Reviving tourism

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The great Himalayan tragedy that shook Nepal has hit the tourism industry hard resulting in the loss of thousands of lives and historic sites being reduced to rubble. Yet life goes on and the natural calamity has in no way dented the courage and determination to revive its sagging to tourism economy.Having said this, the government of Nepal has made a sincere endeavour to remove all debris from the heritage sites and has reopened all its historical monuments from 15 July onwards.The birthplace of Lord Buddha and the land of world peace, Nepal has around 26.8million residents living more than 101 ways of life. It has been a dream destination providing authentic, natural holiday experience and offers the best of culture, nature and adventure to all segments of travellers.In an interaction on "Revival of Nepal's Tourism" hosted by the Travel Agents Federation of India and Consulate General of Nepal in Kolkata on 4 July, , consul general of Nepal, said "Our country has experienced one of the worst disasters. The heritage monuments in Kathmandu and some trekking trails have been lost in the quake creating fear in the minds of potential tourists. Today, things have started looking up and all lifelines have geared up to normalcy. The quake-hit country has eight world heritage sites listed by UNESCO, of which three sites have suffered damage. There are 36 trekking routes of which only two trails have been affected."The Annapurna trekking trail has not suffered any damage as revealed by disaster experts from New Zealand, Germany, Belgium and the United States. The prominent snowcapped peaks like Dhauligiri, Annapurna, Manaslu, Gaurishankar, Mt Everest, Lhotse and Makalu have not been affected. The best way to offer a helping hand to recover from disaster is to visit the destination. All national parks in the country are quite safe barring Langtang National Park.

The tourist destination of Pokhra has not reported any incidences of damage. All the heritage sites of Kathmandu valley have been reopened for tourists except Changu Narayan temple. The eastern and western part of the country has remained intact," added Ghimire.The Himalayan kingdom is making an effort to rebuild its lost heritage structures with the support of archaeological fund discovery. Nepal Tourism Board is into hosting campaigns across Indian metros for revival of its tourism. A number of tourists from New Delhi are planning a trip to the Himalayan destination. Mumbai and New Delhi have the highest number of Indian tourist footfall to Nepal.We are working on a number of issues and despite of glitches, we are hoping that Bengal will contribute a fair share of tourist flow to Nepal especially during festive season. At the same time, they are trying to spruce up the flight connectivity from Kolkata to Kathmandu by increasing the frequency of Air India.