With an economic recession that is crippling many industries around the world, companies are looking to new avenues, and new audiences, to keep business alive. One of the industries most affected right now is tourism. Let's face it– with a large majority of the world scraping by to be able to afford basic necessities, an extended stay at an all-inclusive resort is just not in the works.
This reality is why I was so impressed with an article last week about Nepal's new commitment to the LGBT tourism industry. Nepalese lawmaker Sunil Babu Pant has started a travel agency, Pink Mountain, to offer gay-themed tours of Nepal's major tourist sites as well as to organize wedding ceremonies. In fact, openly gay Indian prince Manvendra Singh Gohil will be marrying his partner at a Hindu temple in Kathmandu, which Pant hopes will be just the beginning of destination weddings in Nepal.
Pant points to the smart business sense behind targeting the LGBT tourism dollar– it's an estimated industry worth US$670 million worldwide. This lucrative fact essentially guaranteed the support for Pink Mountain from Nepal's traditionally conservative tourism industry, which has set its own goal of attracting one million visitors to Nepal in 2011. This is also part of a larger evolution towards the LGBT community in Nepal– the country's new constitution is expected to define marriage as a union between two adult individuals, regardless of gender, and to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.
This is smart marketing. Identify the challenge– in this case, a crippling economy combined with an entire decade of civil unrest. Address an unmet need– many Asian countries discriminate against open members of the LGBT community. Create an innovative solution– attract a new audience (LGBT) to Nepal by creating specific packages, and a culture, that embraces the unique value proposition of the LGBT community.
I give Pant, and all organizations in Nepal, credit for thinking outside the box. It's already working– one lesbian couple from Massachusetts want to hold their nuptials in Mustang, high in the Himalayas.
What do you think about this concept? Would you visit Nepal in light of these advancements?
SUBSCRIBE
Amazing to think that a few short years ago Nepal was in the middle of a revolution. Perhaps the results of this revolution were much more far reaching than reported.