta, 1996, Forest and Trees associated with Lord Buddha, Ancient Nepal, Kathmandu: Department of Archaeology, No. 139. Bidari, Basanta,2004, Kapilvastu: The World of Siddhartha, Lumbini:Basanta Bidari Bidari, Basanta, 2007,Lumbini A Heaven of Sacred Refuge, Kathmandu: Hillside Press (p) Ltd. Smita, Magar. (2008) Dark side story of the Birth Place of Light of Asia Lumbini Development Myth: An outlook 30 years after the Master Plan was designed. UsNepalOnline.com, Sherpa World. Nepal, Travel Trade Journa, 1999,special Issue, Vol 5, No 5. Lumbini International, 2008, A Journal of Lumbini Foundation for Development of Peace, No. 1, Vol. 1. Baral, Aditya, 2010, Current Tourism Scenario. Paper Presented to the Diplomatic Missions, June 2010. Acharya, Pradeep, n.d., Socio Economic impacts of Tourism in Lumbini, Nepal. A Case Study. Mahendra Multiple Campus, Baglung, Nepal. Bishnu, Gautam, 2007, Revisiting the World of Siddhartha, Gorkapatra Pandey, R.N., 1985, Archaeological Remains of Lumbini, Contributions to Nepalese Studies, CNAS, T.U. Vol.12, No. 3 Rijal, B.K. 1979, Archaeological Remains of Kapilvastu, Lumbini and Devdaha, Lumbini: LDC. Rijal, B.K., 1996, 100 Years of Archaeological Research in Lumbini, Kapilvastu and Devdaha, Kathmandu: S.K. International Publishing House. Smith Valene L. (ed.) 1977, Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism, Philadelphia: University of Pensylvannia Press. United Nations, 2003, Promotion of Buddhist Tourism Circuits in Selected Asian Countries, ESCAP, Tourism Review, No. 24. Giri, Gitu, 2006, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage at Lumbini, Lumbini, Lumbini International Buddhist Society, No 16, pp.9-16.
Giri Gitu, 2061(B.S.), Pilgrimage Tourism at Lumbini and Siddharthanagar, Siddhartha Special Issue, Siddharthanagar: Industry and Commerce, pp.39-44. Giri, Gitu,2007, Lumbini: A Tourist Paradise, Lumbini Festival, No 18, International Buddhist Society, Buddhanagar, Lumbini. Giri, Gitu, 2008, Sacred Complex of Lumbini, New Delhi: Adroit Publishers. Nepal Tourism Board, 2004, NTB News Letter, Vol.15 Lumbini Development Trust, 2010, Lumbini Darpan, (Mirror of the Lumbini) Development Trust.
Beyond the Digital Divide: Tourism, ICTs and Culture A Highly Promising Alliance
Roman Egger Thomas Herdin*
Introduction The touristic product is characterised by a high degree of complexity and is often created by several actors (Echtner & Jamal, 1997). In order to be able to transmit and process the mass of information created in tourism in a timely and targeted manner, it is indispensable that the transaction partners use information and communication technologies (ICTs) (Buhalis & Egger, 2006). These new technologies have far-reaching effects on the entire tourism industry (Poon, 1993; Stamboulis & Skayannis, 2003; Buhalis 1999, 2000, 2003). In addition to the Internet, the Global Distribution Systems (GDS) that emerged from the CRSs of airlines present themselves as information structure for the global distribution of tourist services (Egger & Buhalis, 2007). Currently, Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport divide the world market between themselves. The limited access of developing countries to global information and distribution networks is a considerable marketing disadvantage in international competition (UNCTAD, 2006). However, the monopolistic position of the GDS has been slightly weakened by the triumphant advance of the Internet and the possibility of low-price direct marketing. Internet users search the Internet, compare the transparent offers and book their holidays online. In the Internet economy, higher transparency as well as lower transaction costs result in a shift of market forces towards the customer (Customer Empowerment) (Efthymios, 2004). Today, tourists obtain better information from the Internet than travel agencies would have been able to provide some years ago. This fact is leading to dramatic changes in the information and booking behaviour. The direct contact to the service provider makes the detour via the intermediate agent seem obsolete. In the touristic context, it is mainly tour operators, travel agencies and the GDS that are affected by this development (Egger, 2005). Because of the trend towards disintermediation (avoidance of the intermediate agent), new distribution possibilities the principles of which correspond to the principles of fair trade open up to service providers and destinations in the Third World. Can it be possible, however, to think about autonomous marketing of touristic services at a global level, when large areas are considered as denied access to new technologies and when their effective use is impossible because of lack of education? The justified question arises here whether all of this is not based merely on a few theoretical concepts linked to a certain naivety that somehow miss the target of reality. Even if we assume that access to the
* Professor Dr. Thomas Herdin is the Head of the Department of Transcultural Communications, University of Salzburg, Austria. E-mail: tom@herdin.at www.herdin.at
digital network will be possible everywhere in future, scepticism about the changes to be achieved is large. Even the continued concentration of economic forces that is not least happening in the field of media and communication technologies, gives reason to doubt whether the mere access to modern information and communication technologies would automatically yield more influence to the newly networked parties or lead to an effective questioning of current hegemony conditions. (Wrter, 2004, p.79) The influence of tourism on the processes of globalisation The basis for the development of mass tourism was laid in the years after the Second World War and later led to a touristic explosion (Krippendorf, 1986, p.13). The reasons were increasing leisure time budgets and financial resources, an increase in regional mobility and a new yearning for far-away countries on the consumer side, and the continued technological development of transportation, the international expansion of transport connections and a professionalisation on the side of the service providers. With the de-regulation of air traffic and the technological progress in aviation, international tourism reached global dimensions as from 1980 onwards (Bieger, 2004). A look at Appadurais five levels (1990) clearly demonstrate the extent to which tourism is today influencing globalisation processes. Appadurai uses the suffix scape to show the framework where global cultural flows take place. If this model is transferred to tourism, political, social and cultural phenomena can be disclosed and analysed. The five drivers of cultural change can be found at the following levels: In the ethnical area, the ethnoscapes, the focus is on tourist flows and the resulting global exchange between people; the mediascapes describe the media field (such as transnational information and entertainment industry) where country images and their media image are distributed world-wide as stereo-types; in the financescapes, the centre of attention are financial flows that are nourished by globally active groups of companies and define tourism as one of the most important source of foreign currency; in the ideological area, the ideoscapes, the influence of tourists lifestyle as lived in foreign countries on local culture is examined; the technoscapes revolve, among other things, around changing working and professional fields that are influenced by technology transfers (Wood, 2000). With their international exchange, these tendencies of globalisation seem to lead to a homogenisation where differences are levelled out over time and therefore seem familiar to us. Tourism is today considered to be one of the biggest international business sectors; every 12th person owes his/her job to tourism. Tourism currently contributes some 3.6% to the global gross national product (GNP); if the indirect value generation is considered as well, tourism accounts for 14 % (5,390 billion USD) of the international GNP. Forecasts about its further development are also euphoric: According to the Word Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the average global growth of tourism by 2017 is expected to be 4.3% per year. Developing countries in particular view tourism as a herald of hope; for countries such as Gambia, Sierra Leone, Samoa and Tanzania it is the most important source of foreign exchange. UNWTO considers tourism to be a great opportunity for developing countries and
Egger/Herdin: Beyond the Digital Divide: Tourism, ICTs and Culture... 59
LDCs1 to create jobs and consequently ensure an appropriate quality of life. In LDCs and small insular states, in particular, tourism's share in the GNP can be as high as 40%. For nearly one third of developing countries, including half of the LDcs, income from tourism is the main source of export revenue. The increasing search for authenticity and genuine culture and nature, among others, also makes those countries seem interesting that have so far been underrepresented in tourism. Developments of international inflow of tourists confirm this trend. The market share of developing countries in international arrivals rose from 28.6 % to 40.3 % between 1990 and 2005, and income from international tourism in LDCs increased by 76% between 2000 and 2005, i.e. nearly twice as much as in international comparison (compare UNWTO, 2007). Numerous investigations show, however, that half of the income from tourism flows back abroad again, mainly to the touristic source markets. In some African countries, this rate reaches up to 85 %, in the Caribbean to approximately 80 %, and in Thailand to 70 % (compare UNCTAD, 2005a). There are several causes of this leakage. For one, capital flows out of the country through the import of goods and services that a country cannot provide itself (Kamp, 2001; Blisle, 1983). Secondly, financially strong investors from abroad are involved in the destination development of Third World countries and provide the necessary financial means and human resources needed to build up infra- and suprastructures and to market the product at international level. They absorb all the profits themselves through the concept of the uninterrupted tourist service chain (from flight to accommodation and outings on site). The companies are also highly appreciated because they bring in foreign currency and they receive strong support from the host countries. Tax relief schemes exist for investors, or even free transfer back of profits is granted. Local agencies can hardly stand their ground and are powerless in the face of billion-dollar groups of companies. The role of ICTs in the field of tourism As already stated, tourism is a customer-driven market. This means that you must be familiar with the changing values, standards and demands of potential guests if you want to remain successful on the market. Experiencing foreign places has often lost its exotic appeal. The "homo touristicus", especially the species from the Western hemisphere, is widely travelled and the world-wide distribution of pictures and products makes far-away destinations seem very near. Everything has become tangible and can be immediately consumed thanks to low-fare airlines and last minute offers. The dichotomy of "home" and "foreign" is dissolving because of a consolidation of time and space (Hall, 1994). Distances are shrinking and the world is becoming smaller. Three factors are responsible for this liquidation of exoticism: the new communication technologies, global product and distribution policies and cultural surface synchronisation. Information and communication technologies have had a sustainable influence on interpersonal communication. Price reductions or even free technologies such as Internet telephony, SMS (short message service) and e-mails make contact with back home much easier. While
1
LDC less developed countries; they include the fifty poorest countries in the world, mostly in Africa.
until recently a tourist had to find a phone booth, communication is now so easy thanks to WLAN spots, private mobile phones and Internet cafs that those who stay back home are already contacted before the tourist leaves the airport building. The mediatisation - illustrated by German satellite TV at the hotel, access to your local dailies on the Internet, or communication with friends from home - leads to the fact that travellers are emotionally brought back to home all the time. The second factor - the global product and distribution policies - leads to an exchange of products, images and people. While still at home, the tourist brings the holiday destination into his/her living room by simply clicking on a button virtual tours of the hotel, video streams of sights, downloads of optional outings and Internet sites of shopping opportunities and restaurants. Once they are on site, tourists confirm their images, but the foreign place itself only serves as background scenery, while the usual personal lifestyle is continued. While in the past, tourists were captured by all the new impressions and had to some extent venture into the alien, today's communication technologies offer enough possibilities (of escape) to flee back home via the media. While it was once possible to enjoy Mallorca as a second home, global product and distribution policies make sure that things from home are found nearly everywhere. Supermarkets sell the same goods, be it German sausages in Bangkok or Austrian sweets in Kathmandu. The unknown is easy to mask out and you are no longer challenged to deal with it. The culture of consumption, the entertainment and leisure time industry result in a surface harmonisation that is mistaken for homogenisation. By taking these parallel tracks, all of those different things that would await travellers outside the centres of mass tourism are no longer being sought. It is difficult to engage in foreign ways of thinking and living, i.e. foreign people, when the (global) infrastructure is visually familiar - such as international hotel chains, restaurants offering Austrian or German cuisine, separate beach sections and shopping miles. (Herdin & Luger, 2001) This discrepancy between the alien and the familiar can be clarified by the theatre analogy of Erving Goffman (1959), when transferring it to the field of tourism (Vester, 1999). Goffman uses the metaphors of theatre to illustrate human interaction in its principles. He starts from the assumption that we are all actors in our daily lives. If transferred to tourism, it would mean that tourists are the audience of a stage production where the local people on the front stage play the role of friendly hosts. The real identity of the local population, the way they live and feel, can only be found in their private lives backstage, an area that they protect from tourists. In most events, the theatre play is well planned and leaves the tourist satiated and satisfied. Rituals such as welcome and farewell ceremonies guarantee behavioural and anticipatory reliability and help to reduce the risk of misunderstandings. Thus, the mass tourist flow is directed through the destination without causing any cultural conflicts, but in return there is no real exchange. Digital Divide: A challenge for the future Bridging the digital divide is a multi-faceted challenge that needs to be overcome in various fields. The term "digital divide" is generally used to describe the phenomenon of unequal distribution of information. Reasons for this unbalanced distribution are the different or lacking possibilities of accessing information and communication technologies, and the
Internet in particular, as well as lack of skill transfer that is necessary for an effective and efficient use of ICT (computer literacy). Warschauer (2007) stresses in his definition both the access and the use aspect and writes " [] the digital divide refers to social stratification due to unequal ability to access, adapt, and create knowledge via use of information and communication technologies." It needs to be added to this definition, though, that knowledge alone is not enough. What would rather be required is competence in the meaning of the ability to use knowledge in a way that suits a certain situation, i.e. applied knowledge or knowledge geared at problem-solving. Even though the "global divide", i.e. the unequal distribution of information between the "first" and the "third" world is the probably most discussed form of the digital divide and even though it is also discussed in this paper, the digital knowledge gap affects numerous other fields, too. It is not only the technological conditions at national level that are decisive, but also the demographic, socio-economic and socio-cultural preconditions of the users. Capurro et al. (2004) also refer to the unequal distribution of information between man and woman (gender divide), city and rural areas (geographic divide), young and old (age divide), ethnologic groups (ethnographic divide), different education levels (education divide) and between different groups of income (income divide). The Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) has been developed to measure the bridging of the digital divide and its progress as well as the objectives of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The DOI is an important tool for monitoring global and regional trends in the development of infrastructure and for measuring the available options and/or actual use of ICT. Based on these measurements, strategic recommendations and regulations can de developed. The DOI is hence an addition to the ICT Opportunity Index that is mainly oriented along traditional technologies such as telephone, TV, etc. Fig. 1 shows a global comparison of the DOI and illustrates the north-south and west-east disparity of the digital divide. The right part of the illustration explains the structure of the DOI and its different characteristics around the world.
Abb. 1: Digital Opportunity Index 2006 (ITU 2007)
Some comparative values: The maximum value of the DOI is 1.0. Switzerland ranks 16th in international comparison with a value of 0.69, Austria ranks 18th with 0.67, slightly ahead of Germany with 0.66. A look at the developments over the past few years shows that the digitalisation attempts in less developed countries meet the expectations: Between 2004 and 2006, Morocco (0.472 ), the Russian Federation (0.52), Senegal (0.37), Ghana (0.21), Antigua & Barbuda (0.57), Gabon (0.37), Belize (0.42) and Bhutan (0.22) made the greatest progress in terms of digitalisation.
Abb. 2: Top 10 developed and Top 10 developing countries, income from tourism vs. DOI (2006) (compare figures of the International Tourism Receipts of WTO 2007; DOI of ITU 2007)
To put the status quo in bridging the digital divide into relation with a touristic benchmark, Fig. 2 shows the income from tourism in billion euros of the top 10 industrial nations and the top 10 developing countries as well as their DOI. A market such as the tourism market where marketing has undergone a re-orientation from customer-focused to customer-driven - has to orient itself in the distribution of services also along the channels that consumers use. The Internet has become the main source of information for travellers and online booking rates continue to rise, albeit at a smaller rate recently. When a touristic source market is located in an information society, the provision of
2
The values given here that of the DOI reached in 2006.
information and the booking options have to correspond to the requirements of potential guests. The Internet cannot be seen as a universal remedy, but some successful initiatives (such as that of the United Nations) show the opportunities that the use of ICT offers for developing countries and LCDs. The way out: Opportunities and potential of bridging the digital divide "If properly incorporated into development strategies, the tourism sector can be a cornerstone of new productive systems aimed at eradicating poverty and integrating the developing countries into the global economy." (Rubens Ricupero, former Secretary General of UNCTAD) The term "digital" is derived from the Latin word for finger "digitus". To put this term in a metaphorical context: With the digital network access, less developed countries are given a finger-hold, a contact point and in the long run the chance for a better future. For them to gain a secure handhold and to achieve the sought-after equal footing with the "first world", however, the problems of the "remaining fingers" have to be solved with intrinsic motivation and to a great extent by the developing countries themselves. "The new technologies open up possibilities, but they are not automatically democratisation potentials or tools to fight poverty. They have to be turned into such potentials or tools first, which requires the cooperation of state, economy, civil society and development organisations." (Luger, 2003) Initiatives to overcome the digital divide date back, among others, to the Millennium Summit of the United Nations and the consequently defined Millennium Development Goals (MDG). At the World Summit on the Information Society sponsored by the United Nations (WSIS), the problem of the digital knowledge divide was discussed in detail. It was, however, impossible to agree on a binding financing model to bridge the digital divide3. Currently, initiatives such as the OLPC (one laptop per child) project initiated by Nicolas Negroponte (MIT-Media Lab) are being covered by the media. In the framework of this initiative, lowprice laptops (100.- USD) have been developed that governments should give to children in developing countries. Especially in times when knowledge about proper use of the PC and the Internet (at least in densely populated areas) is indispensable for professional life, early, playful approach to these technologies seems useful. This is the only way to attempt employing locals for the jobs that will be created by tourism in the future. In the framework of the "United Conference on Trade and Development" (UNCTAD) of the UN, the e-Tourism initiative was founded in 2004 as part of the "Task force on sustainable tourism for development". The initiative is part of a strategic plan based on private public partnerships (PPPs). The focus here is on linking sustainable tourism and information and communication technologies to support developing countries in the marketing of their tourism products. The initiative is geared at developing and implementing ICT-based solutions that should make it possible with the support of local organisations and human resources to enter
3 In 2005, the Digital Solidarity Fund was established to overcome the digital divide. It is, however, still a voluntary project.
into the international market place to successfully market local tourism provisions. UNCTAD describes the starting situation of the project and confirms its necessity as follows: "Globalization and new information and communication technology (ICT) are radically transforming the tourist industry. The demonopolization of information flows and the disintermediation brought about by growing Internet use mean that developing countries can now make the most of their tourism resources by targeting the potential tourist directly. Well used, ICT can make these countries more self-sufficient in constructing their own brand images and promoting their own tourist attractions and, by involving all concerned, can also reduce the usual capital flight. Developing countries can thus maximize their comparative advantage in this sector, adjust their tourism services to suit their own development strategies and become better integrated in the world economy. This potential rebalancing of the international tourism system is today becoming necessary as more and more tourists make use of the Internet." (UNCTAD, 2004, p.2) Authenticity and participation as promising approach Special catalysts of these targeted flows are the global players of tourism, such as TUI, C&N and LTU that act at a transnational level. They are the determining factors in the tourism market, they absorb the demand and precisely prescribe to tourists how to behave abroad. In times of individualisation (Beck, 1986), each individual person looks for individual products designed for his/her individual needs; the traveller does hardly see him/herself in the role of the tourist and would like to disassociate him/herself from mass tourism. By offering a modular concept, the global players make the customer who is so easy to manipulate believe that they offer more flexibility, and hence freedom of choice and thus meet the customer's post-modern identity, while all their offer really is, is mostly standardised package holidays, where only the categories (such as quality of accommodation, size of the travel group) and the routing can be chosen. Looking at the huge number of customers of these transnational companies, the consumers seem to be happy to succumb to this illusion and to follow the trodden paths of tourism. The enlightened and interested tourist, however, does not let him/herself be fobbed off by the performance on the front stage; s/he will try to reach the backstage to experience authenticity. This may be possible at a small scale, but would cause major problems in mass tourism, as only a small number of foreigners can be emotionally absorbed. The global players are unable to fulfil the wishes of critical travellers who do not seek for a confirmation of catalogue pictures, travel supplements in newspapers and picture-postcard images but want to look into the culture of their holiday destination in more detail and want to experience authenticity. These interest groups can only contact specialised niche organisations or local agencies at their holiday destination, or they can make the trip without much planning and organise everything themselves on site. As these attempts must not proliferate rampantly into excesses of mass tourism, only a manageable number of encounters must be planned. And yet, local companies can make a living from this, because there are no costly middlemen. This small market segment is uninteresting for global companies because amortisation of the huge mechanism (marketing of the product, distribution of catalogues, marketing and PR measures, etc.) would only be ensured by a certain number of tourists. The global, digital communication network allows for direct connection between supplier
and customer. Networking facilitates the contact between interested tourists and local providers, so that it is now possible for local agencies to canvass their customers themselves and in doing so eliminate the transnational middlemen - according to the principles of fair trade - who normally reap the profits. Thus they are able to offer travels at more favourable prices or to increase the profit margin, which means that fewer tourists need to be canvassed to make the same net profit. This, in turn, results in advantages for the travellers who are able to experience more originality because the places they visit are frequented by fewer people. Another potential is participation. For more than thirty years, the principle of fair trade has been pursued intending to ensure a more just distribution of income from international trade relations. While the principle was in the beginning dismissed as an alternative idea of dreamers and idealists, fairly traded products can today be found even in large supermarket chains and they enjoy increasing sales figures. In addition to food, other products, such as clothing are produced under the same principles and in tourism too, the demand seems to increase. Internationally acting companies are realising the pressure, and the issue of corporate social responsibility is increasingly mentioned in press releases and information events. The question remains how this concept can be implemented in cut-throat, crowding-out competition and still remains credible and comprehensible for the tourist. The contrary would appear to be the case as pointed out by Plss (2004, p.343f). The price erosion caused by the enormous process of concentration and heightened by the bargain philosophy is passed on to the target countries. ICT must, however, not mean techno-deterministic reduction It is uncontested that the new information and communication technologies have sensational achievements to their credit, their benefits are obvious. It was only fifty years ago that the first flight booking systems were introduced; today's tourist 2.0 starts his/her travels on the Internet, does the planning and booking online. An entire industry lives in the hope that each and every problem may be solved by the use of ICT. But aren't we committing ourselves all too naively to the techno-deterministic ideal of a society in which everything can be experienced and the human factor is unfold only by means of technology? Is an emotional product such as a holiday trip that is supposed to be the high-point of the year ICT-compatible to begin with? Does modern technology leave enough space for the unexpected, for adventure, diversion from standardised rhythm, for the magic of the foreign and alien that is the reason for so many physical changes of location? This interjection is not due to a technophobic attitude. It simply calls to mind that not everything, especially not the experience aspect of a trip, can be "technologised". Seen from the meta-level and probing the basic assumptions, the relevant literature is dominated by a paradigm based on the Rational Choice Theory: Homo touristicus as a rational being maximising his subjective benefit. Such a reduction is paradox because life and the trails of enlightenment are twisted. The question should rather be: What steps in the tourism creation of value chain are e-worthy and can be offered in a swifter, cheaper, more convenient or less error-prone manner, i.e. what steps make added value for suppliers and consumers of a trip possible. Access to the global flows of tourists calls for connection to the global network, because
ICTs increase the chances to find customers and niche suppliers through the exchange of information and communication. Whether such cooperation can be initiated is in most cases measured by the status quo of digital connection. The assumption goes that the problems are solved if the digital divide is bridged. Digital connection alone, however, does not suffice. Cooperation has to be established, products have to be created and distribution channels set up. These activities may be supported by ICT, but they are still based on trust. The focus of a purely technological connection leads to this fallacy because it neglects the cultural component. The following deliberations take up the cultural component that will be called "cultural divide". Afterwards, the channels, distribution and the context through which information and knowledge are disseminated are analysed. Based on this basic framework, the requirements are presented that would make the exchange between small-structured local suppliers and specialised outgoing agencies and/or direct customers work. Culture as a basis for a healthy development Connection to the digital network is not enough to enable countries to participate in global business. The focus must therefore be on developing cultural skills against the background of a cultural divide in addition to the digital divide. To treat culture in an integrative manner, the dialectic interaction between technology and culture needs to be put into the centre of attention. This is the only way to reach a sound understanding of ICT with regard to cultural determinants that are referred to as "digital culture" below. To ensure concision of discussion, the focus is on three dimensions: content (digital content culture), distribution (digital distribution culture) and context (digital context culture) (Herdin et al., 2006). In the digital content culture, the focus is on the concept of knowledge production. According to Willke (2004), we must distinguish between data and knowledge. Data alone do not suffice to generate knowledge, because the latter has cultural connotations. Data provide only the raw or input material that can easily be extracted from the Internet in these times of excessive information. It is all about reduction, about filtering large volumes of data and about converting them into information that is then put into a wider context. We cannot talk about knowledge before the information provides a practical benefit (Willke, 2004). As soon as this step has been concluded, knowledge - as discussed in our contribution - can lead to successful participation in global competition. The second indicator, the digital distribution culture, describes the relationship between the channel transporting information and the distribution of knowledge. This distribution takes place at several levels. First, the communication code: When a message is transported, it must first be converted into figures, text/words and/or images (Willke, 2004). Depending on the type of the channel and the legal, technological, environmental or infrastructural conditions, type and volume of information will be limited. Plus, we must distinguish between explicit (structured) and implicit (unstructured) knowledge. While explicit knowledge (as in documents, databases, etc.) is easy to transport, implicit knowledge is "more dependent on action, context and personal experience, which makes it difficult to formalise and communicate" (Martin, 2003, p. 44). Add to this that all these factors also depend on our cultural socialisation that influences our action through inherent standards and values and are therefore
different in terms of their culture. The last indicator, the digital context culture, puts the meta-level into the centre of discussion. What culture do we live, work and act in? At the meta-level it is mainly about the connection between the cultures; hence the resulting interlacing and its effects when people of different cultural identities interact. Featherstone (1990) considers this interaction to form "third cultures"; hence the formation of transnational cultures that are promoted by transsocial processes such as the exchange of goods, people, information, knowledge and communication. Stuart Hall (1994) calls it the culture of hybridity, where it is possible that people get along in other cultures without assimilating and without giving up their identity. According to Welsch (1999) this leads to monadisation (or self-alienation), with the unfamiliar presenting itself as modified familiar and where one is neither strict Self nor Other. Transferred to tourism, this means that the preparation of offers, provisions, travel routes, price lists, etc. (content) is not enough to acquire customers who are contacted with information such as direct mailings (distribution). In fact it is (in the meaning of context) important to know the desires of tourists, to know what "experiencing something" means to them and what their expectations are to really experience authenticity. This brings about mutual exchange and learning from each other. Content, distribution and context are therefore influenced by both technology and culture, and the barriers of the digital divide must be taken into account just like those of the cultural divide. The following table lists the central elements again that refer to these three indicators and shows their effects on knowledge management. Dimensions Content Distribution Context Digital divide Data, Information "knowing that" Channels limited to te chnical possibilities Limited to technical connectivity Cultural divide Knowledge "knowing how" Inadequacy between text and channel Skills Realization Application Digital culture Data, Information, Knowledge "knowing why" Sharing and dissemination of knowledge Inclusion Awareness Capabilities
Fig. 3: Components of digital culture with regard to content, distribution and context (compare Herdin/ Hofkirchner/ Maier-Rabler, 2006, p.64)
Capabilities instead of an access-oriented perspective The following illustration shows the process of adoption of ICT that involves several phases.
Fig. 4: Model of a human-centred and cultural sensitive process of appropriating information and communication technologies (Herdin/ Hofkirchner/ Maier-Rabler, 2006, p.59)
The techno-deterministic considerations first take place at the macro level, where the issue is about access and the connection mentioned above. Connection, i.e. crossing the digital divide, is the first step towards becoming part of the digital communication network. It is often assumed that connection would at the same time also trigger diffusion in terms of application. The following step is therefore ascribed great importance, as the human being is in the focus of reflection, taking the cultural determination into account. This means the transition from technical infrastructure to the formation of identities, i.e. from bridging the digital gap to closing the cultural divide. As far as the skills are concerned, cultural and social factors positioned at the meta-level have to be taken into account. Restriction to skills alone would be too short-sighted, though, because this would neglect the creative potential of the users (compare National Research Council, 2004). The third step describes cognition, the understanding of the way in which these skills can contribute to the formation of cognisance. It is not only about how this technology can be applied, but about why, to what end and with what outcome it is applied. At the final level there are skills and the capability of implementing technological access, the users' skills and the findings derived from the work. Only from this point onward do we refer to the "adoption" of ICT. In addition to the dimensions from access to application, the illustration also shows that continued performance of this process can spread and consequently lead to penetration. Conclusion Over the past few years, tourism has been subjected to drastic restructuring due to socio-
cultural, market economic and technological changes. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are used along the entire value creation chain and provide, among other purposes for the information structure in the global distribution of tourism services. Many developing and less developed countries (LDCs) consider tourism to be an indispensable business factor and hence an opportunity to reduce poverty. Even though these countries have succeeded over the past few years in gaining market shares in international tourism, the lack of access to ICT, insufficient media skills of the people involved, and adverse framework conditions are barriers that prevent these countries from successfully participating in "fair" online distribution in future. The concentration on the digital divide - however essential this perspective may be - must therefore be linked with a sound understanding of culture. A techno-deterministic approach is the basis from which the potential of cultural perspectives can be tapped. Cultural surface harmonisation that is mainly triggered by globally available ICT, however, induces us to overlook this aspect. The dialectic interplay between technology and culture that comes in the wake of the development of cultural skills must thus be pushed into the foreground and the centre of attention. From the economic point of view, the central motive of the much-travelled homo touristicus, the search for authenticity, could hence be pandered to as a result. References Appadurai, A. (1990). Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy. In M. Featherstone (Ed.), Global Culture. Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity (pp. 295-310). London: Thousand Oak. Beck, U. (1986). Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne. Frankfurt a. Main: Suhrkamp. Blisle, F. (1983). Tourism and Food Production in the Caribbean. Annals of Tourism Research, 10, 497-513. Bergmann, G. (2004). 8 mal Kompetenz - Thesen zu Kompetenz, Kompetenzentwicklung und Metakompetenz. Online at http://www.econbiz.de/cgi-bin/leave/18758?http:// www.econbiz.de/archiv/si/usi/marketing/8_mal_kompetenz.pdf (06.01.2007). Bieger, T. (2004). Tourismuslehre - Ein Grundriss. Bern-Stuttgart-Wien: Haupt Verlag. Buhalis, D. (1998).Strategic use of information technologies in the tourism industry. Tourism Management, 19 (5), 409-421. Buhalis, D. (2000). Tourism and Information Technologies: Past, Present and Future. Tourism Recreation Research, 25 (1), 41-58. Buhalis, D. (2003). eTourism: Information technology for strategic tourism management. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd. Buhalis, D., & Egger, R. (2006). Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien als Mittel zur Prozess- und Produktinnovation fr den Unternehmer. In B. Pikkemaat et al. (Eds.), Innovationen im Tourismus: Wettbewerbsvorteile durch neue Ideen und Angebote (pp. 163175). Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag. Capurro, R., Hausmanninger, T., & /Scheule, R. (2004). Vernetzt gespalten. Ein Trialog. In R. Capurro et al. (Ed.), Vernetzt gespalten. Der Digital Divide in ethischer Perspektive (pp. 15-24). Mnchen: Wilhelm Fink Verlag.
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Book Review
Kuldeep Niraula Ravi Bhandari Shubhendra Man Shrestha*
Book Title: Ecotourism, second edition. Author: David A. Fennell. Oxon, OX14 4RN Publisher: Routledge, Pp. xix + 236 Year of Publication: 2003 ISBN No: 0-415-30365-6; I3: 978-0415303651. Email: niraula.kul@gmail.com David A. Fennell's Ecotourism, second edition provides an analytical overview of the ever changing and expanding field of tourism. Fennell argues that tourism is the largest and fastest growing industry whose potential impacts are considerable. Devised by social and natural scientists, ecotourism can be an effective way to safeguard local communities and prevent new destruction of the natural world. The book provides a broad introduction to ecotourism including the relationship of ecotourism to the broader tourism literature; history, definition and typologies of ecotourism; social and ecological impacts of tourism; role of tourism policy, regulation, certification, accreditation and professionalism; economics, marketing and management of ecotourism; ecotourism programme planning; ecotourism and international development and the role of community development; and the role of ethics (p. I). The issues are dealt in ten chapters of the book. The book showcases the complexity that the tourism industry is caught in as a global economic force in the complex civilization that tends to emphasize material ends over other, more virtuous ends. And the ecotourism that has been introduced as an alternative form of tourism is caught in the identification dilemma of identifying itself either with the conventional front or the alternative front. Fennell declares that in the context where mass tourism still has its toll over ecotourism, the latter form of tourism can only succeed through value based approach in philosophy and application (p. 200). In the present context of global climate change, this well researched and insightful book is all the more important as it highlights the several measures that can be adopted to achieve sustainable development through ecotourism which in turn promotes environmental sustainability. Fennell begins by explaining the nature of tourism. He considers defining tourism a difficult task and acknowledges the fact that tourism shares characteristics with various other
* Kuldeep Niraula, Ravi Bhandari and Shubendra Man Shrestha are the ex- students of Depertment of Conflict, Peace and Development Studies, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. They have a thorough knowledge of peace tourism, which has a part of their curriculum.
Sharma/Bhandari/Shrestha: Book Review 73
disciplines like psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, etc. He supports his argument by referring to the complexities that have been mirrored in the works of Clawson and Knetsch (1996), Mitchell (1984) and The Economist (1991) (Chapter 1, p. 1). However, some scholars like Lieper (1981), Mill & Morrison (1985) and Smith (1990a) have advocated tourism as a distinct discipline (p. 2). Fennell has given considerable attention to the tourism attractions as the fundamental elements of the tourist experience. Tourism attraction is the empirical relationship between a tourists, site, information and infrastructures. Attractions with the spatial and temporal influence may create a niche; a role certain type of tourists occupy within a vacation destination. It further helps to define a tourist typology (pp. 2-3). The tourism that was introduced and promoted as the impetus for development during 1960s also invited negative ecological and sociological disturbance to the transformed regions (see Chapter 4, pp. 6182). So, the mass tourism that was believed to be the panacea for development later began to be characterized as a beast with monstrosity. The ecological impacts of tourism started to be felt from 1960s. The research of 1980s argued for a new, more socially and ecologically benign alternative to mass tourism development. Alternative Tourism (AT) is a generic term that encompasses a whole range of tourism strategies (e.g. 'appropriate', 'eco-', 'soft', 'people to people', 'controlled', 'small scale', 'cottage', and 'green' tourism), all of which purport to offer a more benign alternative to conventional mass tourism in certain types of destinations (Conference Report 1990, cited in Weaver 1991) (Chapter 1, p. 5). Fennell traces back the origin of ecotourism to 1960s (see Chapter 2, pp.18-20). He suggests that all the literatures agree on Hector Ceballos-Lascurain as the first to coin the phrase 'ecotourism' in the early 1980s. Differentiating ecotourism from nature tourism, Fennell provides his own definition to ecotourism as 'a sustainable form of natural resource-based tourism that focuses primarily on experiencing and learning about nature, and which is ethically managed to be low-impact, non-consumptive, and locally oriented (control, benefits, and scale). It typically occurs in natural areas, and should contribute to the conservation or preservation of such areas' (p. 25). Fennell mentions that one cannot blindly accept the notion that ecotourists are one homogenous group; instead, they may be differentiated on the basis of many variables. Fennell also recognizes the evolving relationship between three common AT products, namely ecotourism, adventure tourism and cultural tourism (ACE tourism) and also shows the difference between them. Fennell suggests that western paradigm of development will lead planet to a serious jeopardy (p. 7). The conventional notion of development favors overconsumption. This behavior of overconsumption surfaces continually in tourism as the tentacles of the tourist seek to push the fine line that exists between acceptable and unacceptable human - wildlife interactions (Deming 1996). So, for sustainability of the development we should value the preservation of our ecosystems over society (Milgrath 1989) (p. 8). Sustainable development has been proposed as a model that can have utility in creating the impetus for structural change within society, one that ventures away from a strictly socio-economic focus to one where development 'meets the goals of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987: 43) (p. 8). Tourism's international importance as an engine for economic growth, as well as its potential for growth, makes it particularly relevant to sustainable development. Fennell has identified several indi-
cators and variables that have a role to play for the sustainability of tourism and talks about the Globe'90 conference in British Columbia, Canada from where the first action on tourism and sustainability emerged. Parks and protected areas have an important role in balancing ecological integrity and touristic demand. Although parks serve a variety of purposes but today they also face a number of pressures (Lovejoy 1992). Lovejoy suggests that increased tourism visitation stands as one of the most persistent problems facing parks and protected areas (Chapter 3, p. 46). The problem also lies between the parks and local population (p. 47). The job of managing services and activities at site, therefore, becomes a significant task. This problem should be solved through appropriate management techniques, approaches, programmes and regulations guided by proper policies. In Chapter 5, Fennell talks about economics, marketing and management of ecotourism. He introduces the concepts of leakages and multiplier effect, and import substitution seen in tourism economy that help to understand the widening gap between the developed and underdeveloped (LDCs) countries created due to tourism. The marketing of ecotourism should be done by the segmentation of market and proper advertising. For example, the ecotourism marketing is made better through the market study in Australia and Canada (p. 92). The chapter also highlights the misuse that is being made of ecotourism through misrepresentation and ecolabelling as an industry label to capture a larger percentage of the travel market. The cases of New Zealand, Canada and Hawaii have been suggested as the examples (pp. 93-95). So, Fennell suggests that marketing of ecotourism must better reflect the needs not only of the consumer but also of the industry (p. 101). Fennell emphasizes the need to examine the effect of privatization, not-for-profit organizations and NGOs over the delivery of ecotourism products. Fennell suggests that the effective marketing of ecotourism should be done by the good coordination between public agencies (those who manage parks and protected areas) and private operators (those who run programme in these public spaces) such that appropriate values (economic and emotional) are attached to the ecotourism experience (pp. 101-102). After having the ecotourism experience, the tourist must be satisfied. So, the planning of ecotourism must be based on participant's satisfaction. As the field of recreation, the tourism should also focus on the service that leads to satisfaction. Fennell has attempted to bridge the gap between recreation and tourism through a process referred to as programme planning (see Chapter 7, pp. 131-149). Program planning allows for the development of sound, ethical programmes at the individual or micro level, whether tied into broader schemes or not. And ecotourism is a form of tourism which is ethical, responsible, small scale, and communitybased. Consequently, this type of tourism may be useful as an instrument to underscore the human, service values, - elements which are central to the sound recreational programming. This means that how we plan for ecotourism should be drawn from a focus hinged on a participation satisfaction end (p. 133). In Chapter 6, Fennell has illustrated that sound planning and management related to policy, regulation, accreditation and certification, and professionalism are necessary considerations for future viability of the ecotourism industry (p. 129). Fennell suggests that the role of government is vital in formulating and implementing policies related to ecotourism. Fennell suggests that there must be both leadership and partnership between government and industry in the development of mechanisms to control the impact of ecotourism on the environment, and to
Sharma/Bhandari/Shrestha: Book Review 75
ensure that operators are providing safe and enriching programmes to their clientele. Such mechanisms will most likely to include policy, regulation, accreditation and professionalism in their various forms (pp. 129-130). Fennell focuses on three different perspectives, viz. international tourism development, including development theory, tourism in underdeveloped countries, and the core-periphery concept; community development; and site development for ecotourism development (see Chapter 8, pp. 150-175). Development theory explores the economic and psychological link that exists between rich and poor countries. The increased dependency of LDCs over the development countries due to tourism has been clarified through the core-periphery concept. The ecotourism that was brought as the intervention during 1980s was aided through community development strategies adopted during 1990s. So, the community ecotourism development was adopted from 1990s. Fennell suggests that community ecotourism should be based on the notion of trust and transparency. The community ecotourism should be carried out by the partnership among various parties and the aboriginal interests should be taken into considerations for cultural and natural preservation. The concept of sustainable design and ecolodges has been introduced for the sustainability of ecotourism (p. 169). There seem to be pressure from international development forms to integrate the concept of ecotourism at a grander scale. And this has led to the misuse and misrepresentation of ecotourism products. So, regions intent on the development of ecotourism must be able to secure both consensus within the community and the means i.e. the decision-making responsibilities, to move away from many of the conventional global tourism development dysfunctions that are so prevalent within the industry (p. 175). In Chapter 9 Fennell sheds highlight on the role of ethics in ecotourism. The negative socio-economic and ecological impacts invited by the tourism led to the discussion of ethics in tourism. Ecotourism was introduced during 1980s as an ethical form of tourism but Fennell argues that there is the lack of empirical date to substantiate many of the claims being made about ecotourism as being more responsible than other forms of tourism (p. 193). Through his study, however, Fennell has suggested that ecotourism is a more ethically based sector of the tourism industry and discusses that how meta-ethics (existentialism) and normative ethics (deontology and teleology) can contribute to comprehensive ethical decision making in the ecotourism industry (p. 191). In Chapter 10, Fennell has concluded on the note that future works should further define what 'alternative' means and the role that ecotourism plays in building a better alternative (p. 200). He has offered lists that provide some direction in attaining more socio-ecological ends of a principle ecotourism culture and helps to end the falsity and artificiality associated with ecotourism (pp. 198-200). With its comprehensive presentation and analysis of the processes related to tourism and ecotourism, the work is accessible to all readers, regardless of their level of familiarity with the issues. The book is of great use to the students, researchers, professors, organizations, policy makers, business entrepreneurs, governments and all the other stakeholders involved in ecotourism. The book can be considered not only as a text but also as a sound record for all those interested or involved in the ecotourism (Dr. Ross K Dowling, Ecotourism Association of Australia Treasurer).
Impression of the Book The book is based on theories and it is strongly grounded from this aspect. Fennell has tried to clarify the concepts that are used in the tourism field up to the maximum level and has mentioned majority of variables that help to understand the concepts. The writer has put his arguments logically that are based on evidences. Almost all of his arguments are supported with case studies. The plates, figures and tables used in the book have made the study more interesting and in turn make the concepts more understandable. The presentation looks contemporary with relevant examples and events related to tourism that are taking place throughout the world. The book demonstrates the fact that there is a vast amount of ecotourism material that is currently available in the literature. Fennell has referenced significant number of literatures in regard to tourism and recreation out of which some fall outside the realm of ecotourism research. Fennell says that this is intentional; as it indirectly suggests that in many cases much valuable tourism research is neglected by ecotourism writers and researchers and many 'unknowns' of ecotourism may be partially addressed by the general tourism literature and literature from other disciplines (p. xvii). Through his professional writing Fennell has raised lots of issues that are to be addressed for the sustainability of ecotourism. A minor drawback of this compelling work has to do with its structure. While dealing with the issues, the chapters do not seem to be properly sequenced which leads to the difficulty in relating the concepts with each other. Since, same issues are dealt in several chapters; this has lead to the significant amount of repetition that does not seem necessary. The repetition of concepts in the chapters give a feeling of reading more or less the same thing again and again with varying degrees of intensity. The study is more based on the case studies of USA, Latin America, Canada, Europe, Africa and Australia while not much is talked about several Asian countries where ecotourism is in practice with similar kind of success and failure stories. But overall the book is unmarred by such organizational issue. Fennel's research on vanity and falsity related to ecotourism industry is the major contribution of the book. He suggests ways on how the various stakeholders can co-ordinate with each other to deal with this burden and make the ecotourism sustainable. The Quebec City Declaration on Ecotourism is presented in its entire form in Appendix I, that demonstrates the involvement of governments, industry operators, trade associations, non-governmental organizations, academics, consultants, intergovernmental organizations, communities and indigenous groups and the responsibilities that each has for the future of ecotourism (pp. 201-206). In the study Fennel has allocated must of its content to analyse other's work and has given lesser interpretation of his own. Although he has raised several questions related to the problems of ecotourism but in the end the readers are left to ponder over these questions to find the answers. Even Fennell accepts the necessity of further researches to answer these questions.
THE GAZE
JOURNAL OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY
Vol. 2 No. 1 Year 2010
International School of Tourism and Hotel Management

(Affiliated to Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria)
THE GAZE
Editorial Board Chief Editor: Prof. Dr. Ramesh Raj Kunwar Managing Editor: Tej Bahadur Dhakal Editor: Dr. Tika Nath Sharma Associate Editor: Shamjhana Basnyat Advisory Board Narendra Bajracharya Prof. (FH) Mag. Leonhard Wrndl Prof. Dr. Govinda Prasad Acharya Dr. Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha Dr. Shree Govinda Shah
Published by International School of Tourism and Hotel Management Dillibazaar, P.O.Box: 5196, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: 977 1 4434350, 4434185 Email: thegaze@ist.org.np Website: www.ist.org.np
THE GAZE
CONTENTS
Ramesh Raj Kunwar Roman Egger Vinaya Shakya Thosapala Hewage Roman Egger Thomas Herdin Kuldeep Niraula Ravi Bhandari Shubhendra Man Shrestha 1 21 32 44 57 Tourism and Shopping Activities M-Commerce and future perspectives in Tourism Mountain flights in Nepal Importance of Lumbini in Tourism Development in Nepal Beyond the Digital Divide: Tourism, ICTs and Culture-A Highly Promising Alliance Book Review: Ecotourism
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Editorial Note We are very happy to offer The GAZE, the Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Vol. 2, No. 1 to our readers. This journal is published annually in English by International School of Tourism and Hotel Management, which is affiliated to Salzburg University of Applied Sciences of Austria. The purpose of this journal is to disseminate the knowledge and ideas of tourism to the students, researchers, journalists, policy makers, planners, entrepreneurs and other general readers. Articles and reviews in the journal represent neither the views of the concerned publishers nor those of editorial board. Responsibility for opinions expressed and for the accuracy of the facts published in the articles or reviews are solely with the individual authors. We have realized that it is high time that we made this effort for tourism innovation and development. We strongly believe that this knowledge based platform will make the industry and the institutions stronger. The Editorial Board THE GAZE International School of Tourism and Hotel Management Dillibazaar, P.O.Box: 5196, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: 977 1 4434350, 4434185 Email: thegaze@ist.org.np Website: www.ist.org.np
Editorial Policy The Gaze is an interdisciplinary Journal which welcomes research articles, research abstracts and book reviews for the dissemination of knowledge about tourism and hospitality. Articles should be original and unpublished, based on primary sources or field work or reflecting new interpretations, written in English, but not exceed twenty pages. The research work should be based on global research methodology in which the researcher will be required to use parenthesis or author date system. The references should be based either on APA method, MLA method or mixed uniformity. Manuscripts should be typed double-space on A4 sized paper with a 4 cm margin on all four sides. The text should be not less than 3000 words. The author should underline nothing except words which are to be italicized. Notes and references should be typed double-space on separate pages which should be included at the end of the article. The text should refer to notes numbered consecutively throughout the article using raised numbers. Bibliographical references should be cited in the text by the Authors last name, date of publication and page number e.g. (Dhakal, 1991:110), or if authors name is mentioned in the text by the date and page reference only (1991:110). Entries in the references should be in alphabetical and chronological order of authors. They should include the details in the following order: name of the author(s) - surname first, date, title, name of the periodical, volume number (Arabic numerals to be used throughout), pagination (for articles in periodicals and books with several authors), place of publication and name of the publisher for a book. Tables and maps should be submitted on separate pages, numbered with headings. Notations in the text should indicate where these are to appear. The research should include any area such as ecotourism; rural tourism; sustainable tourism; community tourism; village tourism; cultural heritage tourism; agro-tourism; pasture tourism; pilgrimage tourism; medical tourism; tourism management; tourism administration; sociology of tourism; anthropology of tourism; psychology of tourism; geography of tourism; economics of tourism; sports tourism; shopping tourism; tourism and corporate culture; tourism and environment; tourism marketing; tourism and nationalities; tourism and hospitality management; tourism and law; tourism disaster management; tourism and hospitality education; tourism and media; tourism and conflict; tourism, conflict and peace; and tourism and research methodology. The Editorial Board has right to accept or reject the article for publication. If the article is rejected, it will be returned to the author. Authors receive five offprints free, and a copy of the issue in which their article appears. The editors welcome enquiries from readers willing to review books
Salzburg University of Applied Sciences Salzburg University of Applied Sciences and Technologies (FH Salzburg), is an accredited institution of Austrian higher education, recognized by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. It is one of the most modern universities for applied sciences in Europe. In its various levels of academic programs, it concentrates on current trends in tourism, product development and e-Business. FH Salzburg is situated in Salzburg, Austria, one of the most vibrant tourist regions in the world. The city at the Salzach River is the world famous for its summer and winter tourism. Not only does it boast 22 million overnight stays, but its wide variety of tourist attractions and offerings draws guests who come to attend conventions or music festivals as well as those seeking adventure, culture or relaxation. FH Salzburg aims to offer various programs tailored to the needs of current and future demand of the labor market combined with a sound theoretical underpinning. This is guaranteed by its qualified and highly committed staff from higher educational institutions as well as the industry. It has collaboration with more than 60 partner institutions in Europe, Americas, Asia, Australia and Nepal in international projects as well as faculty and student exchange. International School of Tourism and Hotel Management International School of Tourism and Hotel Management (IST) was established in the year 2003 with an objective to produce world class human resources to cater to the overwhelming need of the hospitality industry by offering various academic degrees and training packages as per the international standard. It is a center for excellence in hospitality education providing an enterprising and stimulating environment in which students can learn and develop their full potential. Hence, IST is also a suffix, which means a person with deep knowledge, practical exposure and appropriate attitude in the particular discipline. IST aims to add "ist" to its students and prepare professionals to become leading managers in the various tourism and hospitality outlets. Affiliated to Salzburg University of Applied Sciences (FHS), Austria, IST offers customized and fast track programs to provide students maximum flexibility and opportunity for progression. Various programs offered by IST is approved by Ministry of Education and Sports of Nepal Government. Since its inception it has established cooperation with numerous universities in Nepal, Singapore, Austria, Australia, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States of America. Likewise, FHS and Tribhuvan University of Nepal have already entered into the bilateral agreement to promote faculty and student exchange, joint research program and accreditation to each other's degree.
Published by International School of Tourism and Hotel Management Dillibazaar, P.O.Box: 5196, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: 977 1 4434350, 4434185 Email: thegaze@ist.org.np Website: www.ist.org.np

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Tourism and Shopping Activities

Ramesh Raj Kunwar *

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The elements of leisure and tourist shopping (Timothy, 2006: 13)

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M-Commerce and future perspectives in Tourism

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Fig. 4 Oype Radar and Wikitude.

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Mountain flights in Nepal

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Yeti 62 75 99 116 87 70 50 58 59 120 109 46 951 28.46

Agni 2 3 12 5 4 16 23 16 34 53 26 194 5.80

14 16 25 31 50 97 106 45 384 11.49

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Importance of Lumbini in Tourism Development in Nepal

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(Source: Tourist Information Centre)

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