NTB's Chief briefed Minister Acharya

The Nepal Tourism Board organized a briefing program to newly appointed Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Mr. Bhim Acharya on February 28, 2014 at its office. Briefing about the Nepal Tourism Board’ structure, its program and financial resources, Acting CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Mr. Subash Nirola explained the challenges faced by Nepal Tourism Board, and said that it could not meet the all expectations of the private sector. He further said that due to lack of its own building, Nepal Tourism Board lacked behind doing so many things it is capable of doing. “It has become Herculean task for us to change the image of Nepal Tourism Board as a donor agencies,” he further said. He also briefed the Minister about the marketing and promotional activities NTB does.

In response to the presentation of Acting CEO, Minister Acharya said that NTB should make the ambitious plan which should be tied up with employment generation. He asked NTB to prepare the plan to develop different tourism destination with projected tourists to be visited along with the hurdle it face to execute it.

Mr. Bhim Acharya was appointed as Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on February 25, 2014. 

www.facebook.com/nepaltourismboard.

2nd Far-Western Regional Tourism Fair-2014 concluded

The “2nd Far-Western Regional Tourism Fair-2014” was concluded from the 21st to the 23rd of February at Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur. The fair organized by Nepal Tourism Board mainly aimed 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 was opened to the invitees on February 21st, 2014, from 10 am to 1 pm and to the public thereafter. The stakeholders and public had a free access to the fair from 10am to 5pm on the rest 2 days. The 2nd Far-Western Regional Tourism Fair effectively imparted visual information on new tourist destinations identified across the country and convened 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 was promoted. Daily cultural shows were also held.

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

www.facebook.com/nepaltourismboard.

Nepal, China sign revised ASA

Nepal and China signed a revised bilateral air services agreement (ASA) on Monday, permitting the operation of 56 flights per week with any types of aircraft on a reciprocal basis. Under the old ASA, Chinese airlines were allowed to operate 14 flights per week.

Moreover, under the revised pact, an additional seven flights per week will be added annually to 70 flights per week by 2016. “The ASA will be revised if one of the two countries feels the need for more than 70 flights a week,” said Suresh Acharya, joint-secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

The revised agreement has given unlimited traffic rights for cargo-only flights with any types of aircraft. It has also permitted bi-lateral and third-party code-sharing by carriers of the two countries.

Meanwhile, China has allocated Nepali carriers with a new point, Xian, one of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history. With this new point, Nepali carriers are permitted to fly into seven different points in China —Chengdu, Lhasa, Beijing, Kunming, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Tourism Ministry Secretary Sushil Ghimire and CAAC’s Deputy Administrator Xia Xinghua signed the revised ASA on behalf of their respective governments. “With the agreement, our relation with China has strengthened further in the aviation sector,” said Ghimire.

The two countries had signed the first ASA in 2003 and Air China opened a direct air link between China and Nepal in 2004. Three Chinese carriers connecting Kathmandu flew 132,326 travellers in the first nine months of 2013—up 30.81 percent year-on-year.

www.facebook.com/nepaltourismboard.

Million footfalls at Shivaratri fest

Hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotee thronged the Pashupatinath Temple to offer prayers and celebrate the Shivaratri festival on Thursday.

The festival organiser, Pashupati Area Development Trust, said around 1 million people visited the temple, exceeding their estimate of 700,000.  Although the large turnout caused some management difficulties, the festival went largely peaceful, said Gobinda Thandon of PADT.  

“Our team did a pretty well job, considering the size of the crowd. It would not have been possible without the assistance from the volunteers and security personnel,” said Tandon. Devotees had started queuing up from the wee hours of Thursday morning to enter the main temple and offer their prayers. Purna Maya Shrestha, 77, who has been visiting the temple on Shivaratri for the last 25 years, was the first person to offer prayers to Lord Pashupatinath.

“It was the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Shrestha, who was few persons behind the line leading to the western gate of the main temple and was asked by the doorkeepers to enter first. “I feel really blessed for being the first person to worship the Lord,” she said. In the afternoon, President Dr Ram Baran Yadav and Vice President Parmananda Jha also visited the temple. Former king Gyanendra Shah also offered prayers at the temple.

A large number of security personnel were mobilized in and around the temple area to assist the sea of people and maintain law and order.  The Nepal Police had deployed 3,399 law enforcement officers in the Pashupati area. A contingent of 949 police officers were mobilised near the temple vicinity since 10 am on Wednesday. The police force was replaced by a next set of security personnel from 8 am until 6 pm. Superintendent of Police Narayan Singh Khadka, who led the force, said they were able to handle the crowd successfully. He added that 849 police officers were deployed in the Pashupati area on Thursday night.

www.facebook.com/nepaltourismboard.