Thursday, May 7, 2009

Being an internal tourist

It was very interesting visit to Changu Narayan with the details of the temple by the priest himself but as the description finished and we roamed around the temple premises we saw different homemade materials on sale. We were very happy to see the Nepali products having such a good market for international tourists. We also thought of checking out the products, as we were also the internal tourist there. But as we inquired about the materials and price, the response was very frustrating. They were very reluctant to give us any information; moreover, they even ordered us not to touch them. A seller even gave the rude comments that we were just wasting their time and they only give information to the people who actually buy them. We returned back disheartened.

The internal tourism industry involves a very wide range of commercial and public enterprises and brings economic and social benefits to society. It creates employment for many different categories of workers and offers job opportunities for women. The very important part of internal tourism is internal tourism consumption. The basic concept measuring tourism activity and refers to total consumption of or on behalf of visitors and could, consequently be termed as "visitor demand". And it was evident that the shopkeepers in Changu Narayan were not aware of this fact.

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