The fair was inaugurated by Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh (PRB) Honorable Minister Civil Aviation and Tourism Shahjahan Kamal among other Indian dignitaries including Consul General of Nepal, Kerala Eaknarayan Ariyal on July 6, 2018.

During his addressing at the inaugural ceremony Aryal identified TTF as an opportunity for these countries to create a tourist circuit to further promote their tourism potential.

The event saw the presence of 13 countries including Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) along with six Kathmandu private tourism companies and five companies from Mechi and Koshi regions represented Nepal at TTF.

TTF created a lot of scope for NTB promotional activities which included sideline meetings with important dignitaries from different State Tourism Authority of India (STAoI), Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

In discussions with Bihar Tourism Department Minister Pramod Kumar and Sri Lanka Tourism Board (SLTB) officials, NTB Director Mani Raj Lamichhane discussed the possibility of developing a joint partnership for the promotion of Ramayana Circuit, which includes the states of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Lamichhane suggested development of joint promotional collaterals and marketing among prospects including pilgrims, potential travelers and researchers.

In another meeting with Air India Assistant General Manager Jayanta Bhattacharya, Nepal representatives broached the subject regarding high air fares.

In view of the upcoming Visit Nepal 2020 program, Jayanta Bhattacharya said that they may consider reducing the flight fares and also tap on opportunities for operating flights between the two countries depending on the market demand and government proposal for the same.

Lamichhane highlighted Nepal’s tourism and culture opportunities for Meghalaya as part of his discussions with the Meghalaya Tourism Director Cyril V Diengdoh, while also pitching for promotion of religious sites of Meghalaya and Nepal,  along with knowledge & information exchange pertaining to tourism promotion.

In response, Diengdoh displayed keen interest in supporting ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ promotions from Meghalaya.

Tapping Business Opportunities
Other than meetings and talks, TTF created a strong base for Nepal B2C opportunities.

The Nepali stall witnessed many enthusiastic queries on visiting plans to Nepal, apart from interested persons developing business connections and renewing contact databases.

As part of the promotion activity, Nepal’s stall distributed items including tourist maps, posters of Mt. Everest and religious places like Lumbini, Muktinath & Pashupathinath with souvenir items.

The 5,000 colorful ‘carry bags’ with ‘brand Nepal’ that were distributed throughout the event became a major attraction and talk of the town, hundreds of people seen carrying these bags across prime markets in Kolkata.

The last day of the event concluded with an award ceremony, where senior Nepali official Khem Raj Timalsena received the ‘Most Innovative Decoration Award’ on behalf of the team for its overall presentation, while Lamichhane was honored with the task of awarding TTF fellow participants.

About TTF
TTF is one of Kolkata’s oldest and busiest travel-trade events in India. It serves as a major attraction for the industry owing to its business-gaining potential that draws inbound and outbound audience from East and Southwest Asia. Incepted in 1989, the show acts as an annual marketing platform and creates window for networking with travel trade in major cities.

This year the show witnessed a participation of over 430 exhibitors from 28 Indian states and 13 countries.

Nepal Tourism Sales Missions Lands in Australia
After successful sales mission rounds in the US, the Nepal Sales Mission (NSM) is also set to woo its Australian audience!

NTB and Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) organized NSM in three major Australian cities: Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane between July 2-5, 2018.

As part of promotion, NTB extensively promoted Nepal’s nature, culture, adventure activities and wildlife in these Australian cities.

NSM 2018 Australia: Highlights

• Primarily, NSM focused on the conducive environment of Nepal for travel and the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign with a provision of information on Australia-Nepal air connectivity, visa regulations and facilities available for Australian tourists in Nepal
• The program featured the cultural heritage: tangible and intangible, of Nepal
• It also portrayed Nepal as the center of peace and harmony, spirituality, meditation and yoga
• NTB Senior Manager Laxman Gautam made exclusive and detailed presentations on various tourism facts of Nepal to whole seller travel agents in all three cities

The event witnessed the participation of whole seller agents and media from these cities who displayed keen interest in the program.

Honorary Consulate of Victoria Chandra Yonzan, Honorary Consulate of New South Wales Deepak Khadka and Honorary Public Relations Representative Queensland Swotantra Pratap Shah welcomed participants in Melbourne and other respective cities.

NTB delegation made a presentation to Australian business personalities, US Consulate, Victoria, some Members of Parliament Victoria during the dinner session of investment forum organized by Nepal Embassy, Australia and Nepal’s Consulate Office, Victoria.

NSM drew more than 130 tour operators and 20 media representatives in all the three cities.

Hotel Barahi, Hotel Manang and Hotel Glacier represented Nepal along with NTB at the Sales Mission.

The post Trade & Tourism Strengthen Nepal Ties with Neighbors and Beyond appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

At the occasion of the cuisine display and tasting in Kathmandu, Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari launched the book and videos that contain Nepali food recipe with information on all ingredients and cooking methods.

Traditional Nepali Cuisines

Visitors were welcomed to an assortment of traditional Nepali cuisines from around 200 food categories selected from different Nepali communities. Among the vast array, there were dishes like the Kwati, Sisne Jhol, Phando, Jwano ko Jhol, Pancha Kwa, Chukur Khanda, Karesabari, Chukauni, Timure Aalu, Fulaura, Sekuwa, Sandheko, Tareko, Usineko, Pakku, Chhoyla, Momo, Chatanmari, Wo, Jogi Bhat, Dal Bhat, Dhindo, Himali, Yomari, Sikarni and Dahiphal.

The event aimed at regaining the lost glory of Nepal’s diverse food culture. Stating the importance of this step, Deepak Raj Joshi, CEO of NTB said, “This is an exemplary event under the PPP model. We should tell the world that Nepal has varieties of foods.”

As per HAN, the Government’s Department of Food Technology and Quality has tested and certified the selected food items.

Expressing the government’s support to the campaign, Tourism Minister, Rabindra Adhikari said,” Gastronomy tourism is a new product. Although it’s late, we have at least started the campaign to globalize our dishes.”

Globalize Nepali Food

According to Senior Tourism entrepreneur Karna Sakya, the work to globalize Nepali foods had started 7 months ago. He said, “This campaign should have started a long time ago, but it didn’t,” “We have lost our diverse dishes as we didn’t deem it necessary to promote them. But still, we can publicize gastronomy tourism.”

Further quoting statistics he said, there are more than 1,000 Nepali restaurants across the world, and around 4,000 chefs working in different hotels and restaurants across the world. “But still, we have failed to promote our foods.”

This move is a part of the NTB’s ongoing initiative to promote Gastronomy tourism under the theme, ‘Experience Nepal: Cuisine & Culture’.

According to the International Culinary Tourism Association, food travelers spend around $1,200 per trip on average, with over one-third ($425) of their travel budget going towards food-related activities.

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Nearing the one million target set during the Nepal Tourism Year 2011 campaign, the country’s industry saw 940,218 tourists in 2017, informed the Department of Immigration (DoI) recently.

“If we count the number of Indian tourists entering Nepal through land route, the arrivals figure crosses the one million tourist arrival target,” says Raju Prasad Poudel, Information Officer at DoI.

According to Poudel, the number of unregistered Indian tourists entering through border points is very high.

Despite missing of the target, the latest arrival figures have offered needed boost to Nepali tourism industry and its entrepreneurs.

Elated at the rise in tourism figures, the President of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Amar Man Shakya said, “We could not bring tourists as much as we have expected. But tourist numbers have increased significantly compared to last year. It is a positive thing,” says Amar Shakya.

According to Shakya, the rise in tourist arrivals could not add to the occupancy of hotel rooms.

“Hotel occupancy was around 65 percent only during September to November. We need more tourists to fill our rooms,” Shakya adds.

Meanwhile, Santabir Lama, President of Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) said, “We should not be disappointed because of our failure to meet the target of one million tourists. We were very near to the target. Hence, I consider the year 2017 as a successful year for Nepali tourism industry.”

Lama opined that the new government, as a result of parliamentary and provincial elections, would further boost the development of Nepali tourism sector.

Though Nepal saw a record number of 796,946 tourist arrivals in 2012, the country’s tourism industry suffered a major jolt because of the 2015 earthquake and again recovered in 2016 reaching 729,550 arrivals as a result of tourism promotional activities like Nepal Tourism Year 2011 campaign, among others.

Country-wise, India with 160,832 visitors stood as the major tourism market for Nepal in 2017, followed by China (104,664), United States (79,146), United Kingdom (51,058) and Sri Lanka (45,361) respectively, shows DoI data.

8 Lakh Arrivals Via Air!
Though the bordering tourists from neighboring countries like India travel to Nepal via land route, majority of tourists to the country prefer air travel.

According to the Immigration Office at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), more than 8 lakh (857,352) foreigners travelled to Nepal in 2017 as of December 26, 2017.

While a total of 734,686 tourists travelled to Nepal till October 2017 with a monthly average of 73,468 foreign visitors, the country couldn’t reach the target due to fall in number by almost 165,000 visitors during November and December of 2017.

Against the governmental target of at least 150,000 foreign visitors in November and 100,000 in December, the country saw only 122,666 tourists in these two months.

According to the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), general election was one of the prime reasons for fall in tourist arrivals in the last two months as tourists usually avoid trips to the tourist destinations during election time.

Also Read:

• 2018 Nepal Tourist Arrivals: 73.5% Rise in July, 18% Rise in Jan-July

The post Nepal Highlights 2017: Tourist Arrivals Move Close to Million Target appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Nepal has drawn a wide global attention in the recent times and as a result, the global business community has also been expressing its willingness to invest in Nepal, every now and then.

India for infrastructure development, South Korea for smart city development, US in energy and education sectors, likewise, many other countries have come forward to invest in Nepal in the recent times.

In the recent past, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (AFEC) have also signed a new agreement to boost business and trade ties between the two countries.

Following the trend, now the Japanese business community and Non-Resident Association (NRNA) Korea have also expressed their willingness to invest in Nepal.

“Foreigners would benefit by investing in Nepal, as the country is a gateway to reach out to markets of India, China and other South Asian countries,” says the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) President Bhawani Rana.

Nepal’s FDI Initiatives Are Encouraging: Japan

An official statement in this regard was made by the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Singapore (JCCIS) President Tochiori Takuhiro.

A 12-member JCCIS team, including eight Japanese companies that expanded their base to Singapore, has come to Nepal on November 06, 2017, to assess investment climate in the country and discuss cooperation in various sectors.

The companies in the delegation belong to various sectors such as textiles, manufacturing, tourism, banking, logistics, oil and gas.

“We are here because we see an opportunity in this country as it has young workforce and other potential to grow. Lately, the government has also started taking serious initiatives to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which is encouraging,” says Tochiori Takuhiro.

Tochiori was speaking at an interaction program organised by FNCCI on November 07, 2017.

On the occasion, Tochiori further informed that the team would meet domestic entrepreneurs of various sectors, over the next three days, to finalize the areas of cooperation.

NRNA Korea Keen on Investing

In a recently-held meeting with the Nepali trade delegation of 14 Nepal-Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NKCCI) members and 9 hoteliers, NRNA Korea has also expressed its willingness to invest in Nepal.

The Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) informed this in an official statement on November 07, 2017.

During the B2B meeting organized by Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), officials of NRNA Korea expressed commitment to work for bilateral trade and tourism promotion,” said HAN.

According to HAN, the delegation participated in an event called G Fair Korea and has also organized a trade promotion program titled- ‘Nepal: Your Destination for Tourism and Trade’.

The post Rising Trend of Foreign Investment in Nepal appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

According to the Department of Immigration, Nepal saw around 460,237 tourists (via air route) in the first half of 2017, against 313,512 visitors year-on-year.

After a record-high inflow in 2012 (803,000 visitors by air), tourist inflow into the country had come down to 412,461 in the first six months of 2014, which declined further in 2015 and 2016 following a massive earthquake in April 2015.

However, the government’s data indicates signs of recovery for the country’s tourism sector.

Travel & Tour Entrepreneurs Cheer

The recent rise in tourist inflow comes as a slight encouragement to the travel and tour entrepreneurs of Nepal, who have been facing tough time due to decline in tourist inflow to the country.

“The earthquake and fuel crisis had adversely affected the flow of tourists in 2015 and 2016, but though the figure has increased this year, it is still a far cry from our target to bring in two million tourists by 2020,” says Madhusudan Acharya, President of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA).

Meanwhile, General Secretary of Hotel Association Nepal Binayak Shah said, “Nepal has been included among the top 10 travel destinations in 2017 by the Lonely Planet, a leading travel guide. Despite the positive message disseminated across the world, tourist flow is still tepid.”

According to Shah, post-quake reconstruction activity that started in 2017 and a large number of international organizations working in Nepal for the same contributed to rise in tourist inflow.

Travel and tour entrepreneurs are also hopeful of further rise in tourist arrivals in the second half of 2017, especially during September and November, the best tourist season in Nepal.

Citing weak infrastructure and high airfare as the major factors hindering tourism inflow, they also urged the government to focus on infrastructure development and expansion of the country’s only international airport-Tribhuvan International Airport.

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