Joy Dewan, president of the Nepal Association of Travel Agents (NATA), is also the General Sales Agent for Qatar Airlines. Qatar flies daily to the Doha and is the only airline that provides daily connections from Kathmandu to Europe. He also runs Zenith Travels and is the GSA for Dragon Air and Air Lanka.

How's business?
Everybody is aware that tourist arrivals were down by about 20.7 percent last year, this year the number has been falling faster every month. Qatar was fortunate; it did very well and brought in quite a good number of adventure tourists last year. Also Royal Nepal Airlines pulled out of the European sector last year and we could get that traffic. We did a load factor of over 80 percent, which is very, very good in aviation.

Are you expecting to repeat that this year too?
Comparing the situation right after what happened in the US last September and now, I must say people have begun to travel again. Other countries are getting many tourists and we are also hopeful.

How has the state of emergency affected tourism?
We were initially telling tourists it was safer to travel to Nepal after the emergency. Unfortunately, many incidents have taken place since. This has sent out negative signals and affected us a lot. All airlines did well in October-November, flying in adventure tourists. But we lost much of the white collar, high-yield traffic, which has affected us very badly.

Has the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) done enough to counter that?
They are trying their best to spread the word. Together we met different resident ambassadors and requested them to soften their travel advisories. They said they understood our situation, but also had their limitations and had to report what was happening. As far as safety is concerned, the whole world is unsafe. Nobody expected the Twin Towers to be hit.

The Indian traffic was almost nil last season. The NTB is trying to revive it. Indians are still wary about travelling to Nepal, but because they don't go beyond the Valley or Pokhara, we need to tell them more effectively that it is safe to come. The NTB has a major problem, which is money. You cannot do marketing with a limited budget.

What have you done to restore confidence among travellers?
We tell prospective visitors that with the emergency in place the government has better arrangements for security in many parts of the country. We also tell them that we do have a Maoist problem but not all over Nepal, there are areas where we still have peace.

Some Nepali workers headed to the Gulf complain that Qatar discriminates against them on the service front. What do you have to say about this?
We also get complaints from time to time. As an airline for us everyone is the same and we provide them similar services. There is no discrimination because the bottom line is the fare and workers pay the same fares as white-collar travellers.

But you do have different check-in counters for the workers.
Yes, that is to expedite the check-in process. Because most of the Nepali workers travelling are going abroad for the first time, we have to almost shepherd them, we are there to help and guide them. If they were checked in with other passengers, there could be delays. The separate counter has been set up for their convenience.

Do you think the government's plan to bail out hotels is good enough?
We sought help because this is what is done elsewhere. In Sri Lanka, after its airline lost four aircraft, the government immediately developed a package with discounts not just in hotels and airlines, but across the board. It gave other carriers incentives to maintain frequency by giving concessions in navigation, landing and ground handling charges. Most people fly in to Nepal, which was why we asked for similar concessions. We've had several meetings with the government and they've agreed in principle. We're hopeful a decision will be taken soon.

How have travel agencies been affected?
As bad as hotels. NATA has asked for government help, because they are helping the hotels. They haven't responded officially and we are still lobbying.

We have an oversupply of tourism service providers. Isn't this slowdown a chance for consolidation rather than total bailout?
Unlike garments or carpets the tourism industry has remained good over the long term and there is scope to make more money. We cannot blame the hotels and related travel industries. As regards consolidation, I agree there should be some policy on control and we're working on one with the ministry.

What else can be done to help the industry today?
We want the situation to return to normal. We want peace. The government has to sort out the problem with the Maoists. I've already said that in most countries the situation has come back to normal after 11 September. But it hasn't here, because of the Maoist problem. The government needs to find a solution by means of negotiations or whatever. On our part, as businesses we remain optimistic about our ability to sell Nepal for as long as we have our natural beauty.