Tourism created 3.3 percent of all jobs in Nepal in 2011

 Travel and tourism has emerged as a major job provider in Nepal with the sector accounting for 3.3 percent of the total employment in the country in 2011.

According to the publication entitled Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2012 Nepal published by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the travel trade generated 412,500 direct

jobs last year.  The WTTC report has projected that the travel trade sector’s contribution to the country’s total employment will rise to 3.7 percent in 2012.

The direct employment provided by the sector includes employment by hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transportation services (excluding commuter services).

It also includes the activities of restaurants and leisure industries directly supported by tourists.

According to the report, the travel and tourism sector attracted capital investment of Rs 12 billion

in 2011. “This is expected to rise by 5.4 percent in 2012 and by 4.9 percent per annum over the next 10 years to Rs 20.4 billion in 2022,” said the report.

The total contribution of the travel and tourism sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at Rs 119.1 billion in 2011, said the WTTC.

Prachanda Man Shrestha, former chief executive officer of the Nepal Tourism Board, said that Nepal’s tourism has rebounded with confidence and that it could be a competitive advantage service sector to address the country’s trade deficit in the future. “In spite of inadequate infrastructure and other hurdles, tourism is showing positive hopes for the country’s economy as reflected in the report,” said Shrestha.

Nepal received a total of 735,965 international visitors in 2011 and earned revenue worth Rs 28.6 billion. The income from international visitors is forecast to grow by 2.8 percent in 2012, according to the report.

The report shows that both international and domestic travellers spend most of their money on leisure. It says leisure travel spending of both domestic and inbound travellers generated 80.6 percent of the direct travel and tourism GDP in 2011 compared with 19.4 percent for business travel spending.

Despite the impressive performance in 2011, Nepal’s tourism industry is way behind other tourist destinations.

The WTTC report has ranked Nepal 34 in terms of travel and tourism direct contribution to employment and 127 in terms of attracting foreign visitors among 181 tourist destinations.

Likewise, the WTTC has placed Nepal in the 120th position in capital investment in tourism and at the 127th position in tourist spending.

Source: Kantipur

Revenue of life insurers goes up 25%

Life insurance companies have reported over 25 percent growth in business in the first quarter of the current fiscal year as number of agents selling their policies and awareness among people about the importance of life insurance coverage grew throughout the country, mainly rural areas. In the first quarter to mid-October 2011, nine life insurance companies generated revenue of Rs 2.67 billion by either selling new policies or renewing old ones, according to latest statistics provided by the Insurance Board (IB), the insurance sector regulator. This is an increment of 25.6 percent over last fiscal year´s Rs 10.44 billion earned by these companies. “The earnings of life insurers grew largely because life insurance companies added more agents to their companies to expand businesses,” Rameshwor Shrestha, chief finance officer of Nepal Life Insurance Company, the country´s largest life insurance company in terms of premium collection, told Republica. His company, which generated revenue of Rs 637.43 million in the first quarter, for instance, added around 4,000 agents to the company this fiscal year alone. “Most of these agents are working from rural areas from where we are getting largest chunk of customers,” Shrestha said, informing the company generates almost 50 percent of business from rural areas. Arjun Khadka, assistant manager of National Life Insurance, the country´s third largest life insurance company in terms of premium collection, had earlier told Republica that rural areas in districts like Lamjung, Gorkha, Makwanpur, Jumla and Okhaldhunga have started generating “good business” for insurance companies, as these places consist of families with members employed abroad. “These families, which have significant chunk of disposable income, have seen or heard of other policyholders getting bonuses at regular intervals and huge chunk of money after the policy matures,” he said, citing these attractions as one of the biggest pulling factors. The data provided by the IB shows that indemnity policies are still the most favored insurance policy among policyholders. In the first quarter this fiscal year, insurance companies generated income of Rs 1.28 billion by selling new or renewing old indemnity policies. Of the companies that sold these policies, Nepal Life Insurance topped the list generating a premium of Rs 378.85 million in the first quarter while the state-owned Rastriya Beema Sansthan became second largest seller of these policies accumulating income of Rs 190 million. Likewise, National Life Insurance became the third largest seller of these policies collecting a premium of Rs 187.77 million in the first quarter. Despite growing awareness about insurance products, less than 1.6 million people have been insured in the country so far, which is around six percent of the country´s total population of 26.62 million. Top 5 life insurers in terms of premium collection in Q1 1. Nepal Life Insurance - Rs 637.43 million 2. Life Insurance Corporation (Nepal) - Rs 499.62 million 3. National Life Insurance - Rs 428.61 million 4. MetLife Alico - Rs 331.59 million 5. Beema Sansthan - Rs 300 million Source: Republica