CHAPTER V

 DATA TABULATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Mostly visited tourist spots were taken as sample place. Information was obtained by interviewing with 3 categories of respondents – tourists, hoteliers and locals. Simple Random Sampling was done for tourists and locals; and Census Survey was done for hoteliers because there were only 10 hotels and resorts in Chobhar. Altogether 68 tourists and 30 locals were requested to fill up the questionnaire and also the semi or unstructured interviews, observation as well as focus group discussion methods were applied to generated relevant information on the subject matter.

5.1 Tourists

5.1.1 Age Composition of Tourists

Human behavior can be understood by determining the motives, drives, or concerns which are being satisfied by the action, and secondly by the attitudes and information that the person uses to decide what response he should make in a given situation. Increased leisure, however, is an important factor in the growth and development of tourism and is likely to stimulate tourist demand, it alone is not sufficient in the evolution of the demand for tourism. There are, in fact, many socio-economic factors which are important. These factors include:

• Income
• Mobility
• Age
• Education
• Sex
• Travel cost
  
  

Age and sex also affect demand. More and more, younger people are taking holidays now. Younger groups participate more in travel because of more income and energy they have for travel. Therefore, age composition is one of the prominent components for traveling. Table 5.1 shows the age composition of tourists traveling Chobhar. It shows that 50 percent of the people are of age 20-30 that are keen to travel, followed by age group 30-40 and less than 20. More the age, less the people travel.



5.1.2 Sex Composition of Tourists

Table 5.2 shows the sex composition of tourists, which indicates that male travel more than the females. Nearly 56 percent of those visiting Chobhar are males, followed by couple’s 25 percent and 19 percent females. Table 5.2:

5.1.3 Feeling about the Place

The view of respondent about a particular place reflects how the place is. 56 percent respondents feel the place to be excellent whereas 31 percent found the place to be good. There are only 13 percent who felt the place satisfactory for which certain improvements are needed, especially in hotel, restaurants, transportation and
communication. If certain improvements are done in Chobhar, it has huge potentialities to be developed as a major tourism destiny.


5.1.4 Feeling about the Local People

The development of hospitality resources is perhaps the most important factor in tourism. The finest physical facilities will be worthless if the tourist feels unwelcome.
The local people should be very cooperative, friendly and willing to serve the tourists. Table 5.4 shows the feeling of tourists about the local people. 54 percent respondents feel the local people to be ok. In addition, 25 percent feel the local people to be very cooperative. This is a very good attitude of Chobhar people towards visitors.


5.1.5 Way people travel Chobhar

Most visitors traveling Chobhar come in group consisting 63 percent of respondents. Following it, 31 percent respondents are found to be in pair. Nowadays, Chobhar has been a lovers point because traveling around Chobhar; everywhere we can see the couples. Why not using Chobhar as a dating spot?


5.1.6 Peak Season of Tourist Arrival

Nepal is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of bio-diversity due to its unique geographical position and altitudinal variation. The elevation of the country
ranges from 60m above sea level to the highest point on earth, Mt. Everest at 8,848 m, all within a distance of 150 Km resulting into climatic conditions from sub-tropical to Arctic. This is why; Nepal is called “Land for all seasons and for all regions” because anyone from any part of the world can come to Nepal anytime and he would not be missing a particular fest/ festival or a particular climate. Table 5.6 shows the peak season of tourist arrival in Chobhar. For the tourist arrival, season plays a major role. Weather is a particularly important ingredient which makes a holiday a pleasant or an unpleasant experience. Researcher finds winter to be the most pleasing season for the arrival of tourist in Chobhar. Nearly 31 percent of tourists visit in winter, followed by summer, autumn and spring respectively. It is due to the fact that in winter most birds migrate to Taudaha Lake and there are always numerous people from different places to watch birds (Bird Conservation Nepal). Also October/ November are the months for maximum number of tourists’ inflow because there is a month long festival and Nirjala Vrata for visiting Adinath as Adinath is a form of Karunamaya or Matsyendranath. Also in Chaitra Krishna Asthami, there is a festival in Chobhar called Nakhu Snan, which falls in month March/ April.



5.1.7 Tourist Arrival by Nation

Table 5.7 shows the tourist arrival by nation. It indicates almost all visitors of Chobhar are national. This proves Chobhar to be a favorite domestic tourism destiny. The number of international tourist is absolutely nil because the months researcher took data was just before and after the 19 day long ‘Jana Andolan’, during which the outside countries warned their nationalities not to visit Nepal and those who are there to return back soon.

5.1.8 Purpose of Visit

Purpose of visit may be different for different tourist, because every individual has his/her own motive to travel. There are different factors which create desire to travel. Nepal’s cultural and geographical assets are the main attractions to lure tourists and they come here for those attractions. Table 5.8 shows the purpose of visit to Chobhar, which indicates most tourists visiting Chobhar, is lured by its scenic beauty and they come here for sightseeing. The green pine forest, the rocky Khani area, the only tectonic lake system in Kathmandu - Taudaha lake, the Chobhar gorge from where Manjushree made the water flow out of Kathmandu valley, the mysterious caves etc are the places to be watch which lures most of the tourists to be here time to time. Nearly 32 percent of the visitors come here for sightseeing, followed by recreation 24 percent. Recreation in Chobhar is due to its unpolluted environment, cool air and peace. 20 percent come here for Pilgrimage, because Chobhar is the place where Anandadi Lokeshwara rests. Jalvinayak, Vishnudevi, Chundevi and other different Buddhist Monasteries are here. 13 percent of tourists come here for research/ study because Taudaha Lake is the place where, about 210 types of birds migrate in winter. Also the Cave system of Chobhar has its own importance for religious as well as geographical studies to be carried out.

5.1.9 Source of Information about Chobhar

In this modern world, communication has become the most vital thing. Unless and until people don’t know anything special about the place, they do not travel there. Therefore, promotion is the most important. The primary role of the promotion is to convince the potential customers of the various advantages of buying or using the products and services of a particular enterprise, organization or a firm. Coulson – Thomas in the year 1986 has defined the concept as: “The role of promotion is to communicate with individuals, groups or organizations so as to directly or indirectly facilitate exchanges by informing and persuading one or more to the audience to accept an organization’s products.” Basically, the term promotion is interpreted to refer to informing, persuading, encouraging or more specifically influencing the potential customers and trade intermediaries like travel agent, tour operators, reservation services, hotel and charter brokers, about the benefits of the product. The question now arises as to how this awareness is to be brought about in the minds of customers and intermediaries. Tourists’ enterprises use different methods of communication to achieve their objectives. Broadly these are:

• Advertising
• Press or public relations
• Sales promotions
• Publicity

Table 5.9 shows the source of information about Chobhar, tourist come to know. The researcher finds there is lack of information centers in Chobhar for the promotion of tourism. Most of the tourists (about 53 percent) come to know about Chobhar through friends or relatives. The media is contributing for just 10 percent of tourists and the travel agencies or travel books contributing for just 6 percent which is very low contribution of media or relevant agencies. There should highly be given emphasis on promotion of tourism in the potential sites like Chobhar. There is also lack of road signs for visiting Chobhar. From Table 5.9, it is clear that Chobhar needs immediate concern in terms of advertisement and publicity or more precisely for its promotion.




5.1.10 Means of Transportation Used

Travel and tourism involves the movement of people from their place of residence to a tourist place and, in consequence, the relationship between transport and tourism development is a vital area of tourism studies. For development of any destination, adequate and efficient transportation infrastructure and access to generating markets is one of the most important aspects. The destinations which can be reached by efficient transport systems are those which receive maximum number of tourists. Transport, therefore, is one of the basic components of tourism. In ancient times, mode of transport used by travelers was a horse, a horse carriage, a hand-driven carriage or a boat. This was followed by a ship. It was, however, in the 19th century that mechanized transport was invented beginning with the introduction of railways, motorcar and thereafter the aeroplane, all of which revolutionalised transport all over the world. Transportation can be defined as the means to reach the destination and also the means of movement at the destination (Burkart and Medlik, 1976). Transport costs as much as 30-40 percent of the total long-haul holiday expenditure. There are four major modes of transport. These are:

• Road
• Rail
• Sea
• Air

(Bhatia, A. K., 2004) Transportation is vital to the success of both domestic and international tourism. Mass tourism could not have existed without inexpensive and easily accessible transportation. Almost all destinations in the world depend a great deal on efficient means of transportation being made available to tourists. The choice of particular mode of transport, however, depends on several factors. These may be:

• Distance and time
• Comfort
• Safety and utility
• Availability and frequency
• Comparative cost price
• Ground services
• Status and prestige
• Geographical position and isolation
• Departure/ arrival times
• Level of competition between services

(Bhatia, A. K., 2004) Table 5.10 shows the means of transportation used by tourists visiting Chobhar, which indicates 38 percent people are traveling using motorcycle, followed by private vehicle and local vehicle respectively. Only 3 percent of tourist use taxi as means of transport due to high charge.




5.1.11 Length of Stay of Tourists

Among the important inputs which flow into the tourist system is tourist accommodation. Accommodation facilities constitute a vital and fundamental part of tourist supply and an important feature of the total tourist image of a county. Many countries have recognized the vital importance of accommodation industry in relation to tourism and their governments have coordinated their activities with the industry by way of providing attractive incentives and concessions to suppliers of tourist accommodation, which have resulted in the building up of various types of accommodation. Accommodation plays a central role and is very basic to tourist destinations. WTO in its definition of a tourist has stated that the tourist must spend at least one night in the destination visited to be qualified as a tourist. This presupposes availability of some kind of accommodation. For successful tourism, accommodations must be available in sufficient quantity to match the demand of the travelers who arrive at the destination. Hotels vary tremendously in their physical facilities, level of maintenance and cleanliness and services provided. Unless and until, all of these factors are at satisfactory levels, tourism cannot succeed. The hotels must provide the physical facilities, price ranges, locations and services that meet the expectations, wants and need of the travelers. If the quality of facilities and services drop, demand will fall off – a serious blow to the tourism industry in the area. Expensive hotel accommodations may be demanded by those who ‘want the best’ and, willing and able to pay accordingly. But the youth and adults who are unable to pay for such top-level accommodations should be provided with minimum but necessary facilities.
Length of stay of tourist depends on the accommodation facility of the area. Better and reasonable the accommodation facility, more the tourist want to stay in that area. But time also plays important role for the length of stay. Table 5.11 shows the length of stay of tourist visiting Chobhar. This indicates almost all visitors stay in Chobhar for just few hours. This is due to the fact that hotels in Chobhar till now have not been able to provide accommodation facilities to almost all visitors. But there is a Chobhar “Le Village” Resort Pvt. Ltd. which has accommodation facility too. According to the guest book of that resort, there are number of tourists who spend one or more days in that resort. It is highly recommended the need for increasing accommodation facility because higher the length of stay, higher the tourists pay and higher the economy of that area.



5.1.12 Expenditure Pattern of Tourists

The expenditure pattern as of U.S. Travel Data Centre indicates transportation to be the largest item in the typical household travel budget, accounting for about 38 cents out of every dollar spent. Food requires the second highest outlay at 26 cents, followed by 17 cents for lodging. Entertainment and recreation account for 10 cents, and incidentals require 9 cents. Table 5.12 shows the expenditure pattern of tourist visiting Chobhar. It shows about 51 percent of the tourists spent Rs. 100-500 a day. Very few people, about 8 percent spent Rs. 500-1000 and 5 percent spent more than Rs. 1000 a day. More the tourist spend, more the economy of the area increases. But expenditure pattern depends on length of stay and quality of accommodation provided too. Hence there should be good environment created for the tourists to attract, stay more and spend more.




5.2 Hotels/ Resorts/ Restaurants in Chobhar

Hotel: place for overnight stay: a building or commercial establishment where people pay for lodgings, meals, and sometimes other facilities or services

Resort: holiday place: a place that is popular for recreation and holidays and provides accommodation and entertainment

Restaurant: eating place: a place where meals and drinks are sold and served to customers

Café: informal restaurant: a small informal restaurant serving drinks, snacks, and often light meals (Microsoft Encarta, 2006)
Table 5.13 shows the name of hotels, established year and the number of rooms and beds it has.



Table 5.14 shows the cumulative number of hotels established till date (Jun, 2006). It indicates that upto 2058 BS there was no any hotel established in Chobhar. Only 1 hotel was established in 2058 BS which lasted till 2059 BS. It was only on 2060 BS, two more hotels were established. The establishment of hotels, resorts, restaurants and caf é continued and till date there are 10 such tourist servers. Hence, there is increasing trend of establishment of hotels. But they should keep on mind the needs of tourists. Also there is no any hotel except Chobhar “Lee Village” Resort Pvt. Ltd which could provide accommodation facility to the incoming tourists. It has just 3 rooms and 11 beds which is not sufficient in a place like Chobhar which has such great prospects of tourism.




5.2.1 Facilities Provided by Hotels

Amenities are the comfort and facilities added to attraction, accommodation and transportation. These amenities themselves do not generate tourist flow but theirpresence or absence might detract the tourist. Amenities include different facilities and services provided by government, travel agencies, hotels, airlines and transport companies, insurance agents, communication facilities etc. Hotels are also established for fulfillment of amenities to the tourists. As stated above, according to Microsoft Encarta 2006, Hotel is a place for overnight stay; a building or commercial establishment where people pay for lodgings, meals, and sometimes other facilities or services. There should be more facilities except lodging and fooding in hotels. Table 5.15 shows the facilities provided by hotels in Chobhar. It indicates that all hotels are providing fooding but in case of lodging only 10 percent hotels are serving. Also, 30 percent hotels provide transportation facilities and 20 percent providing guides. But only 10 percent hotel is providing entertainment for tourists through different cultural programs, fest, haat bazaar etc.



There are no any hotels which could provide internet facilities to incoming tourists. There are no any hotels which has swimming pool in its compound. Also there are no any pool or snooker house, no discos, no night clu in any of the hotels. So to conclude, the hotels in Chobhar are of lowest category type and no chance in future for their sustainability.

Case Study about Hotels in Chobhar
The locals are complaining the police or related agencies that there is prostitution in these hotels. The hotels have constructed ‘cabin cottages’ and ‘cottages with bed’ in it. These are mainly constructed for sexual purposes of people visiting Chobhar. These types of disgusting activities by hotel owners should be strictly banned. They are assisting to erode moral and cultural value of Chobhar. The police also do nothing; instead they come to hotel, eat for free and in addition take money from those hotel owners. Every individual involved in these activities should be strictly punished because they are against law and against social norms and values. Hotels should be such that they run on their speciality b y providing delicious food, luxurious but reasonable accommodation, different amenities as pool/ snooker house, swimming pool, discos, pubs etc. But the hotels in Chobhar run only on the basis of cottages which are used for sexual purposes. It is strictly recommended to the concerned agencies to ban on such immoral activities on such a sacred place where Adinath resides.

5.2.2 Age of Hotel Owners

Table 5.16 shows the age of hotel owner, which indicates 50 percent of hotel owners are of age group 30-40. It is a good symbol because the age group 30-40 is not too young and not too old rather they are experienced too. We can expect tourism industry to flourish in the hand of such persons. Also, 40 percent of hotel owners are of age group 20-30, which shows that young people are also aware of tourism and helping by opening such hotels in such young age. This is also a good symbol but there is risk of being inexperienced which can be solved through taking suggestions from experienced or related agencies involved in tourism.


5.2.3 Educational Status of Hotel Owner

Educational status of hotel owner can directly or indirectly affect tourism of an area. Hotel established by a qualified manpower knows much more than who are unqualified. Qualified manpower knows how to treat guest, how to manage hotel, how to attract tourists, how to provide our best etc. Unqualified manpower though know it all, he performs his job in unplanned, un-organized way. Table 5.17 shows the educational status of hotel owner. It indicates 40 percent are Intermediate pass, 20 percent are Bachelor pass and 10 percent are Masters. Altogether 70 percent people involved in hotel business in Chobhar are above Intermediate level. Remaining 30 percent are SLC and below SLC. More the people educated, more will the benefit he can take from business. Hence there is need of educated manpower in the field of tourism because tourism is all about hospitality, co-operation, understanding, marketing and promotion of tourism products etc.



5.2.4 Advertisement of Hotels

Advertisement is a paid form of non-personal communication about an organization’s product or service communicated through a message. It may be defined as “any activity designed to spread information with a view to promoting the sales of marketable goods and services” As stated above, in improvements needed, 34 percent respondent raised a voice for advertisement and improvement in communication system. Table 5.18 shows that there are a total of 10 hotels in Chobhar, but only one of them has developed website. In today’s world, the world is guided by internet. Any information regarding any place is obtained by surfing net. In this case, the hotels in Chobhar are backward. Also, besides this one, only one hotel has advertised it in a FM and offering a dinner or lunch for a couple. This is also a good way to promote the hotel. Hence, the need for advertisement and business promotion is today’s need, because this is a competitive world.



5.2.5 Investment Pattern of Hotels in Chobhar

Investment directly reflects the standard of hotel. Higher the investment, higher will be the standard. Table 5.19 shows the investment pattern of hotels in Chobhar, which reflects 5 hotels have investment less than 0.5 Million, which makes them low standard hotels. They cannot provide sufficient facilities to the tourists in such a low budget. There is only 1 hotel which has invested greater than 1.5 Million, making it the only hotel to accommodate the tourist and also providing other facilities.



5.2.6 Profit/ Loss of Hotels in Chobhar

Table 5.20 shows either the hotels in Chobhar is running in profit or in loss. It shows that 50 percent of the hotels are running in profit, 20 percent are in loss and 30 percent did not reply. This may encourage the people to establish hotels in Chobhar, which is good sign for tourism development. Table 5.20: Profit/ Loss of hotels in Chobhar



5.2.7 Funding Source of Hotels in Chobhar

Table 5.21 shows the funding source for the establishment of hotels in Chobhar. 60 percent of the hotels being established are funded by self.



5.3 Chobhar

5.3.1 Condition of Environment, Transportation, Lodging and Fooding A high quality of environment is basic for tourism development. A destination’s environment in all its forms is a major motivating factor for the initial visitor interest in a host area. If there is deterioration in the environment of a host area or if the quality of the environment is threatened by visitors or by tourist development itself, the very reason for tourism development may be defeated. There has been a growing concern over the years regarding environmental protection and conservation. Nowadays, relationship between tourism and environment has been receiving a growing level of attention. At every leading platform where tourism is discussed, environmental protection receives attention. Table 5.22 shows the environmental condition of Chobhar, which indicates the environment, is at satisfactory level for maximum number of tourists. 44 percent respondents feel the environment to be neat and clean, but 9 percent feel that the environment is polluted. For tourism development, environment should not be deteriorated, rather it should be conserved.
2

Transportation is not only modes of transport but also roads and other access such as accessibility to area; internal transport linkage; land, air, rail, water transport within area etc. Mass tourism is caused because of major development in transportation system. Table 5.23 shows the transportation condition of Chobhar, which shows 47 percent respondents feeling it to be good while same percentage of respondent feeing it to be moderate. Only 6 percent respondents feel it to be in bad condition. As stated earlier, the road network is quite good in Chobhar. But there is problem of slow and late-comer local buses, even a walking man can beat the local bus if race committed between these two. The local buses are so over-passengered that the passengers are always feeling un-comfort and unsafe. Also the taxi drivers should be encouraged, making taxi stands on the route, opening petrol pumps in the routes etc. For tourism development in Chobhar, the transportation system should be reformed and ‘new travels’ should be promoted to run their buses on Kathmandu-Dakshinkali road. Also, the microbuses, tempos, minibuses should be given the road permit because there is monopoly of the ‘Dakshinkali Yatayat’ in terms of road permit.



Lodging and fooding is directly related to the length of stay of tourists which in turn related with the expense they make in host area, which in turn related with the economic development of the area. Hence, there should be quality in lodging and fooding, added that it should be reasonable too. Table 5.24 shows the condition of lodging and fooding in Chobhar, which indicates maximum number of respondent i.e. 34 percent found it moderate. This suggests us to increase the quality. There are even 24 percent respondents who argue that the lodging and fooding in Chobhar is bad. Especially, there are 10 hotels till now (Jun 2006) and only one of them is able to accommodate, none of the rest have accommodation facility. As stated earlier too, the hotels being established in Chobhar have built up cabincottages and cottages with bed which is for the purpose of prostitution and for sexual purpose of the visitors. This has exploited the moral and cultural values of the locals and they are complaining about it time to time to police stations and other related agencies. But the police are so corrupted that they came to hotels, eat for free and even take some bucks with them for their enjoyment. It is very shame to all security forces that they are like this. Then, why to believe on security? Hence, if the tourism in Chobhar has to be developed, the first step to be done is the promotion of hotels, which have attractive lodging and delicious food. Also, the cottages been built up here should be demolished.



5.3.2 Most attractive thing Tourist like about Chobhar

In Chobhar, researcher finds everything to be the attraction. Its geographical location, its environment, its scenic beauty - all are enough to lure a number of tourists. For an area to be an appropriate tourist destiny, it should have a number of attractions that motivates tourist to be there. Table 5.25 shows most attractive thing tourist like about Chobhar, which indicates 29 percent like the scenic beauty of Chobhar. Chobhar is a place of famous temples like Adinath, Jalvinayak, Vishnudevi, way to Dakshinkali etc. It has been proved by 21 percent of respondent liking the temples lying here. 17 percent of respondent likes caves of Chobhar which has religious, cultural, archaeological as well as geographical importance and many studies have to be carried out here. It would be surprising to many if researcher tells that “the small hillock between the road and the river Bagmati conceals the second longest cave system of Nepal and the 3rd one of the whole Indian sub-continent – the Chakratirtha Paramhamsa Gufa”. 15 percent respondent still like wetland especially Taudaha lake, 11 percent like forests and 7 percent like other attractions available in Chobhar especially Chobhar gorge which was the place for the water to flow out when Manjushree cut it with his sword.



5.3.3 Number of times Tourist visited Chobhar

The number of times of visit to a place reflects the potentiality of that place for being a tourism destiny. Table 5.26 shows the number of times tourists visited Chobhar. It indicates that more than 50 percent respondents visited Chobhar visited Chobhar many times. 26 percent respondent visited Chobhar 1-5 times. And those 22 percent whose visit to Chobhar is first time, they surely visit Chobhar again and again because there are many things which lures many people and “no one can travelChobhar just once”.


5.3.4 Possibility of visiting Chobhar again

Tourism of any place will flourish if there will be more tourist visiting that place. The place should be such that it should motivate the tourist to visit again and again. Therefore the place should have more than one attraction; it is accessible and has accommodation facility with amenities. It is obvious that the place should be unique in its own. Table 5.27 shows the possibility of visiting Chobhar again which indicates about 91 percent respondent are so attracted and happy with Chobhar that they surely visit Chobhar again and again. Only 9 percent told that they may or may not visit and surprisingly there was no one to tell that they don’t think they will visit Chobhar again.