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2003-09-10 - Kathmandu (Day 148)

I wander around Tamal checking out the shops and then wander over to Showkat Tuman's shop. Showkat is the same person who I stayed with in Kashmir and took me fishing and it is nice to see him again. We talk about how business is and it is a shame to hear how tough things have become in Nepal. The airliner hijacking three years ago, followed by the Iraq war, SARS there have already been three years of heavy blows to Nepal's economy that is dependant on tourism. With the Maoists restarting the civil war and the global economy still in the doldrums, it is unlikely this year will be any better. My experience has been the same, not seeing a single tourist from the time I crossed the border until I reached Kathmandu, 1000 kilometers later. Kathmandu still had tourists but it was clear from the empty restaurants and shops that what is there is only a small portion of what is normal. While the world concentrates on the economic downturns of the US, Europe and Japan it pales to the impact that those downturns have on small countries, which are dependant on their tourists. With 70% of Nepal's economy dependant on tourism, which has dropped to about 20% of previous levels, America's 6% unemployment or Taiwan's 5% do not seem like major problems.

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