Buddha brings new aircraft

KATHMANDU, JUN 08 - In an effort to claim Mt. Everest as its own, Nepal is all set to send a survey team for the first time to take the measurement of the world’s highest peak by next spring. It has never measured Mt Everest’s height since it was recognised as the world’s highest peak in 1808.

A 20-member civil servant team headed by Lila Mani Poudel from the Department of Survey will ascend Mt Langtang next week as a warm-up to climbing Mt. Everest.

Nepal and China recognised the snow and rock heights of Mt Everest in the fourth meeting of boundary talks in the Capital in the second week of April. The Chinese side accepted Nepal’s claim that the snow height of Mt. Everest is 8,848m while the Nepali side recognised the Chinese claim that the rock height of the mountain is 8,844.43m. Both sides have agreed to the two heights.

The team will hold a three-day training in Kathmandu from Wednesday. “We are doing this because it will boost our moral in dealing with the Chinese side,” a senior government official told the Post.

On Oct. 9, 2005, after months of measurements and calculations, the PRC’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping officially announced the height of the Everest as 8,844.43 meters (29, 0117. 16 ft).

In the meeting, both sides agreed to settle all boundary errors by December and prepared 52 sets of maps through GPS for signing the fourth protocol.

This is not the first time that the height of Mt. Everest has stirred controversy. Since the first accent in 1953 by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, its exact height has been disputed ever since the first measurement was made in 1856. The globally accepted height of 8,848 m was first recorded by an Indian survey team in 1865 with the mountain’s snowcap height.

In May 1999, an American team used GPS technology to record a height of 8,850 m - a figure that is now used by the US National Geographic Society - although it has not been officially accepted. .

Youngest Indian in Everest

Buddha Air, a well acknowledged domestic airline company, has added an ATR 72-500 aircraft to its fleet.

The 70-seater ATR 72 is a twin-turboprop built by French-Italian aircraft manufacturer.

With the addition of the US $ 7.75 million ATR 72, Buddha Air has a fleet of nine aircraft. The airline plans to add one more ATR 72 next year.

This aircraft boasts of lowest seat-mile cost in its class with great technical efficiency and reliability.

The new ATR 72 will initially operate on the Kathmandu-Biratnagar sector while the existing ATR 42 that flies the Kathmandu-Biratnagar sector will be used on the Bharatpur, Dhangadhi and Pokhara routes, it is said.

With the latest addition, the airline is also targeting its international operations which it plans to launch in September.

Budhha Air is also planning to slash fares after the arrival of the ATR 72

Nepal Government has approved free visa for summiteers

Nepal Government has approved free visa for summiteers of Mt. Everest and Mt. Dhaulagiri for the rest of 2010 and Nepal Tourism Year 2011. The Government has approved 50 percent concession on the Royalty of Mt. Dhaulagiri in this period.

Sustained Increase in Visitor

The figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) reveal that visitor arrivals in the month of April 2010, compared to the same month last year, have increased by 2.3% to 38,694.

The arrivals from South Asian region, except for the arrivals from India and Sri Lanka, have gained overall positive growth of 4.9% with Bangladesh (71.2%) and Pakistan (35.1%) registering positive growth. Visitor arrivals from India, which is the largest source market for Nepal, which registered sustained growth since the beginning of 2010, witnessed soft decline by 2.6%. Visitor arrivals from Sri Lanka have declined by 21.5%. A robust growth of 15.9% has been observed in the arrivals from the South Asian region during the first four months of 2010, in comparison to the same period last year.

In April 2010, there has been sustained growth of 45.3% in visitor arrivals from China which is one of the fastest growing tourist markets for Nepal. Similarly arrivals from Asia (other than South Asia) have maintained the upward trend. Visitor arrivals from Malaysia and South Korea, have registered a positive growth of 14.2%, and 20.3% respectively. Visitor arrivals in the first four months of 2010 from Asia (other than South Asia), as compared to the same period last year, have grown by 32.4% in aggregate.

The figures also show increasing trend in the visitor arrivals from the United States of America and Canada with a growth of 3% and 8.3% respectively. However Australia and New Zealand have registered negative growth by 15% and 9.3% respectively. European markets registered negative growth of 5.5% with major destinations showing mixed reaction in terms of visitor arrivals. Arrivals from Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Poland and Russia are up by 5.7%, 61.4%, 4%, 15.5%, 67.2% and 11.6% respectively.

However, other destinations in Western Europe have posted weaker arrivals figures. Arrivals from the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands have declined by 15.1%, 3.9%, and 11.2% respectively.

This is the eleventh consecutive month Nepal has witnessed growth in the international tourist arrivals and this confirms the improved prospects for Nepal in the year 2010 with rising business and consumer confidence. In the first four months of 2010 a robust 21% of cumulative growth has been observed in comparison to the same period last year.

A total of 49,096 foreign tourists departed from TIA in April 2010.The number of Nepalese arrivals stood at 50,672 while 66,757 Nepalese departed from TIA in April 2010.

Lonely Planet Names Nepal One of 2010's Top 10 Countries

KATHMANDU:
Lonely Planet has chosen Nepal as one of the world's Top 10 Countries for next year in LONELY PLANET'S BEST IN TRAVEL 2010, published this week.

BEST IN TRAVEL 2010 is Lonely Planet's fifth eagerly-awaited annual collection of the best places to go and the best things to do around the world for the year ahead.

Other destinations to make Lonely Planet's Top 10 Countries 2010 list are El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Portugal, Suriname and the USA.

Drawing on the knowledge and passion of Lonely Planet's staff, authors and community, BEST IN TRAVEL 2010 showcases a year's worth of inspiration to take travellers out of the ordinary and into some unforgettable experiences. Other highlights include:

The Top 10 Regions to visit in 2010: Alsace, Bali, Fernando de Noronha, Goa, Koh Kong Conservation Corridor, Lake Baikal, Oaxaca, Southern Africa and The Lake District.

2010's Top 10 Cities: Abu Dhabi, Charleston, Cork, Cuenca, Istanbul, Kyoto, Lecce, Sarajevo, Singapore and Vancouver.

Top Travel Lists of the best experiences for the year ahead, from wildlife-watching in South Africa to catching a space flight launched from the Mojave Desert. Interested in rubbing shoulders with thousands of locals running a marathon? Explore the options in the Magical Marathons' list. Or it might be something more pragmatic – such as an eye operation in India, which features on the Medical Adventures'slist.

2010 Travel Planner, with more than 30 adventures mapped out month-by-month – from January's Lowcountry Oyster Festival in Charleston, USA to New Year's Eve in Paramaribo, Suriname.

Nepal highlights the Himalayas in Spain

Nepal was highlighted as a premier tourist destination at FITUR fair 2010 held at Faire de Madrid at Madrid in Spain from January 20 to 24, 2010, with the definite brand image Naturally Nepal Once is not enough.

The five-day tourism fair was coordinated by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Nepal Association of Travel and Tour Agents (NATTA).

NTB interacted with tour operators, journalists, internet portals, travel televisions, travel magazines and the general public and apprised them about the information and update about the tourism areas and services of Nepal. Prominent travel media were also invited to Nepal to make publicity coverage in the spanish market. Nepal stall also offered tour packages and travel information to the visitors. A total of fifteen travel trade companies of Nepal had participated in the fair.

There is great interests and enthusiasm for Nepal in the Spanish market through visitors´ satisfaction and word-of-mouth publicity amongst friends and relatives thereby impacting the return of visitors to Nepal more than once. With special facilities in terms of providing Spanish tour guides and with aggresive marketing initiatives, Spanish are sure to rate Nepal as one of their favorite destinations.

While the conventional traveler look for destinations within Europe and Latin America, the younger generation of Spainish make travel plan well in advance and prefer to travel to far-flung countries with exotic culture of the East like Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and India and are fond of trekking in the Himalayas fuelled by the imagination of the Everest. With Qatar Airways, Thai Airways, Arkefly flying to Kathmandu via transit points like Doha, Bangkok and Amsterdam respectively and with additional air access points from Spain to India, Nepal receives around 14,000 Spanish on an annual average.

Nepal´s participation at the exhibition has enabled the exchange the direct access of information and building of networks between international travel fraternity and travel trade of Nepal for further strengtehning of travel ties with global tourism community.

FITUR is the third largest tourism exhibition after ITB Berlin and WTM in London.

NTY-2011 seeks Diplomats’ support for its success

In an effort to promote Nepal Tourism Year -2011 among diplomatic community based in Nepal and to see their support to make it successful, Nepal Tourism Year -2011 Secretariat and Nepal Tourism Board jointly organized a program in Kathmandu on January 22, 2010 to brief and to keep diplomats abreast about NTY-2011, its vision, target and objective. In the program, Mr. Rakesh Sood ,Ambassador of India, Mr. Andrey Leonivich Trofimov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Mr. Imtiaz Ahmed, Ambassador of Bangladesh, Mr. Ilankonav Kolandavelu, Ambassador of Malaysia, Mr. Tatsuo Mizuno, Ambassador of Japan, Eduardo Lechuga Jimenez, Charge de' Affairs of European Commission, Head of Canadian Cooperation Office- Nepal, Director of SAARC Secretariat were present.

In the briefing session, Mr. Yogendra Shakya, National Coordinator, Program Implementation Committee, NTY-2011 requested all diplomats for their presence in the launching program of NTY-2011 on February 26, 2010. He also explained them about the tourist arrivals of different countries in 2009 and target of tourist arrivals that NTY-2011 has set for 2011 from different countries. He further said it is impossible to meet this target without the support of the embassy. “ January of 2011 is the grand inaugural. We want to show the world that region has come “Together for Tourism” to help Nepal in its effort. We would like to invite the Ministers from South and South East Asia for the inaugural of NTY-2011,” he said.

In the program, Secretary of Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation Mr. Nagendra Ghimire, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board and other high officials of the government and President of different tourism associations interacted with diplomats.

Australia Sales Mission 2010

Nepal Tourism Board in coordination with Nepal Embassy, Canberra, Australia and Consulate of Nepal in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane organized a Sales Mission in Australia from 18-21 May, 2010. The Sales Mission was held in Melbourne on 18th May, Sydney on 19th May and Brisbane on 21st May, 2010 respectively.

The main focus of this Sales Mission was to promote Nepal Tourism Year 2011 in Australia along with other added tourism attractions of Nepal, specially natural and cultural attractions trekking and adventure activities. Addressing the media and travel trade in all three cities, H.E. Ambassador Mr. Yogendra Dhakal informed them about the rejuvenated state of tourism in Nepal. He stressed that Government of Nepal and the Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs are quite euphoric about the NTY campaign and looking forward to welcoming a large number of tourists from Australia. Ambassador Dhakal pledged his full cooperation and support to the Australian travel-tour operators in their endeavor to send more Australians to Nepal in 2010 and especially in NTY-2011.

Senior Director of NTB and Member Secretary of Program Implementation Committee of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 Campaign Mr. Subash Nirola gave a comprehensive presentation on the tourism products and attractions of Nepal. He explained the various activities undertaken by NTB in the Australian market. He highlighted the aim and objectives of NTY 2011 and the role of NTB to make this campaign successful. Mr. Nirola emphasized that this campaign will open new tourism areas and activities for the Australian tourists. He also informed the Australian travel-tour operators that their counterparts in Nepal are preparing themselves to offer new packages which will make the stay of our guests as memorable one.

The Sales Mission also appraised the Australian travel writers and the entrepreneurs about the present growing positive situation in Nepal and how Nepal’s tourism industry has been rejuvenated after the launching of Nepal Tourism Year 2011. The launching of Nepal Tourism Year with the slogan-"Together for Tourism” aims at doubling the existing arrival figures of tourists in Nepal to one million.

The number of total tourist arrivals from Australia by air to Nepal during January to April 2010 has increased by 10% as compared to the same period in 2009.

The Nepal delegation also made presentations on NTY 2011 and interacted with the Nepalese community in all the three Australian cities through the Non Resident Nepali Association for their active participation and support during NTY 2011.

The Nepal delegation at the Australia Sales Mission in all three cities was led by His Excellency Mr. Yogendra Dhakal, Ambassador of Nepal to Australia and included Mr. Subash Nirola, Senior Director, NTB, Mr. Diwakar B. Rana, Manager, NTB and private sector trade partners from Nepal.