Nepalese Embassy & NRN participate Uster Festival in Switzerland

The Embassy of Nepal, Geneva and the Non-Resident Nepali Association of Switzerland participated the Uster festival in the Zurich city from September 3-4, 2011. In two stalls, projection of touristic attractions in Nepal offering Nepal as a safe and attractive destination and Nepali culinary preparations were prominently displayed. Large number of people visited the Nepal stalls to inquire about various aspects of tourism and taste Nepali foods.

Speaking at the fair, Ambassador of Nepal to Switzerland Dr. Dinesh Bhattarai highlighted touristic attractions, cultural heritage and the historic spirit of harmony, and tolerance in the country. He urged those present to work for projecting immense tourism potentials in Nepal and prospects it offers for investment and contribute to achieve the goal of receiving one million tourists in the Tourism Year 2011.

Ambassador stated that Nepal enjoys the tremendous fund of goodwill in Switzerland, across Europe and world at large. He described this goodwill as a great strength of Nepal and urged those present to project Nepals tourism potentials from their respective positions. People to people relations are emerging as a high point in state to state relations in the twenty first century. NRN, SNS and Nepali community organizations could contribute to enrich relations and widen them further from their day to day interactions with the people at grass roots levels. This will connect the grass roots to the global and contribute to project countrys cultural heritage, tourism potentials, and investment opportunities in the country, he said.

Ambassador thanked NRN, SNS and Nepali community organizations for their partnership, and urged them to take this partnership further to tap interested parties and prospective tourists and investors to visit and invest in Nepal.

NRNA Switzerland President Dr. Binaya Shrestha, General Secretary Peetam Gurung, President of the Swiss Nepal Society Markus Ruckstuhl and NRN Representative from Australia Ms. Ranju Thapa also spoke on the occasion and expressed their commitments to work together with the government to project tourist attractions and investment opportunities in Nepal. Representatives of the Nepali Jana Samparka Samiti and other Nepali community organizations, friends and well wishers in Switzerland were also present on the occasion.

The Embassy has been participating in major fairs in Switzerland and Italy with an objective of creating awareness about Nepal being the most desired destination and encourage prospective tourists to visit the country. Europe remains a major tourism market for Nepal.

Nature and religion come together in Nepal

WWF has celebrated the planting of 108,000 tree saplings in the Sacred Garden of Lumbini, the holy birthplace of Lord Buddha.

WWF-Nepal reached its target of planting 108,000 trees within 2011 as part of a key project to plant a million trees in Lumbini, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and surrounding areas over a period of 10 years.

Organized by WWF-Nepal and partner organization Lumbini Development Trust, the event brought together over 300 people from different sectors of society.

Speaking at the event, Mr Santosh Nepal, Director for Policy & Support at WWF-Nepal, said that Lumbini was regarded as the soul of the Terai Arc given the striking congruence between Buddhist philosophy and WWF�s conservation principles in the Terai Arc Landscape - interdependence and interconnectedness.

�The key objective of the Terai Arc Landscape program is to build connectivity across the landscape to facilitate wildlife movement while promoting harmony between humans, wildlife and nature�, said Mr Nepal.

A legacy for future generations

Acharya Karma Sangpo Sherpa, Vice Chairperson of Lumbini Development Trust, stated that Lumbini is an important carbon sink and the plan to plant a million trees in the sacred site is an attempt towards building greater adaptive capacity to the effects of climate change in Nepal. �I am happy to see a lot of children participating in this event; these trees are a legacy we leave for them and for future generations�, he said.

WWF-Nepal joined hands with Lumbini Development Trust in September 2010 as part of WWF�s global efforts to work with faith groups to further the cause of nature conservation. This partnership is aimed at promoting responsible tourism and environmental practices in the sacred site of Lumbini.

As part of the planting, trees which were considered to have existed in Lord Buddha�s era such as Ashoka, Sal, Pipal and Kadam will be planted in an effort to conserve the religious and ecological heritage of Lumbini.

Terai Arc Landscape

Covering 14 protected areas in India and Nepal, the Terai Arc Landscape is home to endangered tigers, elephants and vulnerable rhinos. It is one of the few places where these three large threatened animals coexist.

The plains of the Terai have seen an immense change during the past 50 years. Today, the area faces many challenges affecting people and wildlife alike including deforestation, poaching and pollution of rivers.

WWF-Nepal is part of the Terai Arc Landscape Project which has helped thousands of rural poor to improve their lives in sustainable ways and generated a tremendous support for conservation.

Buddha air flying to Varanasi

Buddha Air has announced that it will be starting its Kathmandu-Varanasi service from March 1, 2012 as part of the drive to expand its international network.

The carrier said it would be operating four weekly flights (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). Varanasi lies in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and is regarded as a holy city by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.

�The objective of connecting Varanasi is the route�s prospects as it is a pilgrimage site and there are also business and education opportunities,� said Buddha Air in a press release.

On Jan 7, the carrier began operating flights to Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, as its second international destination after Bhutan. It began commercial flights to Paro, Bhutan with an 18-seater Beechcraft 1900D on Aug 23, 2010.

Buddha Air went international after 14 years of domestic service. It is the first foreign airline to serve Bhutan.

Tourism Rally in USA

To support the national tourism campaign of Nepal-� tourism year 2011�, the Motherland Nepal, non-profit organization of the bay area is hosting the first Nepal tourism rally on 16 September 2011 at Union squire San-Francisco, @3.00 P.M.to 6.00P.M. California. The main focus of the rally is to generate awareness about Nepal as a destination for tourism and showcase its cultural and ethnic diversity. More than twenty seven organizations working for Nepal are set to participate in the rally. The rally is set to distribute brochure containing information relating to Nepal, travel information, tourism destination and tourism related activities. The theme of the rally has been set as ��.�.

Due to its rich natural, cultural, and religious assets, Nepal has always been a natural destination for tourists. Unfortunately after the start of armed conflicts, the tourist arrival started to decline. But with the end of the armed conflict in 2006, the number of tourist arrival has started picking up again. According to the world travel and tourism council, in the year 2007, the trade and tourism contributed about 3% of gross domestic product and generated about 500,000 jobs, which is 5.0% of total employment, or 1 in every 20 jobs. Considering the huge contribution of tourism in national economy, the government of Nepal has announced year 2011 as �Nepal Tourism Year�, and Nepalese scattered around the globe have joined hands to promote this cause.

Established in2005, the Motherland Nepal is dedicated to the .To promote and preserve the social and cultural aspects of Nepalese in America, enhance relationship between American and Nepalese communities, It is a non-profit organization with members throughout the United States.

Go on a Wild West Ride

With a view to promote domestic and international tourism in the far western region, which is lacking active promotional activity, Friends of Royal Enfields (FORE) � a group of experienced motorcycle riders and motorcycle adventure tour promoters of Nepal in association with Nepal Tourism Year 2011 and Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) is organising the Wild West Ride (WWR) from September 24 to 30. This ride is a weeklong motorcycle trip that travels from Kathmandu to Chitwan, Butuwal, Nepalgunj, Bardia, Suklaphanta, Mahendranagar, Dhangadi, Kapilavastu, Pokhara and back to Kathmandu.

�Our main objective is to give an exposure to the far western region, which has been constantly neglected by tourist entrepreneurs as a tourism destination,� said one of the organising committee members, Rabi Thapa, CEO of Sacred Summit. �We aim to bring to light the charms of all the places of interest on enroute stopovers by working closely with media,� he added.

Citing that the 1600-km ride entails riding long distances for long hours, he said, �The participation for this adventurous trip is confined to maximum 30 riders and that too only for seasoned and most experienced ones.�

�This ride will support a cause and we have decided to assist Yam Lal Rasaily also known as �One leg Cyclist� to acquire funds to purchase a new mountain bike for his journey,� said Thapa.

Rasaily has been promoting peace and bringing awareness to the plight of the disabled by embarking on a cycle journey and is planning to visit the SAARC countries. He has already successfully cycled 3,105 km in Nepal in 2003.

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