Kathmandu, Feb 9: As Nepal is hosting the First Rainbow Tourism International Conference on coming April 20-21, the registration has been officially opened.
The announcement has been made amid a press conference here in Kathmandu today.
Interested participants can register at https://www.yatra2happiness.com/about-us
The conference has been observed as a milestone in the LGBTIQ+ communities and the entire tourism industry of Nepal. As Nepal stands out to be more liberal for the sexual and gender minorities globally, the conference will help boost its image, said experts.
Besides, it helps create more job opportunities for the communities, who would otherwise face hardship in getting jobs just for their identities, and boost the overall economy of the country through pink tourism, they argued.
Nepal should not miss the opportunity of tapping into the multi-billion-dollar pink tourism by promoting rainbow tourism, said Sunil Babu Pant, the Asia’s first openly gay former parliamentarian. The country’s economy could be boosted through the industry while creating job opportunities for the communities, he added.
“Nepal’s slowly recovering tourism industry will be further supported through the pink tourism.” Global pink tourism business is lucrative and growing.
According to research by LGBT Capital, corporate advisory and asset management company, the global annual LGBTIQ+ spending power is estimated at $4.7 trillion in 2022. LGBTIQ+ household wealth is estimated at $30 trillion globally.
According to a 2021 research conducted by Ipsos, a market research and consulting firm with headquarters in Paris, France, on average about 80 percent of people worldwide identified as heterosexual, 3 percent as gay, lesbian or homosexual, 4 percent as bisexual, 1 percent as pansexual or omnisexual, 1 percent as asexual, 1 percent as ‘other’ and 11 percent don’t know or won’t say. The firm interviewed the participants in 27 countries spanning all continents.
Shedding light on the importance of pink tourism in Nepal, Nandini Lahe Thapa, senior director at Public Relation & Publicity, Nepal Tourism Board, emphasised pink tourism as a new market segment for Nepal, which she said could create an environment for more equitable societies while offering economic benefits.
The announcement of the event has created a wave of positive impacts in the world signifying that Nepal is more open and heartily welcomes international LGBTIQ+ tourists, she said.
Similarly, Lex Limbu, a renowned UK-based blogger, and also a gay, said he was pleased to be supporting the communities by being a part of the event. The event will potentially help support the acceptance of the communities in the society while offering employment opportunities to them. Nepal could be a hub for LGBTIQ+ visitors from around the world where they can visit with pride, security and self-esteem, he said.
