I think that one of the biggest things people can do to help rebuild an economy after a big natural disaster is to visit the country. But my question is how soon after something like this is too soon? I was contemplating also visiting Kathmandu once I book my trip to India. But I don't know a lot about how the infrastructure and so forth is working over there right now. Does anyone have any tips or advice?
Hmm, my country as yet hasn't released whether or not they think it's safe to return to Nepal, but I had a look online to see, since I hadn't received any replies yet! It looks like the UK relaxed their travel warnings to Nepal - initially after the quake they recommended to avoid all non-essential travel but they've relaxed that now. Good to know!
Knowing when is safe to travel there is a tricky one to answer, and husk because the UK have relaxed their travel warnings, I'm still not sure I'd want to go there just yet. As you say, their economy needs tourism to help rebuild its infrastructure, but at the same time, when I go on holiday to a place, I want to know I'll enjoy it and with Nepal being in the state it's in, I'm not sure if I'd be tempted to leave it a while longer yet.
That's true. From everything I had read/seen at the time of the quake, Kathmandu and the surrounding areas looked like they were in complete disarray. I'm imagining that some stuff is back to normal, but the extent of "normal" is relative. I'm still a while out (probably at least 12 months) at this stage from going to India, and I planned to ideally do Nepal at the same time. I'll probably reassess things a little closer to when I would be booking everything.
You're right when you say that normal is relative but at the same time, as yiubakso pointed out, the area was entirely devastated at the time, and while the money from tourism will go a long way to helping rebuild the worst affected parts of the country, in them parts are they still even able to sustain a level of tourism at the moment? That would be my only concern I think, but it's a fairly big one for me, and one I'd have to fully think about before booking and deciding anything.
I hear you @pwarbi. I guess an analogy you could use would be whether you'd invite yourself over to a friend's house soon after something bad had happened in their life. Even if it had been a little while, I'd probably wait until they said they were ready to host guests again, rather than inviting myself over and saying "hey - I'm here, heard you might need some support!" I think that analogy makes me think it's better until Nepal themselves says they're ready for tourism again. The more I consider it, the more I think it would almost be stressful for them to have tourists there before they feel like things are under control.
I do understand what your saying but I think the danger there is the fact that like we was saying, a lot of their income depends on the tourist trade so they may be tempted to want the tourists to return, even though they might not be ready to welcome them back just yet in reality.
It's a fine line, I think! It's tough to make a decision either way. I saw a neat infographic actually that was published on the Nepal Tourism site. Hopefully it comes out big enough to read...thought it was interesting!
Also, not sure if you have a Facebook account @pwarbi but there is a dedicated Nepal Tourism Facebook page: Nepal Tourism Board I'm enjoying their updates and they do seem to be encouraging visitors which is good to know!
That is pretty cool that you want to travel to nepal. I wish I could go and give a helping hand! I think your best bet would be to contact a humanitarian group so that they can let you know what areas are not so great to travel to.
I'm not sure if visiting Nepal right now is a good idea. It's cool and really nice of you to want to help the country rebuild itself, but you have to take into account that there's nothing there and your safety is compromised. If you want to help you could just donate. The country isn't exactly ready for tourists.
I've donated to Nepal and other disaster funds in the past but I think a lot of the time you have to be careful as a lot of the money you sends doesn't actually go to helping the people. I'm not sure about Nepal, but in other countries a lot of the donation goes to the government and it doesn't necessarily get spent on what you'd want it to.
That's what I worry about too - I would want to know with certainty that if I was donating money to an organization that it was going to be used in a way that the proceeds were all going to helping the people -- as opposed to paying big overheads, administration costs, and paychecks of non volunteer staff. It's hard to know exactly what charities are the best in times of crisis like this.
I know there are some charities our there that do gaurentee that a certain amount of what you donate, if not all of it will go to the people that need it the most, but a lot will take administrative costs off, and they're obviously the ones that need to be avoided.
I actually believe now it is a very good time to visit Nepal. The earthquake probably scared a lot of tourists so the mountain paths and every place worth visiting is way less crowded. Also, the economy suffered a bit and all prices went down, so you can actually find decent housing at a very low price.
I had a friend in Nepal during the quake. She was buried under a collapsed building, and only rescued because the hotel knew where to look for her. That is one of the reasons I always post about sharing your itinerary. Anyway, she is back in Nepal, and says that the country has a long way to go to repair. A lot of cultural sites might never be as they once were.
