• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.4331-4354
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• 2020

Nepal is a sensitive and disaster-prone country where safety and security risk are of high concern for travelers. Digital technologies can play a vital role in addressing safety and security issues in the country. This research work proposes a Digital tourism security system design for addressing the safety and security issues in tourism industry of Nepal. The study uses Design science research methodology to identify artifacts, interactions, information flow and dependencies between them which are then mapped with existing prevalent technology to provide design solutions. Data is obtained from interview of tourist and experts as a primary source and technical documents/draft, software documentations, surveys as secondary source. Generalized information model, Use cases model, Network architecture model, Layered taxonomy model and Digital tourism technology reference model are the outcomes of the study. The work is very important as it talks specifically about implementation and integration of digital technologies in tourism security governance at federal, provincial, municipal and rural level. The research supplements as a knowledge document for design and implementation of digital tourism security system in practice. As there is very less work on digital systems in tourism security of Nepal, this work is a pioneer and first of its kind.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.207-215
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• 2021

The number of tourists visiting Nepal has shown rapid growth in recent years, and Nepal is expecting more tourist arrivals in the future. This paper, thus, attempts to analyze the tourist arrivals in Nepal and predict the number of visitors until 2025. This paper has examined the international tourist arrival trend in Nepal using the Gompertz and Logistic growth model. The international tourist arrival data from 1991 to 2018 is used to investigate international tourist arrival trends. The result of the analysis found that the Gompertz model performs a better fit than the Logistic model. The study further forecast the expected tourist arrival below one million (844,319) by 2025. Nevertheless, the government of Nepal has the goal of two million tourists in a year. The present study also discusses system dynamics scenarios for the two million potential visitors within a year. Scenario analysis shows that proper advertisement and positive word-of-mouth will be key factors in achieving a higher number of tourists. The current study could fill the gap of theoretical and empirical forecasting of tourist arrivals in the Nepalese tourism industry. Also, the study findings would be beneficial for government officers, planners and investors, and policy-makers in the Nepalese tourism industry.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.113-122
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• 2016

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has revolutionized the world and has profound impact on the social and economic development of a country. Implementation, practice and accessibility of ICT is viewed as an integral part of any countries' strategy today. These new technologies are becoming popular due to their ability to produce, distribute and provide instant access to massive information in no time. ICT has pervaded almost every aspect of human endeavor that may include health, education, economics, governance, entertainment etc. Tourism is one such vital industry that find enormous application of ICT in its strategic and operational level, to promise long term benefits and enhance economic growth. Tourism industry in western world and some developed countries of Asia have applied ICT for more than 30 years, and have gained tremendous benefits. Nepal which is also growing as one of the favourite tourist destinations lacks proper implementation of ICT in this industry. In our study we examined how the ICT can play a vital role in developing the tourism industry of Nepal. This study is an exploratory research based on primary data collected from tourist visiting Nepal, supported by information from tour operators, government agencies, NGOs and INGOS. A framework is devised on the basis of data and information collected and finally, discussions elaborate on the prospect and challenges of implementation of ICT in tourism industry of $Nep{\grave{a}}l$.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.480-502
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• 2022

This work assesses the degree of satisfaction tourists receive as final recipients in a tourism destination based on the fact that satisfied tourists can make a significant contribution to the growth and continuous improvement of a tourism business. The work considers Pokhara, the tourism capital of Nepal as a prefecture of study. A stratified sampling methodology with open-ended survey questions is used as a primary source of data for a sample size of 1019 for both international and domestic tourists. The data collected through a survey is processed using a data mining tool to perform multi-dimensional analysis to discover information patterns and visualize clusters. Further, supervised machine learning algorithms, kNN, Decision tree, Support vector machine, Random forest, Neural network, Naive Bayes, and Gradient boost are used to develop models for training and prediction purposes for the survey data. To find the best model for prediction purposes, different performance matrices are used to evaluate a model for performance, accuracy, and robustness. The best model is used in constructing a learning-enabled model for predicting tourists as satisfied, neutral, and unsatisfied visitors. This work is very important for tourism business personnel, government agencies, and tourism stakeholders to find information on tourist satisfaction and factors that influence it. Though this work was carried out for Pokhara city of Nepal, the study is equally relevant to any other tourism destination of similar nature.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.65-82
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• 2021

A well-designed website is mandatory for good marketing and proper tourism business. This research considers Nepal as a domain of study and specifically explores welcomenepal.com, the official tourism portal as a reference for the study. The work is based on the study of the existing literature, user-survey, and technical testing of the website using open-source testing tools to identify user perspective, design issues, website architecture and design quality of the tourism website. A population size of 400 respondents, which consist of both domestic and international tourist, are considered for the survey. Data is received from 360 respondents, which is analyzed using statistical tests like Cronbach's alpha, Pearson's correlation, cross-tabulations, bars charts and graphs to draw inferences and consclusion. The software-based test results serve as another important parameter for the evaluation of the current official website. This study brings out core needs of the tourist in terms of expectations from a tourism website and access technical quality of the current portal to provide necessary feedback and suggestions. The government officials, business houses, and web designers can utilize this work as a knowledge base to build tourism websites, which are user-centric. Further, the work is specifically important for Nepal government and tourism officials to identify shortcomings in their current website and make improvements for better design and user adaptability in future.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.21-27
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• 2020

Purpose: The present study examines the effects of tourism on carbon dioxide emissions for selected South Asian economies over the time from 1995 to 2016. Research design, data and methodology: The present study is an annual time series analysis of tourism and CO2 emissions. The data is taken from World Development Indicators, an official data bank of World Bank. The study sample covers four South Asian countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The empirical analysis is conducted by employing Pedroni panel cointegration, Fully Modified OLS, and Dynamic OLS approaches of estimation. Results: Tourism significantly increases environmental degradation in selected South Asian economies. The empirical estimated results indicate, that 1 % increase in tourism related activities leads to 0.16 % increase in CO2 emissions. In addition energy consumption and GDP are also causing an upsurge in CO2 emissions in the selected panel of South Asian economies. As the empirical results indicate that 1% increase in GDP stimulates carbon dioxide emissions by 0.23%. Conclusion: In order to protect the environment, the study emphasizes that sustainable tourism practices need to be promoted in the selected South Asian countries. Policy implication and provided and discussed.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.75-85
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• 2020

The application of Internet technology has created enormous impact on banking sector with the implementation of many techno-oriented services like Internet banking, EFT, branchless banking, Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions etc. Study of customer's attitude in terms of trust, perceived risk and ease of use of a particular technology is as an important parameter for acceptance or rejection of a technology. To explore the customers'attitude for Internet banking this research is undertaken. The research is carried out in Pokhara valley which is the second largest city and tourism capital of Nepal. The study employs descriptive research design with stratified sampling procedure for eight top commercial banks. A set of 25 customers is taken from each selected 8 banks making a sample size of 200 respondents. A fixed set of question related to demographic factors is provided personally or by visiting the location of the customers of Internet banking service and collected accordingly. Reliability test is performed using Cronbach's alpha and data is analyzed using inferential statistics to present the results of the study. This study provides knowledge on the current scenario of Internet banking and helps banks in cost saving, mass customization, product innovation, improved marketing and communication. This study is very important for financial institutions like banks, government agencies and business houses to understand the perception of customers towards Internet banking and technology as a whole. The study also supplements the gap in literature on technology and banking in Nepal and serves as an important knowledge base.

• Korean Business Review
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.139-156
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• 2009

Mountain tourism is regarded as an important inbound tourist destination for the whole world. The Himalayan Mountains are house of world's highest peaks that includes over 100 mountains exceeding 8,500 meters. However limited dimension of visitors constraints and motivation has been reported about the high altitude mountain. This research work permits the identification of some of the motivation and constraints related to the decision making of tourism in high altitude mountains. The study was conducted in Korea, Indian state (Sikkim), and Nepal (Kathmandu) due to the popularity and the major destination for mountain tourism. A set of 9 motive, 45 motivation items and 40 constraints were initially generated from a review of research pertaining to visitor motivation and constraints. They were considered to be the most appropriate for measuring visitors motivation and constraints for experiencing high altitude mountain tourism. Validity of dimensionality and inter correlation was evaluated by factor analysis investigation and analysis of obtained data revealed that constraints of Korean are significantly higher than Indian and other inbound tourist. Among the major constraints structural constraints were recorded higher for Indian, Korean and other visitors. Similarly, motives of different visitors varied significantly. This analysis also revealed that Korean motives for travelling were influenced by health and pleasure, whereas, Indian and others motives were mostly related to knowledge seeking and adventure. The environmental importance were given priority by all the countries. The purpose of this study includes; (1) To identify the motives of visitors in high altitude destinations. (2) To analysis the major motivation factor for the altitude tourism. (3) To report the major constraints of visitors travelling to the high altitude. (4) To study whether the strength of motivation help to overcome the constraints.