Before becoming a guide, I sold alcohol. Drunken customers frequently caused trouble, and the work offered me little confidence or security. Training as a Village Tourism Guide felt like receiving a new life.
I have since led five groups through my own contacts and another two through formal Village Tourism Guide channels. Most bookings still come through personal connections rather than travel agencies.
Poor education, limited English and dependence on outside support hold Dolpa back. We need a cooperative supplying visitors, more vegetable farming, local training institutes, qualified guides and staff, and better coordination among tourism organisations.
Guiding gave me more than different work—it gave me the confidence to speak with visitors and imagine a different future.
We also need proper campsites, useful rubbish pits and better promotion of local food, crafts, dance and adventure activities. Villages themselves should become attractive and welcoming places to visit.
Unreliable flights remain a major problem. Delays strand travellers in extremely hot Nepalgunj, where there is little for them to do. Their experience of Dolpa begins with frustration before they even arrive.
I do not see migrant business owners only as competitors. They also have knowledge we can learn from. Local NGOs should concentrate on skills, infrastructure, sanitation, health and environmental protection so residents can develop tourism themselves.
Tourism works best when local people stop waiting for development to arrive and gain the skills to create it themselves.
My experience shows that one practical training opportunity can change a life; Dolpa needs many more opportunities like it.