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Place of Interest
Traveler's Information
Tourism News- Free visa to Everest summiteers
- International Mountaineers' Meet on May 29
- NATTA AGM and Election 2010
- Visitor arrivals by air reach new height
- Interaction on 'Nepal Tourism Year' organised
- Together for Tourism: Nepal Tourism Year 2011 campaign promotion in India
- Nepal gets Most Integrated Presentation Award at TTF - Chennai
- Nepal-Qatar Sales Mission concludes
- NTB & TAAN inks MoU on TIMS
- Indian tourists flock to Muktinath
1. Free visa to Everest summiteers
Foreign mountaineers who have climbed Mount Everest and Dhaulagiri will get free Nepali visas for two years till the end of 2011 which is part of part of tourism promotion schedule launched under the Nepal Tourism Year 2011.
More than 4,000 climbers have scaled the 8,850 meter (29,035 feet) Everest summit since it was first climbed by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953. Some 700 of these foreigners are still alive.
Climbers will also get a 50 percent discount in climbing fees for Dhaulagiri for the rest of 2010 and all of next year as part of the celebrations, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation of Nepal.
2. International Mountaineers' Meet on May 29
Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation has decided to organize International Mountaineers' Meet on May 29, coinciding with the Everest Day. Hundreds of Everest summiteers from across the globe are expected to attend the meet.
Nepali tourism fraternity has been observing May 29 as International Everest Day, commemorating the first ascent of the tallest peak in the world in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary.
The event is being organized to celebrate International Everest Day and promote tourism industry in the country ahead of year-long tourism promotional campaign Nepal Tourism Year 2011.
3. NATTA AGM and Election 2010
The NATTA AGM and Election was held on 8 th Jan 2010 at The Everest Hotel. The AGM was attended by more than 370 members. The AGM was followed by the Award ceremony where the prestigious NATTA Sagarmatha Award was awarded to Ms. Elizabeth Howly. Similarly, NATTA Bhaskar award was awarded to Late. Prayag man Singh Pradhan, founder of Everest Travel Service.
The newly setup, NATTA Journalism award was awarded individually to Ms. Eliza Tuladhar, The Himalayan Times and to Ms. Kopila Adhikari, Avenues TV. Same award was awarded to Sagarmatha Television, institutionally.
The Election of NATTA was held on same day and came up with new Executive Board as follows:
- Mr. Arjun P. Sharma - President
- Mr. Pavitra Kumar Karki - First Vice President
- Mr. Sarbottam Lal Shrestha - Second Vice President
- Mr. Madhu sudan Acharya - Secretary General
- Mr. C.N Pandey - Treasurer
- Mr. Achyut Sharma Guragain - Secretary
- Mr. Anangam Timalsena - Executive Member
- Mr. Bibek Vijayananda - Executive Member
- Mr. D.K Sharma - Executive Member
- Ms. Jiswan Tuladhar - Executive Member
- Mr. Nabaraj Sapkota - Executive Member
- Mr. Sudhir Upadhaya - Executive Membe
4. Visitor arrivals by air reach new height
The figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) reveal that visitor arrivals in the month of March 2010, compared to the same month last year, have increased by 34.6% to 44,431.
The arrivals from South Asian region, except for the arrivals from Sri Lanka have gained overall positive growth of 35.3% with India (35.5%), Bangladesh (53.8%) and, Pakistan (3.2%). Visitor arrivals from India, which is the largest source market for Nepal, has been increasing since the very beginning of 2010. A robust growth of 21% has been observed in the arrivals from the South Asian region during the first three months of 2010, in comparison to the same period last year.
Visitor arrivals from China, one of the fastest growing tourist markets for Nepal, have sustained the remarkable growth of 114%, compared to the figures in March 2009. Similarly, other Asian countries maintained the upward trend of previous months with Japan ( 6.8%), Malaysia ( 38.4%), South Korea (68.1%). However, arrivals from Thailand and Singapore witnessed negative growths of 45.9% and 5.8% respectively In aggregate, the other Asian segment has registered a growth of 32.9%. Visitor arrivals in the first three months of 2010, as compared to the same period last year, have grown by 38.6% in aggregate.
An overall growth of 42 % has been observed from the European markets with arrivals from major generating markets such as the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands up by 44.9%, 5.4%, 40.8%, 44% and 128.2% respectively. Visitor arrivals from all the European markets in the first three months of 2010, as compared to the same period last year, have grown by 34.1%.
The figures also show increasing trend in the visitor arrivals from the United States of America with a notable growth of 6.5%. Similarly Canada, Australia and New Zealand have also maintained positive trend with 27.2%, 27.4% and 69% of growths respectively.
This is the tenth consecutive month Nepal has witnessed growth in the international tourist arrivals and this confirms the improved prospects for Nepal in the year 2010 with rising business and consumer confidence. In the first three months of 2010 a robust 29.8 % of cumulative growth has been observed in comparison to the same period last year.
A total of 39,221 foreign tourists departed from TIA in March 2010.The number of Nepalese arrivals stood at 51,243 while 68,475 Nepalese departed from TIA in March 2010.
5. Interaction on 'Nepal Tourism Year' organised
Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) on December 28 organised an interaction with media representatives in a bid to seek suggestions for the successful hosting of Nepal Tourism Year-2011.
Speaking at the interaction, chief executive officer of the NTB Prachanda Man Shrestha stressed the need to celebrate the campaign to draw international attention towards the event. "We couldn't get much international recognition while celebrating the Visit Nepal Year in 1998 because we couldn't do anything special for the visitors. But this time we want to add something special in the campaign," he said.
The media representatives suggested the NTB to make necessary preparations on infrastructure development and enhancing the quality of tourism products and services. They also laid emphasis on increasing air connectivity to bring in more visitors to the country. NATURALLY NEPAL - once is not enough
6. Together for Tourism: Nepal Tourism Year 2011 campaign promotion in India
Coinciding with the Travel Trade Fair, TTF-OTM Bengluru organized from 15 th to 17 th Jan 2010, Nepal Tourism Board held an interaction with the distinguished media and travel trade personalities of Bengluru at Hotel Regaalis on 16 th Jan 2010.
Addressing the Media Ms. Nandini Lahe Thapa, Director-Tourism Marketing and Promotion, briefed about Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) – 2011 campaign and the latest updates on the tourism products of special interest for the South Indian travelers. Ms. Thapa further informed, “Although the NTY-2011 campaign is being promoted globally in all the tourist generating markets, Nepal's special focus is the valued Indian Market. The travel trade industry in Nepal will be providing special packages and discounts targeting the Indian Market during the NTY-2011.” Ms Ujjwala Dali, Manager - Tourism Marketing & Promotion, later highlighted various upcoming popular tourist attractions for Indian Travelers through a presentation and also urged South Indian Tour Operators to consider Nepal as round the year destination offering different tailor-made itineraries and packages to suit the needs of different travel segments.
Nepal Tourism Board along with private travel companies has been regularly participating in Travel Trade Fairs (TTF-OTM) organized in India for more than 10 years with special focus for Kailash Mansarovar trips, in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai. In fact, it has given a good platform for Nepal's travel companies to showcase their products to these metro city travelers. This year being the 20th Anniversary year for the organizers, special efforts were made to gain more publicity for the exhibition through various promotional means. As a result, almost 15000 inquisitive travelers form Bengaluru paid visit to Kanteerava Stadium to gain more information on various travel options and more than 80% of them primarily interacted with the participating Nepalese travel trade companies. After the successful participation in recently held TTF-OTM Chennai exhibition, Nepal Tourism Board led the biggest contingent ever to India with total 14 private sector companies from Nepal for TTF-OTM Bangalore all of whom had positive response from the South Indian travelers with some getting confirmed groups for the upcoming Indian holiday season. The participating companies were: Annapurna Express Tours & Travels, Dharma Adventure, Eco Trek Nepal, Explore Kailash Treks, Fishtail Air,Fishtail Tours and Travels, Heritage Tours and Travels, Manakamana Travel Samrat Tours and Travels, Satyam Tours & Travel, Shrestha Treks & Expeditions, Sunny Travels, Shrestha Holidays, The Trekkers' Society.
Nepal's participation in TTF this year was more important because of increased air connectivity between India and Nepal. The visiting trades as well as the discerning Bengaluru travelers were very keen to know about the upcoming flight connections to Nepal. They also expressed their hope to get Bengluru connected to KTM very soon. An increasing trend was also seen in the inquiries made for the soft adventure options like EBC and ABC treks and short hikes in Pokhara region along with the traditional pilgrimage packages for Pashupatinath, Muktinath and Jomsom. As in the past most enquiries did center round for Mt. Kailash and Mansarovar parikramas and the promising no. is likely to result in increase in tourist arrivals for 2010 from this particular segment.
Apart from Nepal, Turkey, Hongkong, South America showcased their tourism attractions along with major domestic destinations like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir etc. totaling up to 80 exhibitors and approximately 500 trade visitors.
Nepal Tourism Board won the Best Stall decoration award in the International category
for its integrated partnership stall design that attracted the visitors for interaction. NTB was represented by Mrs Ujjwala Dali and Ms Janaki Upadhyay during the three day fair.
7. Nepal gets Most Integrated Presentation Award at TTF - Chennai
As a part of its regular tourism promotion program, Nepal Tourism Board in cooperation with private travel trade companies has recently participated in Indian Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF) that was held at Raja Muthiah and Rani Meyyammai Halls, Egmore, Chennai from 8 -10 January 2010. The interest among the potential visitors to visit Nepal has been diversified in the recent days as the younger generation like to visit for various other activities such as cultural tours, study tours, adventure activities and as honeymooners.
The three day fair was significant to disseminate the tourism information of Nepal among the consumers and to interact with new and existing tour operators and with local media as well. Nepal with its brand slogan "Naturally Nepal - Once Is Not Enough" has been presented among the Indian tourists with various packages that were offered during the fair by participating Nepalese tour operators. The message of government led national tourism campaign 'Nepal Tourism Year 2011' was highlighted during the entire fair among the consumers, business people and the local media through the interaction, interviews and visual display in the Nepalese stall. The fair was visited by significant number of potential visitors and Indian tour operators.
The visitors were especially interested in the different travel packages prepared by Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs focusing on religious tour to Shri Pashupatinath Temple in Kathamndu, Muktinath temple in Mustang, and pilgrimage tour to Kailash Mansarovar via Nepal. People were also curious about Janakpur and Pokhara.
Most of the queries made by the visitors were related with entry permit to Nepal, and airfare as they feel it is too expensive to visit Nepal. People were also concerned about the political instability of Nepal. They also made queries about Nepal Tourism Year 2011 with much interest about the preparation and special offering and packages for the Indian tourists. The Local Indian travel agents who participated in the fair have strongly suggested to arrange the direct flights from Bangalore / Chennai or any nearby cities to Kathmandu as the connectivity is the main hindrance to promote Nepal in South India. There are several flights from Chennai Madras (Meenambakkam) International Airport (MAA), to many international destinations like Dubai, Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, New York, Brussles, London, Kuwait, and Frankfurt by different international airlines so to increase the arrival from Southern India, direct air connectivity is must from South India to Kathmandu. The announcement of the airline Spicejet from Bangalore created positive impact to the potential visitors from South India.
The fair was organized by Fairfest Media Limited and was supported by Minister of Tourism, Government of India and travel trade bodies like PATA. Nepal stall bagged “Most Integrated Presentation Award” during the Fair. During the award ceremony Mr. Lila Bahadur Baniya gave a short presentation on Nepal highlighting NTY 2011. Eight Nepalese Tour Operators Dharma Adventure, Fishtail Air, Heritage Tour and Travel, Manakamana Travel, Samrat Tours and Travel, Satyam Tours and Travel, Shrestha Holiday and Sunny Travels had co-exhibited in the mart from Nepal.
Nepalese Stall was unique in itself and the picture of the stall was published in The Hindu, India's national daily newspaper and other local newspapers. On behalf of NTB, Mr. Lila Bahadur Baniya (Manager) and Mr. Kundan Sharma Mishra (Officer) took part in the fair.
8. Nepal-Qatar Sales Mission concludes
The Embassy of Nepal in Doha organized a tourism promotional programme entitled "Nepal-Qatar Sales Mission 2010" in Ramada Plaza Hotel on Sunday, 14 April 2010. The event was inaugurated by H.E. Dr. Surya Nath Mishra, Ambassador of Nepal to the State of Qatar amidst a ceremony. Representatives of local travel agencies, media houses, renowned hotels, and prominent companies and airlines companies operating their services in Doha-Kathmandu sector were present in the programme.
The programme was divided into three segments; inauguration, presentation, dinner and cultural programme. H.E. the Ambassador while focusing on secularism, Nepal as a safe destination and country of immense natural beauty in his inaugural speech, requested the guests present to make Nepal as the destination of their choice. H.E. the Ambassador's speech also put limelight on various spheres of bilateral relations between Nepal and Qatar.
The Power point presentation by Mr. Diwakar Bikram Rana, Manager of Nepal Tourism Board incorporated mainly the Government's campaign of "Nepal Tourism Year 2011" and Nepal as one of the most preferred destinations in the world. Nepal Tourism Board also presented a montage consisting of pictorial elaboration of Nepal's natural, cultural and geographical beauty and diversity. Mr. Rana also appealed the guests to visit Nepal once and the brand "Naturally Nepal, Once is Not Enough" itself will appeal them to visit Nepal twice, thrice and more. Mrs. Ratna Laxmi Shrestha Ranjit, spokesperson of the Publicity Unit of Nepal Airlines Corporation delivered a speech highlighting the reliability, safety and flawless service of Nepal Airlines Corporation as the national flag carrier. The sponsor of Fahd Travels, General Sales Agent (GSA) of Nepal Airlines Corporation for Doha and his staff were also present in the event. The appealing power point presentation by Mr. David R. Paul, Marketing & Sales executive of Mannai Holidays informed all the guests about a seven-day package tour of Nepal. He also informed that the agencies could offer various packages as per the demand of the visitors. The dancers of various indigenous community performed Tamang Selo, Sakela Sily, Hurrah and Tharu dances on the occasion.
The programme was held under the aegis of the Embassy in close co-ordination with Nepal Tourism Board, Nepal Airlines Corporation, Mannai Holidays, a local travel agency in Doha having partnership with a prominent travel agency in Kathmandu and Nepal Non-Resident Federation of Indigenous Nationalities, Doha, Qatar, a Non-Resident Nepalese community organization. The programme is expected to have a positive impact among the citizens of Qatar and expatriate communities in Qatar to make up their mind to visit Nepal while encouraging the local travel agencies to sell various packages to Nepal to the aspirant visitors. This event is organized to support the Nepal Government's economic diplomacy drive to promote Nepal in the State of Qatar and beyond.
9. NTB & TAAN inks MoU on TIMS
Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Trekking Agencies´ Association of Nepal (TAAN) inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on March 18 to implement Trekkers Information Management System (TIMS) Card effectively effective April 1, 2010. The MoU was signed by Prachanda Man Shrestha, NTB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Mr. Bacchu Narayan Shrestha, 1 st Vice President of TAAN on behalf of their respective institutions.The new rule is made mandatory for all overseas trekkers. Now trekkers travelling through trekking companies have to pay $10 and free individual trekkers (FIT) need to pay $20 per trekking route.
Explaining the use of the fund collected from this provision, Prachanda Man Shrestha, NTB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said, "The funds collected through the new levy will be used for developing trekking sector, welfare of its employees, trekking workers´ insurance, medical, social security, maintaining database, rescue of trekkers in need of emergency services and also bearing the administrative expenses of implementing TIMS,international promotion, infrastructure expansion, conservation and maintenance of existing trekking trails and exploration of new trails apart from holding training for sustainable and responsible tourism."
The money collected from TIMS will be desposited in separate bank accounts and a committee having coordinator from Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation and members from NTB and TAAN will allot the fund for different programs.
Officials elaborated that the charge is being imposed as per the new TIMS Operating Directives, which designates NTB as its implementing agency and grants it authority to work with government, local bodies and stakeholders concerned for its enforcement.
Prachanda Man Shrestha said the concept of TIMS was employed on an experimental basis two years ago but now there is official agreement on it. According to him, the amount collected through TIMS will be used for the welfare of tourism sector workers, exploration of new trail destinations and as fund for the improvement and infrastructure development on trail routes.
10. Indian tourists flock to Muktinath
At least 5,000 Indian tourists visited the temple since the middle of March last year, a staff at the Muktinath Area Development Committee, Rudra Nath Sharma Poudel said. Their visits had dwindled during the conflict, he added. A pilot with Manang Air, Sarina Gurung said as many as five flights were made now-a-days to Muktinath when weather remains fine. Most of the flight passengers are from India and each flight carries two-dozen passengers, she added. Normally, it takes 35 minutes in a helicopter to reach Muktinath from Pokhara. Gurung underlined the need for greater publicity for Muktinath abroad. In addition to Manang Air, Sri Air is also making charter flights to Muktinath. Its helicopters make four to five flights a day. The helicopter returns from the temple with the same passengers after a gap of an hour, allowed for visit to the temple. However, a hotelier at Ranipauwa bazaar near the temple, Laxmi Tulachan says that business is not good even after surge in the number of Indian tourists. They return by the same flight without strolling around, Tulachan who is also the owner of Hotel Muktinath, says. Muktinath temple lies on the bank of Gandaki river in Muktinath village development committee, 26 km east of Mustang district headquarters, Jomsom.
Muktinath is reachable on foot from Pokhara through Myagdi district headquarters in Beni or through Tatopani of Myagdi's tourist area in Ghorepani. Visitors to Muktinath on regular flights include only a few as it is difficult to buy air tickets, head at Jomsom airport Rajan Pokhrel said. Some Indian visitors choose to travel by road. Beni-Jomsom road is under construction at Mustang and Myagdi districts which has made it convenient for pilgrims to visit Muktinath, said president of the Jeep Entrepreneurs' Committee Jayendra Thakali. Jeeps and motorcycles ply on the finished section of the road which has eased the trip. A housewife from Bangalore, Sudha Shankar said it was great to visit a place like Muktinath. The place is sce-nic and panoramic, she said. A shopkeeper at Ranipauwa near the temple, Rangaraj Shastri said most Indian visitors come from South India. There are more visitors during Dashain and Janai Purnima, he added. According to Poudel, the temple receives 35,000 visitors annually, out of which 10 per cent come from India.
Updated by A.R.T. [aruntuladhar1@gmail.com]