Nepal gears up for tourism rebound

Nepalese tourism is now on a bounce back trail. Tourism activities like hotel operation, tour, trekking, rafting are running in full swing without encountering any hiccup. The confidence buildings measures adopted by Nepal Tourism Board and the private sector with the assurance of hospitable and trouble free tours while in Nepal have made bigger impact to travel industry and media.

The UK`s leading tour operators Exodus and Explore Worldwide, as reported in Timesonline, have announced that they have got several groups going out in Nepal in this March. Tourists who have been in Kathmandu since last few days have found it safe to travel in Nepal. Ms. Katherine Howe from UK said, I have found Nepal totally different than what I perceived before coming here. So far everything is going well and I am enjoying every bit of Nepal.

Ms. Shelly Brown from Australia found everything normal in Nepal. She said she was here to enjoy enchanting beauty of Nepal, and she did it without being disturbed by internal and external sequence of events.

Mr. Lucas Berkuems, a Belgian who has travelled more than 25 countries in his bicycle entered Nepal in the first week of February from Bhairawa. He said: My trip to Nepal is quite enjoyable and memorable. I did not face any problem in Chitwan and Pokhara. I will get back to Nepal again soon for trekking to Annapurna Region. He is now in Langtang savouring the pristine beauty of Himalayas.

Greenline Tours, a premier tourist coach operator of Nepal has been running its regular bus service to Pokhara without any hassle. Fokkar 100 belonging to Cosmic Air which has successfully made test flight to Pokhara recently is now preparing to operate scheduled flight carrying almost 70 passengers between Kathmandu and Pokhara easing out bottleneck situation of air accessibility. Mr. Upendra Karki, Director- Marketing, Cosmic Air says, Cosmic Air is in the process to bring out new flight schedule which will connect New Delhi with Pokhara via Kathmandu. We have also sought permission to operate Mumbai flight and hope we will get clearance soon. Meanwhile, Bangkok based Phuket Air has announced to operate thrice a week flight between Bangkok and Kathmandu from March 9, 2005. This flight also goes to Dubai and gets back to Bangkok via Kathmandu.

In order to better facilitate tourists, the Tourism Crisis Response Action Unit at Nepal Tourism Board responds to the queries and facilitates or takes necessary initiatives. This operation has been supported by Media Center of Nepal Tourism Board. The staff on duty is available at number 977-1-4227381. The telephone number of Media Center is 977-1-4225709.