2nd Far-Western Regional Tourism Fair-2014

The “2nd Far-Western Regional Tourism Fair-2014” is going to be held from the 21st to the 23rd of February at Mahendranagar , Kanchanpur. The fair organized by Nepal Tourism Board mainly aims at identifying tourist destinations in Far Western and Eastern regions of Nepal, promoting domestic tourism, promoting tourism heritages and destinations in different parts of Nepal, creating awareness about improved quality of life through tourism industry in rural areas, promoting home-stay tourism, disseminating information on regional and national institutions related to tourism, assisting marketing of tourism by creating a network of private sectors of tourism and preserving local arts and culture.

The fair will be opened to the invitees on February 21st, 2014, from 10 am to 1 pm and to the public thereafter. The stakeholders and public will have a free access to the fair from 10am to 5pm on the rest 2 days. The 2nd Far-Western Regional Tourism Fair is expected to effectively impart visual information on new tourist destinations identified across the country and convene various institutions related to service and hospitality training for tourism and tourists. Long term tourism development is reliant on the development of tourism packages, hence, available tourism packages in the fair will be promoted. Daily cultural shows will also be held.

32 institutions from different parts of Nepal will be participating in the fair. The fair is also offering exciting door prizes for the attendees that include various cross-regional travel and tour packages. Nepal Tourism Board believes that the “2nd Far-Western Regional Tourism Fair-2014”will be a good platform to present and promote unidentified tourism heritages spread all over Nepal.

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Honanry NTB PRR to Mr. Parvath R. Shetty

Nepal Tourism Board conferred the title of honorary Public Relations Representative (PRR) to an Indian hotelier, Mr. Parvath R. Shetty for Mumbai, Pune and Goa. Based in Mumbai, Mr. Shetty owns a chain of hotels in various cities in India and is a philanthropist as well. He is an industrialist who invests in the tourism industry and will be representing Nepal Tourism Board in the same market in Mumbai, Pune and Goa, India. In a program conducted in Mr. Shetty’s honor on 16th February, 2014, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board Mr. Subash Nirola said that he hopes to reach out to more and more tourists in India through this liaison and welcomes Mr. Shetty to invest in tourism industry in Nepal for the benefit of both the parties. Mr. Chattra Bhatta, member of the delegation from India, said that there are multiple arenas in Nepal in which Mr. Shetty will be interested to venture into in the tourism industry.

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Interaction on Healthcare for Tourists held at Nepal Tourism Board

Identifying the need for Healthcare for tourists that travel to Nepal, Nepal Tourism Board collaborated with Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) and Health Concern came up with a series of events. The initiative started off with an interaction program held on the 17th of February at Nepal Tourism Board that was attended by the three collaborating organization as well as dignitaries from the medical and tourism field and representatives from different embassies and NGO/INGOs. In the program Dr. Santa Subba, the chairman of HRA highlighted the objectives of the interaction program and Dr. Subash Pyakurel, the Chief Executive Officer of Health Concern, presented the needs for easily accessible healthcare facilities for tourists. Also, Health Concern collaborated with young IT professionals to develop and launch a mobile application on easy medical service access. Dr. Buddha Basnyat shed light on altitude sickness and tropical medicine in the program. In the interaction program, various medical and tourism stakeholders put forth their opinions and ideas on what to work on and how important it is for tourists to have emergency healthcare needs fulfilled while travelling in Nepal. Acting Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board Mr Subash Nirola hopes for a fruitful outcome from this collaboration and adds “Just as we are insured health wise while travelling abroad, tourists to Nepal Should also be insured of the same.” It was discussed that Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA), CIWEC and Nepal Tourism Board will collaborate to conduct lecture sessions on altitude sickness and tropical medicine for the benefit of the trekkers who come to collect TIMS card at Nepal Tourism Board four times a week starting first week March 2014.

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"Rad-A-Thon' Held in Association with Nepal Tourism Board

“People coming out and dancing at an event is also tourism. An event is counted as tourism. But we have a conventional concept that tourism means foreigners travelling,” said Subash Nirola, Acting CEO of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB). But he sees a challenge — “to bring people out of their houses”.

Confronting the challenge, Nepal Tourism Board along with Radisson Hotel Kathmandu and its clients, in-house guests and corporate clients came together for Rad-a-thon 2014 on February 15.

It was organized by Radisson Hotel Kathmandu in association with Nepal Tourism Board as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). With the slogan ‘Tourism for peace, people and prosperity’, they promoted tourism with a walkathon.

Rad-a-thon 2014 was inaugurated by Bikesh Shrestha, Managing Director of Radisson Hotel Kathmandu. Releasing of colorful balloons and pigeons in the air, lakhey dance and Nepali Police Band playing the National Anthem gave a lively start to the event. The traditional tune from panche baja was also played. Sport legend marathon runner Baikuntha Manandhar shared some walkathon rules and regulations to the participants.

At around 8:30 am, the walkathon started — nearly 450 participants wearing white tee-shirts walked, some ran, from the hotel via North Gate of Narayanhiti Palace Museum, Durbar Marg, Ratna Park, Sahid Gate, New Road, Rastriya Nach Ghar, Keshar Mahal and back to the hotel.

The walkathon proceeded to “show solidarity for the promotion of Tourism in Nepal carrying the Tourism vision 2020”. Moreover, Shrestha remarked Rad-a-thon as “marketing”. He expressed that “tourism — be it international or domestic — is necessary for the development of the country. When we walk around the city, many people will see us and will be aware of it”.

Travelling seven kilometres, the walkathon ended at 10:00 am followed by a cultural program. The winners of the walkathon were awarded as well. Aita Ram Tamang became the winner among the male contestants, and Leenisha Nakarmi became the winner among the females. Being in the hospitality business, tourism was the focus of the event however Karuna Manandhar, Assistant Manager Public Relations and Publicity of the hotel shared, “We are also telling people how to become healthy so that more people walk making Kathmandu a pollution-free city.”

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Preparations for Shivaratri festival almost completed

The Pashupati Area Development Trust today said it has almost completed the preparations for Mahashivaratri, a major Hindu festival dedicated to Lord Shiva. The preparations for the festival that falls on February 27 are in the final stage, according to Govind Tandan, member-secretary of the PADT. “We are now busy in painting temples, abodes and idols,” he said, adding, “All preparations will be completed within four days.” According to the PADT, security arrangement, health camps and traffic management schemes have been well planned for the festival. Apart from Nepali Army personnel and intelligence bureau helping to maintain security, 2,400 personnel from Nepal Police, some 800 personnel from the Armed Police Force and volunteers from Nepal Scout and different organizations will be deployed on the temple premises for the festival. “Five health camps with ambulances will be kept on standby for emergency services,” said Tandan. The PADT is expecting some 700,000 visitors this year against about 500,000 visitors from Nepal and India last year. The annual festival is celebrated with fasts and great religious fervor in reverence of Lord Shiva. It falls on the 14th night of the new moon in the month of Falgun (February-March). According to Hindu scriptures, Mahashivaratri signifies transition from the darkness of gloom and ignorance to the dawn of divine joy and knowledge. A 351-member main festival organizing committee has been formed, according to the PADT. Other 11 subcommittees, including queue management, sanitation, security, publicity, health camps, among others have also been formed to organize the festival. “The crowd will be properly managed so that each devotee gets to worship within 30 minutes to one hour of standing in queue without any hassle,” Tandan said, adding, “Four separate queues will be maintained.” The entry fee for devotees who want to skip long queues is Rs 1,000, Tandan said.

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Nepal, a dream destination for Italians!

Nepal participated on the 34th edition of the largest exhibition of Italian tourist sevices and one of the greatest tourism fairs of Italy held every year in Milan. BIT 2014, the International Tourism Exchange Trade Fair was held from 13 to 15th of February and three companies from Nepal had participated under the flagship of Nepal Tourism Board. The first two Trade days dedciated to trade followed by one public day was marked by extraordinary interest and curiosity from the Italian Travel Trade, media & general people alike.

Nepal stand showcasing the culture, nature and adventure tourism products had drawn the attractions of thousands of the visitors. Many tour operators had shown their curiousity on the new tourism products and services while the general public were interested on the existing and popolular products which included trips to Mt. Everest. Italians were very much passionate on visiting Nepal to see the high himalayas and meet / interact with the friendly Nepali people. It was learnt that majority of the people consider Nepal as their dream destination as they wish to explore and feel the amazing diversity of the small country.

The BIT 2014 was participated by Nepal Social Treks and Expedition, Snowy Horizon Treks and Expedition and Destination Nepal Treks and Expedition. The delegation was lead by Mani Raj Lamichhane, Manager of Nepal Tourism Board and was assisted by Mr. Paolo Nugari, Nepal Tourism Board's Honorary Representative and Honorary Consul of Nepal to Italy.