Friendly, Sunny and Global
Friendly, sunny-natured, and widely travelled -this is how most people describe her. A psychologist by education, brought up and educated in India (as her father as well as grandfather were in the Indian army), Nandini Lahe-Thapa is now Director-Tourism Marketing and Promotion in Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), where she joined as Tourism Marketing and Promotion Manager in January 1999.
Prior to joining NTB, she was with a German tour operator that sold Nepal packages to Scandinavian countries which required her to stay mostly in Europe . During that stint, she was in Nepal only during the tourism season. However, this helped her to widen her understanding of the European tourism market and hone up her skills in European languages. She is fluent in German and French.
Looking at her deep understanding of the European market, Thapa's initial days in NTB were used looking after the European market. But gradually she took over the entire marketing department and was one of the focal persons behind the development of the new marketing campaign and a new brand with the theme "Naturally Nepal: Once is not enough". The result is that Nepal 's tourism marketing now has changed from mere advertising to brand building. "It is not the number of tour operators that brings the tourists to the country, rather it is the brand image that plays the determining role," she says. Now that the new brand has arrived, all efforts are focused on positioning and promoting the same globally.
Another new initiative in which Thapa says she took the leadership was in approaching the hitherto relatively untapped eastern European market. Till then, Nepal 's tourism marketing was concentrated mainly in west Europe . After the first foray into east Europe with 10 companies, Thapa says now more companies are showing interest to go to this market for further promotion. Currently, her focus is also in expanding the Indian market where the new target groups are the yuppies and middle class with little time and lots of money. "We have to get them to Nepal for "weekend breaks" for a myriad of exciting activities under the new brand banner," she says.
Personal Side
Hobbies: Loves reading books, but not mushy ones. Spending quality time with her two children.
Management credo: Don't be afraid to do anything new. Says: "Don't expect your team to do anything that you are not yourself ready to do."
Family: "They are most supportive about my career"
Household work: Cooks and bakes during holidays. Loves crystal and pretty things. Admires flowers but does not have a green thumb.
Politics: "Not my cup of tea."
Dress: Likes good clothes but says "not necessarily branded. The quality and design have to be good and should look good on me." No major penchant for jewellery.
Craves for: Good French perfumes and more perfumes.
Languages: Fluent in six languages (Nepali, English, Hindi, German, French and Tamil) |
Though the industry has not been experiencing substantial rise in business due to the situation of the country and the negative publicity it has received due to the conflict, efforts by Thapa's team in promoting Nepal have yielded results as it has very much avoided the head-on decline that would be inevitable in such conflict situations. Now, the indicators show that the industry is poised for a fast growth should the political situation change. As a professional, however, Thapa and her colleagues have good reason to celebrate as NTB recently won an international award at the Czech Jury Prix for the brand Nepal video "Naturally Nepal".
