Digital Tourism Development and Sustainability Model for Nepal

ICT has played a vital role in the business development and has brought profound changes in the business practices around the world. The huge potential and unmatched power of ICT allows business houses to grow their business sphere beyond their capabilities. Many industries have witnessed a big transition due to application of ICT. Tourism is one such industry where ICT has made a great impact. It has disrupted the value chain and formed new type of connections that enable business power in the hands of the end users and the customers. Tourism as an industry has seen a steep rise in last 20 years and has left many industries way behind with the implementation of ICT. Nepal, which relies on Tourism as its second biggest industry after remittance, has not been able to harness the real benefits of ICT in tourism. This research work explores the Tourism Industry of Nepal to evaluate the implementation, development and sustainability factors related to ICT application and use. To get a clear picture of the processes and factors that hinder the implementation, development and sustainability of ICT this study has considered three important components, which include the government officials, hospitality industry players and tourist to provide data and feedback. Qualitative exploratory research method combined with grounded theory approach is used for the data analysis, interpretation and model building. The data collection is done through face-to-face interviews, study of visual designs, literature related to ICT, Tourism and surveys based on structured and semi-structured questionnaires. The work contributes in the construction of Digital Tourism Development and Sustainability Model for Nepal.