NEPAL EMERGENCY
Dear reader,
the deadly waves of water, mud, ice and rocks, which destroyed villages, hydropower stations and transport infrastructure in the border region of China and Nepal has received coverage around the world.
It is feared that the number of persons killed by this tsunami on land will exceed 4,000, among them many tourists and pilgrims.
As the Meaningful Tourism Centre is located in Nepal, we have received dozens of messages asking about our wellbeing and expressing solidarity with the Nepali and Tibetan people and everybody suffering directly or indirectly from this tragic event. We can assure our readers and all our friends and colleagues that nobody working at the Meaningful Tourism Centre has been harmed. The area of the flooding is in the mountain region, the waves have not reached the major cities Kathmandu or Pokhara. However, one of our colleagues at our partner company Tanneri Chaso has lost contact to several of his family members, who are feared to have been swept away by the flood.
Clearly, most of the country is not affected, and the best way to show solidarity with Nepal is to come and visit the country.
Like many others, your humble editor has been saying for many years that climate change will cost many lives and will endanger the tourism industry, which to a big extent is selling intact nature and culture. Unfortunately, events like this flood will become the “new normal”, as in the Tibet/Nepal Himalaya region alone there are reportedly more than 40 glacier lakes close to bursting as a result of increasing average temperatures. The totality of the glaciers around the world has been named the “Third Pole”, but has been received much less attention than the reduction of ice coverage at the North and South Pole.
We hope that the readers will understand that we will not publish a regular Meaningful Tourism Weekly edition this week. If you want to support the Nepali people and do not have the opportunity to travel to the country, there is a Prime Ministers Disaster Relief Fund, which is the central account for any donations. Information can be found here:
Next week, we will publish Meaningful Tourism Weekly again, reporting from the ITB India in Mumbai.
As always, all best wishes from the Meaningful Tourism Weekly team in Kathmandu and Manila, and from the whole Meaningful Tourism community to all our readers!
About Meaningful Tourism Weekly
Meaningful Tourism Weekly is published every Thursday by Meaningful Tourism Centre (MTC) - London and Kathmandu in collaboration with Travel Asia Now, led by Rhea Vitto Tabora.
Each issue features an Editorial, updates on MTC activities, a Best Practice Example, a profile of an MTC-certified trainer, news about upcoming events, and, occasionally, additional op-ed pieces from guest authors. Carefully selected news items, including videos and podcasts, are also included, with links to their original sources in the Meaningful Tourism News section.
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