Research Projects

CRT has following Research projects :

COMPLETED PROJECTS

The establishment of CRT was followed immediately by the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. A long nationwide lockdown and travel restrictions obviously limited our field-based research. However, it has been resuming slowly in recent times. Our research projects are presented in the following categories:

  1. FEASIBILITY STUDY ON THE PROMOTION OF TOURISM ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE DAKSHINKALI MUNICIPAL AREA.

    Dakshinkali is one of the 18 Municipal areas within the Kathmandu valley in Nepal. It is a place with a significant religious and historical background, and has a number of Hindu shrines including the famous Dakshinkali temple. There are several Buddhist monasteries, too. It is host to beautiful natural scenery, has diverse topography with several adventure tourism activity potentials, and is well- connected by a 20 km long road to the nation's capital city Kathmandu. Despite having these many attractions, it has not been able to attract international tourists in reasonable numbers.

    The in-depth feasibility study documents all the strengths of the place and explores several tourism potentials in the area. Practical recommendations have been made in important areas to guide the Dakshinkali Municipality Office to adopt suitable measures for the benefit of the wider local community.

    Dakshinkali Municipality Office funded the study conducted in the period December 2022-April 2023.

  2. RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL TOURISM PROMOTION IN THE TOKHA MUNICIPAL AREA : FEASIBILITY STUDY

    Tokha is an ancient place in the Kathmandu valley. This northern gateway to the valley has been declared by the local municipal government as a protected area. The Chandeshwori temple, Sapantirtha temple, Bhootkhel, and Baudeshwor are some of the Hindu religious attractions in Tokha. Celebrating a number of festivals year-round by the indigenous Newar community has made it culturally rich. It is only about 10 kms from the heart of the national capital city. Nevertheless, it could not grow as a tourist destination for foreigners as well as the domestic and Indian religious visitors. The detailed study has recommended several measures.

    It has categorically,assigned responsibilities to the Tokha Municipality Office, the private sector, and the communities.

    The Tokha Municipality Office funded the study conducted in December 2021 to March 2022.

  3. RAFTING AS AN ADVENTURE TOURISM ACTIVITY IN THE MELUNG STRETCH OF THE TAMAKOSHI RIVER: FEASIBILITY STUDY

    The Tamakoshi, one of the tributaries of the Saptakoshi river system in Nepal, is one of about a dozen Nepali rivers known globally for whitewater rafting. There are several Rapids of up to scale 5 in the approximately 18 km long stretch along Melung Rural Municipality in Dolakha district of Nepal. The Seal Launch City and Hudson to the Left are two of them. As such, the river could attract rafting lovers from around the world if the basic facilities like standard hotels and restaurants are made available locally. Unfortunately, due to ignorance of the fact and the lack of entrepreneurship in the locals, the communities have been deprived of any earnings from this potential adventure tourism activity.

    This study was sponsored by Melung Rural Municipality Office as part of their efforts to explore adventure tourism development opportunities at the local level. Inclusion of highly experienced Nepalese river guides with extensive international track records was one of the beauties of the study team composition. It was conducted between February and April 2021.

  4. IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE TOURISM INDUSTRY OF NEPAL (A Brief Diagnostic Survey)

    This study was conducted at a time when not only Nepal but the entire world was affected severely by the COVID- 19 pandemic. People's lives, societies, economies and livelihoods around the globe had been affected unprecedentedly since the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Following its rapid spread to other countries the pandemic was then declared a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO on January 30, 2020.

    Since human lives were the highest priority of the governments; quarantine, travel ban and border closures had been applied in many countries as some of the most effective measures for the containment of the pandemic. Nepal too, following the WHO advisory to stay alert, was under nationwide lockdown since March 24 which was extended several times. The study documents preliminary findings on the loss due to the travel ban and border closure to the six major sectors within the Nepalese tourism industry: Hotels, Airlines, Tours and Travel, Trekking, Rafting, and Restaurants and Bars. The findings were disseminated to a wider audience including the Minister, Secretary and other senior officials in the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of the federal government of Nepal, and all major private sector umbrella organizations within the tourism industry.

PROJECTS IN PIPELINE

The following projects are in pipeline. They will be commenced upon receiving financial support from any concerned agency/ies.

  1. Situation analysis of the domestic employment opportunities to the Nepalese hospitality management graduates
  2. Sustainable Development Goals and Nepal's tourism
  3. Enhancing sustainable tourism activities in and around Nepal's world heritage sites
  4. Public-Private partnership in tourism in Nepal
  5. An assessment of the achievements of two decades of Nepal Tourism Board
  6. A survey on the current status of arrivals and growth potentialities of Buddhist religious tourists in Nepal.
  7. A survey on the current status of arrivals and growth potentialities of Non-Indian Hindu religious tourists in Nepal.
  8. A reconnainse study on the existing services, facilities and safety measures to international tourists in Nepal's selected trekking routes.
  9. A brief study on the arrivals, stay, spending and market growth potentials of the Western European tourists in Nepal.

ONGOING PROJECTS

CRT has already commenced studies on the following projects. They are at various stages of implementation:

  • Feasibility study of Religious and Cultural Tourism in Tokha Municipality area in Kathmandu Valley.
  • Rapid appraisal of tourism development component in the periodic plans of selected municipalities in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal.
  • Analysis of the homestay operation in Kathmandu valley and its effects on the overall tourism industry of Nepal.
  • A brief study on the arrivals, stay, spending and market growth potentials of Indian tourists in Nepal.
  • A brief study on the arrivals, stay, spending and market growth potentials of Chinese tourists in Nepal.

OTHER ISSUES for RESEARCH

Apart from them, CRT has identified some 60 other research topics on several prominent issues. Such topics are broadly categorized under the following headings:

  1. Income related issues
  2. Service quality related issues
  3. Infrastructure related issues
  4. Provincial /local governments' capabilities related issues
  5. Tourism sector's backward and forward linkage with other economic sectors
  6. Tourism and Women's development
  7. Awareness issues at various levels of stakeholders
  8. Human resource development issues
  9. Product Diversification in tourism
  10. ENHANCING THE PRIVATE SECTOR'S MORALE IN TOURISM ENTERPRENEURSHIP