Nepal Tourism remains unaffected by insurgency, calamities

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Sep 26 (UNI) Nepal has always been the cynosure of the world though not for good reasons, but it has hardly affected the tourist inflow in the country, especially from India.

According to Nepal Tourism Marketing and Promoting Director Nandini Lahe, the country has witnessed an inflow of about 96,000 Indian tourists from 2005 till August 2006.

''Whether insurgency, hijacking or natural calamities, all these disasters have least affected Nepal tourism. With only 2.6 per cent dip in 2005, we recorded a 10 per cent increase in tourist arrivals by air between January and August.'' ''About 46 per cent of tourists visit the country again. In 2005, Nepal attracted 33 per cent visitors of total arrivals from India alone and aims to attract 25 per cent more tourist from Inida in the coming years,'' she said.

To promote the tourism industry, Nepal Tourism board (NTB) had launched its new toursim brand ''Naturally Nepal, Once is Not Enough'', in the month of march. The new tagline promises to offer more than whatever it has offered earlier.

''Visiting neighbourhood country Nepal for Indians is much cheaper than any other country. Besides, there is no requirements for visas too. We want to divert our tourist this time to other significant destinations like Nagarkot, Dhulikhel and Daman, apart from Kathmandu and Pashupatinath,'' said Ms Lahe.

To make shuttling more easier, Nepal had recently tied up with Sri Lankan airlines and are in talks with six more airlines.

Nepal Tourism is expecting 200 million dollars this year as compared to 169 million dollars last year.

The tourism industry in Nepal contributes three per cent to its GDP and 10 per cent to its foreign exchange reserve. Next to India, Bangladsh, Srilanka, Russia, Poland form the maximum chunk of its tourist population.

UNI KR CS GC1632

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