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Nepal to host int’l conference on travel and tourism
In conjunction with other stakeholders including the Nepal
Tourism Board (NTB), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)
is hosting an international conference on adventure travel
and tourism on Feb. 1-5, 2010.
The conference will feature multiple sessions with
deliberations on adventure travel, responsible tourism,
adventure sports tourism, zero waste challenge and other
issues of sustainable tourism.
PATA is said to have received important backing from two
influential organisations - Adventure Travel Trade
Association (ATTA) and the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - for its 2010 Adventure
Travel Mart.
According to Prachanda Man Shrestha, CEO of NTB, the
conference would act as an important platform for tourism
stakeholders to discuss and promote environmental protection
and social sustainability.
He also believed that the conference will assist the
country's target of brining in a million tourists during
Nepal Tourism Year 2011.
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Visitors rise in
Nagarkot & Bhaktapur this year
The number of tourists visiting Nagarkot and Bhaktapur area
has seen a phenomenal rise this year.
According to an official estimate, there has been an
impressive increment of some 40 percent in the number of
tourists visiting these places this year compared to the
previous year.
The country’s tourism industry as a whole has witnessed
augmentation in tourist arrivals in the month of September,
which also marks the beginning of tourist season.
Among the South Asian nationals, Indians are at the
forefront to visit these well-acclaimed tourist
destinations. Similarly, as far as arrivals from third
countries go, Japan and China occupy the first and second
place respectively.
During the last month of this year, a total of 20 thousand
tourists visited the Bhaktapur district. Some 13 thousand
tourists belonging to third countries and 7 thousand South
Asian nationals visited the district last month.
In the same period of the last year, the total number of
visitors stood at 17 thousand.
In the last month of this year, the Bhaktapur Municipality
collected Rs 10.261 million as revenue from the tourists.
Third-country tourists are required to pay Rs 750 to visit
the Bhaktapur city whereas the same for South Asian nations
stands at Rs 50.
With the number of tourists visiting the district getting a
new fillip, nearby hotels and resorts are also doing brisk
business, according to tourism entrepreneurs.
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Bardiya
National Park to be doubled in size
The government is preparing to expand the area of
Bardiya National Park (BNP) to double its
present size by annexing 898 sq. km of forest
area along the east-west highway in Dang,
Nagarik Daily reported.
The area of the National Park at present is 968
sq. km.
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal will
officially announce the expansion of BNP at the
inaugural function of Global Tiger Workshop,
slated to start from Tuesday in Kathmandu.
The expansion of the National Park is vital for
the conservation of Tigers as the area proposed
to be annexed is considered an important area
for habitat and food for tigers, according to
wildlife experts. BNP is home to many important
wildlife inlcuding the rare one-horned Rhino,
Tigers and elephants.
Erstwhile Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
had unveiled plans to expand BNP as a 'gift to
the earth' in 2000. However, the plan had not
materialised due to armed conflict in the
country.
Of the area to be annexed 549 sq. km will be
forest area, while 345 sq. km will be buffer
zone. Some 50 additional staff including army
personnel for security will be required for the
upkeeping of the additional area. It will also
include 13 VDCs of Dang district.
The santuary was established in 1976 with the
name 'Karnali Wildlife Conservation'. It was
renamed as 'Bardiya Wildlife Conservation' in
1982 and converted to a National Park in 1998.
Some 1600 families were displaced from an
important Rhino habitat Babai valley while
expanding the the National Park.
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Nepal
Tourism Year promoted in Singapore
Nepal Tourism Board along with 8 travel trade
companies attended in the Second Asia edition of
ITB Berlin at Suntec City Convention Hall,
Singapore on October 21-23 as part of promoting
Nepal Tourism Year 2011.
According to a NTB statement, it is the second
time that NTB and private sector companies
jointly participated in ITB Singapore targeting
Singaporean visitors as well as to interact with
other international outbound travel trade from
South East Asia Region.
The B2B among the trades, media personalities,
visitors and buyers have been simultaneously
carried out in Nepal Pavilion. Most
significantly interaction session organized by
Web in Travel in convention center, Level 2 with
the leading media like BBC, CNN and other
reputed publication houses has made a great
exposure to Nepal's tourism destinations.
NTB said exhibitors, trade visitors, buyers and
media personalities made special queries and
attention towards Nepal Tourism Year 2011.
Nepal Tourism Year 2011 was promoted during the
fair through media literacy distributed among
the fair organizes, visitors, buyers and the
number of exhibiting companies from Europe,
America, Australia, South East Asia and SAARC
countries.
The event featured more than 650 exhibiting
companies from the Asia Pacific Region, Europe,
America, Africa, Middle East covering not only
the leisure market but also corporate and MICE
travel.
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TAAN executive committee nominates three new
members
TAAN executive committee nominates three new members The
executive committee of Trekking Agencies' Association of
Nepal (TAAN) held on October 15 nominated three members in
the executive committee as per the organization's statute.
Those nominated are Dhan Bahadur Lama of Euro Vision
Adventure Treks and Expeditions, Rajesh Bahadur Singh of
Panda Treks and Expedition and Nawang Tharchen Sherpa of
Hiuchuli Treks.
The names were proposed by TAAN president Sitaram Sapkota
and unanimously approved by the executive committee. Sapkota
administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly
nominated members on the same day.
According to the TAAN Statute, 14 members of the 19-member
executive committee are elected by general members while
three are nominated by the executive committee. Immediate
past president of TAAN and president of TAAN Pokhara chapter
are also in the executive committee as ex-officio members.
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Internal
tourist arrival up in Sauraha
With the beginning of the tourist season, internal
tourists have started thronging Sauraha of
Chitwan district.
The open national park in Chitwan is the main
attraction for them. Chitwan is the third
tourist destination after Kathmandu and Pokhara
in the country. These days, most tourists come
for enjoying jungle safari, pony rides and
sightseeing.
Jungle safari, pony-riding and sight-seeking are
major attractions here. According to tourists,
lush green swaths of land and community forests
of Sauraha, Kasara and Bagmara add the zing to
their excursion.
Kanhaiyalal Keshari and Pawan Tiwari of Birgunj
of Birgunj said that they were planning to visit
this area again after the Chhath festival with
their family. "We found Sauraha much more
attractive than we had heard," they echoed each
other.
After the rise on tourists' arrival during the
festive seasons, entrepreneurs have demanded
that the area should be developed a 'Pay
Holiday' site. More than 90 percent of the
tourists who come to Sauraha usually want to go
either for sight-seeing on elephant back or
pony-riding.
But, Lal Bihari Yadav, assistant warden of the
National Park, said that it was not possible to
provide services to all the tourists for the
National Park had limited number of elephants.
He said, "Conserving forest is our foremost
priority. After forest management, we are here
to extend our help to visitors." Despite high
demand for elephants, the Park has provided only
four for the purpose of sight seeing.
Park Warden Rameshwor Chaudhary said that the
park used to earn millions in revenues from pony
riding but it has drastically decreased in the
recent past. He said the main cause behind this
is the less number of available elephants
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14
pc increment in Chinese tourist
The flow of Chinese tourist arrivals over the last
one decade is impressive and China is going to
be a promising market for Nepal's tourism.
Compared to the arrivals from January to
September in 2008, Chinese inbound during the
same period this year surged by 14.6 percent to
11,583 persons. Arrivals had declined 2 percent
in 2008 due to political instability, protests,
strikes, said tourism entrepreneurs. In 1999,
Nepal hosted only 3,977 Chinese tourists.
According to tourism experts, the exchange
facility provided to the Chinese Yuan had also
helped in attracting Chinese tourists to Nepal.
Even if the China has been recognized as one of
the major tourist source countries, there is no
official data on the arrival of tourists before
1996. Tourism experts said that increased
flights between Nepal and China mainly supported
the growth in tourist arrivals. A Chinese tour
specialist Pramod Kunwar said, sufficient
tickets are not available for Chinese tourist
from china to Nepal other wise the number of
tourist will be top in a few year. He added
Chinese airlines are operating and adding new
flights too but it is not enough. He shared with
NTN; government must take appropriate move to
add flight of national flag carrier to china
regularly. He said most of the Chinese tourist
not coming Nepal because of air tickets problem.
But still, tourist arrivals from China are less
than from India. Till September, a total of
65,967 Indian tourists had visited Nepal,
whereas arrivals from China numbered 11,583
persons. Every year, 450,000 Chinese tourists
visit India.
Entrepreneurs said that promotional programmes
conducted by tourism organizations such as the
Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA)
and the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) played an
effective role in increasing Chinese arrivals in
Nepal.
"We are trying to attract at least some
percentage of the Chinese tourists visiting
India," said NATTA president Ram Kaji Koney.
"Similarly, the increase in the number of direct
flights between Nepal and China has also
supported the increasing growth."
Earlier, Air China and China Southern used to
operate flights to Nepal. Now, China Eastern
Airlines has also started to operate direct
flights between Kunming and Kathmandu. According
to these airlines, their occupancy rate is over
80 percent.
"As the airlines have made it easy to experience
a country rich in diversity within four hours,
the Chinese people's interest in Nepal has
increased," said Koney. He added that after the
operation of the new flights, the price of air
tickets had also gone down comparatively.
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