1.

General Background

The word tourism is derived from the French word ‘tourisme ‘ which was originated in
the eighteen century .Tourism is defined in different ways by various authors and related
organizations but there is no universally accepted definition of tourism. according to
UNWTO, tourism can be defined as a “set of activities engaged in by person temporarily
away from their usual environment, for a period of not more than one year and for broad
range of leisure ,business, religions, health and personal reasons excluding the pursuit of
remuneration from within the place visited or long term change of residence.

Tourism is widely recognized as one of the biggest and fastest growing industries in the
world. It has great potentiality to both developed and developing nations in terms of
foreign exchange earnings, income and employment generation, development activities
such as infrastructure development, human resource development etc. Tourism creates
friendship and expands understanding among the nations. It provides opportunities to the
people. Tourism is a medium through which we can exchange knowledge and create
understanding among the people of the world.

Nepal is a heavenly beautiful small Himalayan country. It is located between two country
China and India. It is known as a country of Mount Everest (8,848m) and birth place of
Lord Gautam Buddha among the world. It is one of the richest countries in the world in
term of bio-diversity due to its unique geographical position and altitudinal variation. the
elevation of the country ranges from 60m above sea level to the highest point on earth
Mt. Everest at 8848m,all with in a distance of 150 km resulting in to climatic condition
from sub-tropical to arctic .so Nepal has a great potentiality in the field of tourism .Many
tourist are attracted towards the country due to its natural, cultural and geographical,
climatic variations and religious temples, different festivals celebration by different
religious or ethnic groups, and their unique custom and costume are special feature for
attracting the tourist of multiple choices. Therefore all kind of tourist can choose Nepal as

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their destination for fulfilling their kind of wishes or their own desire. It is almost
impossible to think of Nepalese tourism without Pokhara. It is one of the charming and
famous tourism places of our country. It is situated 200km west from Katmandu. Pokhara
is heavenly beautiful because of its natural beauty such as Snowy and attractive
Himalayan peaks (Annapurna range), green hills, a large number of beautiful lakes,
caves, rivers, water fee’s, Seti-gorge and So on. This unique destination Pokhara is really
blessed by Gods, it is a rare combination of Snowcapped peaks, crystal water lakes,
Streams and gorges, Beautiful village inhabited by friendly smiling Grunge, Magars and
Newar and other ethnic groups. Since Pokhara is gradually developing as the field of
tourism, it has to play a significant role in the development of tourism.

Pokhara is the gateway to world famous Annapurna Circuit Treks, Annapurna Base
Camp (ABC) and Machhapuchhre Base Camp (MBC) with other major trekking routes.
Although, tourist can reach the destination through two moterable roads; one from
Lamjung and another from Birethanti, Tourist still preferred to reach destination through
a trekking rout that starts from Nayapul, Besides this main trekking route, some other
trekking routs are; Jomsom–Muktinath,Ghorepani-poonhill,Skills,MardiHimal, Upper
Mustang, Nyagi, Manag area, Nar-Phu,Manaslu circuit,Dolpa, Dhorpatan etc. Pokhara is
also the gateway of world famous short Trekking which are; Panchase,Royal Treak), Eco
Tour-Dipang Lake(Lekhnath) Ridgeline Trek (Bharatpokhari-Kaski) Millennium Trek
(Dhorphirdi-Majhkot), Korchon etc. Pokhara is not simply a gateway of Trekking but
also an extra ordinary destination for all sorts of tourists. Major say hikes from Pokhara
are; Sarangkot, Kaskikot, Naudanda, Dhikurpokhari, Kahun Hill, Kalikasthan, Sundari
Danda, Phoksing, Bhalam, Batulechour, Aarmalakot, Bhadaure-Tamagi, Hemja, Austran
Camp, Dhampus, Naudadisa-Lumle-Chandrakot etc. (Tourism mirror,2008:82).

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Toni Hagen, Who traveled widely all over the Nepal on foot, Said of Pokhara in his
Classic book Nepal (1961), “Pokhara is certainly one of the most extraordinary and most
beautiful places in the whole world.” Therefore, we can say that Pokhara is most popular
tourist destination. The natural beauty of Pokhara can be observed through sunrise view
from Sarangkot, paragliding, hiking around Pokhara valley and its surrounding villages
etc. The main attraction of Pokhara is Fewa Lake, beautiful Annapurna range with holy
mountain Machhapuchhre and many more.

2. Statement of the problem

Tourism is an important source of foreign exchange earnings, which contribute to

generate employment and government revenue. It supports to the use of local product and
the utilization of hotels and restaurants. It further supports to demand of goods and
services, which promotes supply of production and give chances to improve the local
industries. In Nepal, government revenue from tourism is created directly through airport
departure and hotel taxes, licenses and fees levied upon those establishments which are
directly, involved in the provision of tourism related goods and services Extension of
tourism marketing demands more labor and capital and creates more employment
opportunities. Nepal has not been able to make adequate efforts to promote tourism.
Further, “lack of proper strategy for implementation of research based promotional
program and effective publicity in potential segments of the world market; it is also a
major factor which is not being able to attain the expected level. With the view of
employment potentialities developing countries are now facing secular unemployment or
underemployment problems. The most tangible benefits, apparent from tourism in
developing countries like Nepal which is experiencing high unemployment in its
employment potential.

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Tourism has made a significant contribution in improving Nepal’s economy by creating
employment opportunities and supporting overall development efforts. It is an activity
generating industry by which one can get economic and social benefits. It not only
augments foreign exchange earnings, the scarce resources of the country but also creates
employment opportunities, direct and indirect and induced employment, through
backward and forward linkages with other sectors of the economy such as agriculture,
industry and other service sector etc. It provides a vast spectrum of employment ranging
from highly skilled persons to unskilled workers. It also opens up new horizons for
employed and partially employed people from different walks of life. Linkages of
tourism sector with other sectors of economy can also be viewed in terms of multiplier
effects of tourist expenditure. It generates additional income at each round of spending
resulting in a multiplier effect on different sectors of the economy.

Tourism industry can generate employment opportunities directly or indirectly to the

people of the country, who are unemployed, disguised unemployed and under employed.
In this context, it is difficult to find the exact number of female employed in tourism. But
the involvement of women is few in number as compare to man. In this perspective, a
series of questions may be raised .Unless and until the basic problems of female
employees are identified and analyzed, the efforts to promote female employment in
tourism would be ineffective. Hence, the extensive study is desired in order to identify
the problems of female employees who are involved in tourism and explore their
potentialities establishing tourism as one of the most promising and prosperous sectors of
Nepalese economy.

3. Objectives

The basic objective of this study is to find out the problems and prospects of female
employment in tourism sector. In addition, other specific objectives are as follows:

(a) To prepare the Profile of female engaged in tourism sector in pokhara valley

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 (b) To explore the existing situation of women employment in tourism sectors in
pokhara valley

(c) To assess the contribution of tourism sector in female employment generation

(d) To recommend measures and strategies to the tourism industry as an important

sector for employment generation to female.

4. Significance of the Study

. It is believed that tourism is one of the major economic sector which supports in poverty
alleviation and which helps in increasing income and employment. In this regard, this
study attempts to find out the ways and procedures to promote tourist arrivals, income of
foreign exchange and employment opportunities in tourism. Besides, it links the other
industries by demanding and supplying goods and services. Such links of tourism with
other sectors are popularly known as backward and forward linkages. Both of these
linkages generate employment and income in other industries

The basic problems with regard to female employment generation are identified and
analyzed; the efforts to develop tourism industry would be ineffective. In this, context, a
series of questions may be raised like, what is the status of female employment in tourism
sector? What are the major problems of tourism to generate female employment and how
can these be solved? What type of strategies should be adopted in order to increase
female employment in tourism and to develop this sector in sustainable manner? How
tourism could be developed and established as one of the prosperous industries in Nepal
increasing number of female employment in this sector? In view of this very need, the
present study had been proposed.

5. Limitations of the Study

This study has been carried out with some limitations as given below.

(a) This study is mainly based on the women employment in Pokhara valley. That’s
why it may not represent the whole employment situation of the valley
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 (b) This Literature, particularly, studies about the information in the area of female
employment in tourism sectors.

(c) Only Pokhara based tourism industry like hotels restaurant travel and trakking
agencies are taken into consideration for the study. It is also considered to
generalize its result for country as a whole.

6. Organization of the Study

This study is divided into five chapters, which are as follows:

Chapter I includes general background, description of the study area, Statement of the
problem, Objective of the study, Significance of the study, Limitations of the
study and organization of the study.

Chapter II devoted for the brief review of literature available. Review of Books,
International and National research reports, Unpublished PhD dissertations m.phill
and Master level unpublished dissertations, Journals articles, different planning
and policies by government etc are included in this chapter.

Chapter III presents methodology used in the study. It consists of research design,
nature and sources of data, data collection techniques, method of sampling, data
processing and analysis.

Chapter IV includes the data analysis and findings. In this chapter, data collected
from various relevant sources is presented and analyzed by using various
statistical and econometrics tools.

Chapter V the last chapter and it includes summary, conclusion and recommendation
from the results of the study. A supplementary section, which includes
Bibliographies and Annex, is also included.

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7. Literature review

First of all, an Austrian economist Hermann Van Scheullard defined tourism in 1910.
Similarly, in 1942, two Swiss Professors Walter Hunziker and Kurt Krapf defined
tourism as: “Tourism is the sum of phenomena and relationship arising from the travel
and stay of nonresident, in so far as they do not lead to permanent resident and are not
connected with any earning activity”.

So far as the tourism is concerned, Association of International Scientific Experts in

Tourism (AIEST) defined tourism in 1981 as: “Tourism may be defined in terms of
particular activities selected by choice and undertaken outside the home environment.
Tourism may or may not involve overnight stay away from home”.

In this regard, World Tourism Organization suggested official and technical definition
to UN in 1993 for the statistical purpose as below:

“Tourism is an activity of a person traveling to and staying in places outside their usual
environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or any other
purpose”.

“Tourism is the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal

places of work and residences, the activities undertaken during their stay in the
destinations and the facilities created to their needs. The study of tourism is the study of
the people away from their usual habitat of the establishments whose responds to the
requirements of the travelers and of the impacts that they have on the economic, physical
and social well beings of their hosts. It involves the motivations and experiences of the
tourists, the expectation and adjustments made by residents of reception areas and roles
played by the numerous agencies and institutions which intercede between them”
(Matheson and Wall, 1982, P.1)

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According to Collier (1989, P.3) the definition of tourism identifies the following
characteristics;

 Tourism involves- a complex set of interrelationship between people places

and products
 These interrelationships involve through the transportation of people to various
destinations outside of their normal places of residence and their stay at those
destinations.
 The duration of the visit must generally be of a short term nature
 Tourism is essentially a pleasure activity in that it does not involve earning
related travel even if the associated income is not earn in the destination,
region or country.
Sir Eric (1995) defines tourism as an industry with extensive significance involving
several firms of business activities and industry moreover that will bring greater and
wealth to countries favored tourist

Y. R. Satyal defines visitors as: “Any person visiting a country other than that in
which he has usual place of residence for any reason other than following an occupation
remunerated from the country visited”.

Similarly he defines tourist as: “A visitor making at least a single overnight stay (or a
stay of at least 24 hours) in the country visited and the purpose of whose journey can be
classified under one of the following headings.

(i) leisure (creation, holiday, health, study, religion and sport)

(ii) business, family, mission, meeting

Again he defines excursionist as: “A temporary visitor not making an overnight stay
(or staying less than 24 hours) in the country visited”. “An equivalent term for
Excursionist is ‘day visitor’ and the category may thus include visitors from cruise ships”
(Satyal, YR 1999, P.10).

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 Dhungel (1981) has made an attempt to analyze the economic impact of tourism
Nepal. The main objectives of his study were to analyze the trend, structure and
composition of tourist arrival, to estimate the interdependence of the sector with some of
other sectors of the economy, to estimate the leakages within the sectors in terms of
import contents of both goods and factor services and foreign currency , to establish the
impact of the sector on employment, income and output of the economy, to estimate the
demand for tourism and to estimate the item wise expenditure elasticity of tourism
expenditures in Nepal. The study had been carried out on the basis of both demands as
well as supply framework

Nepal Rastra Bank (1989) carried out an econometric study entitled ‘Income and
Employment Generation from Tourism in Nepal’. The specific objectives of the study
were to study and estimate the level and pattern of tourism expenditure in Nepal, to
estimate the value added and import content and thereby net foreign exchange earning
from tourism in Nepal and to estimate income and employment generation in the tourism
sector of Nepal. Tourism is observed as a major and permanent source of foreign
exchange earnings in the study. The main findings of the study based on the total
payment to foreign factor, imports of goods and services (when direct indirect and
induced effects combine) the ratio of import content for tourism sector (hotel, travel,
trekking agencies and airlines) was estimated at 62.26 percent compared to 55. 34 percent
for tourism related sector and 57.18 percent overall sectors surveyed. On the basis of
tourist expenditure survey shows the dominance of Asian tourists followed by Europeans
and Americans, the per capita per day tourist expenditure was Rs 747 and the average
length of stay was estimated at 9.3 nights per visit.

Paudyal (1999), in his doctoral work, has attempted to analyze the share of various
markets in tourist arrivals and in SAARC region, and it’s affecting factors, in general.

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The main objectives of the study were to analyze the share of various markets in tourist
arrivals in the SAARC region, to analyze the share of member countries in total arrivals
in the region, to determine the factors affecting arrivals in the region and to suggest
policy implications. Both qualitative and quantitative measures are adopted for the study.
Besides, single equation multiple regressions were run for estimation some influencing
factors affecting the tourist arrivals in the SAARC region. According to the findings
of the study, tourism is very significant sector for almost all countries in the SAARC
region since tourism receipts occupy as a major component of their foreign exchange
earning and provide jobs to the significant number of people, and contributes to the gross
domestic products

Upadhaya, Rudhra Prasad (2003), is also an important study titled ‘A Study of

Tourism as a Leading Sector in Economic Development in Nepal’. The major objectives
of the study is to explore the potentialities of tourism inducing overall economic
development analyzing the role and impacts of tourism and to study scope for global
linkages of the Nepalese economy with special reference to tourism. Mainly he
concluded that tourism has been found to be an important determinant of government’s
developmental expenditure and regular expenditure. It has also been found that through
the promotion of tourism sector the Nepalese economy can be moved faster on the path
of globalization. He argues that tourism sector has the potentiality to induce the other
sectors of the economy.

Today’s workforce in any organization including ‘Tourism Sector’ has become

multicultural. Usually, Multiculturalism refers to cultural factors such as ethnicity, race,
gender and sexual orientation etc. One important dimension of multiculturalism in
organization is gender diversity. The Hudson Institute’s Report (1987) entitled
“Workforce 2000” points out that the workforce is rapidly moving from being male
dominated to one of equality in numbers between men and women. While there are many
women in the work force than ever before, they are largely in junior positions. Workforce
studies further states that “Getting hired is merely an initial step for women, getting

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promoted within a company often proves a more imposing challenge. In addition, may
women face sexual harassment in workplace, which creates an intimidating hostile as
offensive working environment. Sexual harassment is not a problem limited to a
particular country. Rather, the studies show that it exists all over the world.

8. Research Methodology:

To accomplish the stated objectives of the study, the following methodology has been
used.

8.1 Study Area

This study deals with various tourism sectors which are directly concerned with
employment generation as like Hotels, restaurant, Lodges Travel and trekking agencies of
Pokhara valley. They will be the major respondents of the study and other employers of
tourism will also be questioned to find out the problems and prospects of female
employment in tourism sectors in Pokhara valley

8.2 Nature and Sources of Data

This study will be based on both primary and secondary data. Secondary data are
collected from various related sources of tourism in Pokhara valley

8.2.1 Sources of Primary Data

Primary data will be collected by using structured questionnaire. Three sets of

questionnaires will be developed for each for sets of population. The population may be
tourists, tourism organizations and female employees. The researcher will be collected
primary data conducting field survey. Especially, purposive or judgmental sample
method will have been conducted to select tourists and random sample will be used to
select the tourism organization. So the respondent will be define as

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 (a) Tourists- tourists, who will be visited Nepal in 2014 in pokhara valley will be
the first type of respondents for the study.

(b)Employers – The personnel who are directly concerned with tourism sectors, such
as hotels, restaurants and travel agencies in pokhara valley will also be the second
types of respondents.

(c)Female employees- female, who are engaged or working in various hotel

restaurant and travel agencies in Pokhara valley will be the third type of the major
respondents for the study.

Both closed and open-ended questions will be prepared for all types of respondents.
The questionnaire for employers will be designed to know their views regarding the
problems and prospects of female employment. Female employees profile such as
religion, caste, age designation, service year, marital status, nationality, family
background on the job training back ground, status, job satisfaction etc will be asked for
closed study and discussion questionnaire with regard to duration of duty time, facing
problems before joining the job and solution of the problems will also be included as
queries.

8.2.2 Sources of Secondary Data

Secondary data and information will be collected from the various sources as
mentioned below.

(i) Annual statistical Reports, Development of Tourism.

(ii) Quarterly Economic Bulletin, Nepal Rastra Bank.

(iii) Population census,20011 (National Report) CBS

(iv) Various issues of Statistical Year Book of Nepal, CBS.

(v) Various issues of Economic Survey, Ministry of Finance.

(vi) Various Plans, Nepal Planning commission.

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 (vii) Various Tourism Journals of NTB

(viii) Various Seminar Reports, Research Studies and official Records about
tourism.

(ix) Published/Unpublished different articles and literature on tourism and other

necessary information can be collected from other related sources

8.3 Sample Size and Sampling Procedure.

 Both primary as well as secondary data will have been collected for the study. The
sources of secondary data will be various types of publications of various
organizations.
 The researcher will have been collected primary data using three sets of
questionnaires, one will be for tourists, the second and the third will be for employers
and female employees respectively.
(i) Out of the total numbers of tourists visit in pokhara valley in 2014 only 50 tourists
will be selected as the first type of respondents to collect the information about
their perceptions with regard to female employment in tourism sector.

(ii) All together in total, 50 different organizations or agencies will be selected by

using random sampling elected for different respondents. Among them, 50
employers will be selected from different organizations and 100 female employees
will be selected by using the purposive judgment method sample method
(iii) All types of respondents will be asked focusing on the problems and prospects of
female employment generation in tourism.
(iv) Statistical tools such as percentage, growth rate, index and its share and “F” test
etc. will be used for the analysis.

8.4 Research Tools and Data Collection Procedure.

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 Three types of questionnaire will be constructed to fill up by the tourists,
organizations and female employees.. Questioning, observations and Secondary data
were used for the study.

The questionnaires for tourists will be either closed or open ended or scaled.
Questions will be included to identify problems, prospects and suggestions to promote
female employment in tourism industry in pokhara valley. By this way, questionnaire
for the tourism organization will mainly based on close and open-ended pattern. Queries
will be included regarding their income, expenditure and promotional expenses etc. for
the women employee. The open- ended patterned questionnaire will be included queries
regarding the existing tourism development, female employment situation, and
perception towards policies, development and marketing efforts, problems and probable
suggestions to overcome them.

8.5 Method of Data Processing and Analysis

In order to analyze raw data which were collected through field survey, different
statistical tables, bar diagram, graphs and Pie-charts will be used on the basis of Primary
and Secondary data. Frequency distribution, percentage analysis, descriptive statistics,
cross-tabulation and qualitative analysis will have been done to attain the objectives The
qualitative data or information will describe in simple descriptive way by using different
statistical and econometric tools

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Upadhayay, R. (2003), “Tourism as a Leading sector in Economic Development of

Nepal”. Unpublished Dissertation of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Economics,
Lacknow University, India.

Poudyal, S.B. (1999), “Factors affecting Demand for tourism in SAARC region”,
Unpublished Dissertation of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Banaras Hindu
University, India.

Upadhayay, R. and Agrawal M.K. (2006), “Tourism and Economic Development in

Nepal”, Northen Book Center: New Delhi.

Satyal, Y.R. (1999), “Tourism in Nepal a Profile”, Book Published by Adroit Publishers,
Delhi, India.

Upadhaya, R.P (2008), “Reading in Rural Tourism”, Edited Book, Sunlight Publication
(Students’ Books) Kirtipur, Kathmandu

Baral, R. (2010), “Tourism and Employment from gender perspective”, Unpublished MA

Thesis, submitted to Central Department of Economics, Tribhuvan University,
Kathmandu: Nepal.

Collier, A. (1989). Principles of Tourism. Newzeland: Pitman Publishing.

Copper, C. P. (ed) (1992). Progress in Tourism, Recreation and Hospitality

Mathieson A; wall, g; (1982) Tourism: Economic, physical and social impacts. Lonman,
London

Dhungel, R. (1981). Economic of Tourism in Nepal. Kathmandu: Development Research

and Communication Group.

Paudel, P. (2006). Pro-Poor Rural Tourism Initiatives and its Sustainability in Nepal.
(Research Highlights) Kathmandu: MoCTCA,TRPAP.

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