Karnataka - Bangalore

Nepal hopes to attract more Indian tourists

BANGALORE: Travelling to the Himalayan Kingdom might become more attractive for Indians, especially for those living in South India. The Nepal Tourism Board has started a host of initiatives to increase the number of Indian tourists by several percentage points.

“Tourism had been affected because of the disturbances in the country. But now with the peace accord being signed, we hope to increase the number of Indian tourists to 35 per cent of our total tourist arrivals. Earlier, it was 33 per cent, but had fallen drastically after trouble in country started,” Prachanda Man Shrestha, Chief Executive Officer of the board told presspersons on the sidelines of the inauguration of the travel and tourism fair here on Saturday.

As most tourists from South India prefer to travel by air, the Nepalese and Bhutan Airlines have decided to jointly start a direct flight to Kathmandu from Mumbai by April, he said. Aircraft from Kingfisher Airlines and Deccan Aviation stable had also been accorded the licence to fly to Nepal, he said.

The tourism board plans to increase Nepal’s appeal and visibility among three sections — those looking for adventure holidays, weekend tourists who drive down to the country from across the Indian border and those looking for a life-time experience, Mr. Shrestha said.

Far from popular perception that most tourists visited Nepal for the trek to base camp of Mount Everest, only about 50,000 out of the three lakh and odd tourists made their way up the high altitude, Mr. Shrestha said.

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