With the sluggish long-haul tourist generating market for Nepal, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has developed a strategy of penetrating into the regional market especially the giant neighbours - India and China.
In this connection, it is encouraging to witness 41 per cent growth of arrival figures of tourists from India for the month of June 2003 compared to the same period last year (June 2002).
The swell in the arrival figures of Indian tourists can be attributed to the surge in celcius of Indian plains resulting in school breaks and holiday trips, packages floated by Indian Airlines and finally the Summer Getaway packages.
Normally, Indians comprise one-third of the total tourist traffic to Nepal.
The NTB in association with Royal Nepal Airlines and five star hotels of Kathmandu have launched the special summer promotion campaign in India from May to September 2003.
The ‘Super Summer Getaway ‘ campaign will mainly focus the upmarket segment of India offering exciting and competitive holiday packages. The participating hotels are:
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Hotel De’l Annapurna;
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Hyatt Regency Kathmandu;
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Radisson Hotel Kathmandu;
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Soaltee Crowne Plaza;
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The Everest Hotel.
The five-star super summer getaway package will start at INR 3,999 ($87) with various facilities provided by each hotels.
The campaign also includes activities like organising FAM trips for journalists from major metros of India, release of advertisement with destination editorials and airing of TV commercials. In addition, corporate tie-ups, news releases, quiz contests, holiday rewards and press meets will be the highlight of the campaign during the period.
The campaign has been launched with the two fold strategies: media campaign focusing on branding Nepal’s image and floating attractive packages offered by the five star hotels.
As a part of the regular briefing programme organised for the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sarbendra Nath Shukla, NTB apprised the minister about its past and ongoing activities and the overall operational modality adopted by the NTB since its inception in 1999.
Shukla said that there has to be a free, frank and viable suggestions for the promotion of tourism.
By way of interaction an entire gamut of issues related to tourism was brought to discussion.
The award-winning Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge has just added to its accolades with its inclusion in the UK Sunday Times list of the global top 5 “Cool Pools”. The Lodge’s infinity pool floats a thousand feet above the Bijaypur River and the waters reflect the majesty of Machhapuchhare and the Annapurna Himal. This latest recognition is in addition to earlier awards from PATA, Conservation International, Conde Nast Traveller, Saga Holidays and Travel Asia.
Top green destination
Nepal is ranked as one of the world’s most popular eco-tourism destinations according to a recent survey by the World Tourism Organisation. It ranks among the top 10 in United Kingdom and Germany.
“Only very few destinations must be considered ‘pure’ eco-tourism destinations in terms of the German market: Costa Rica, Galapagos and Nepal are the most important internationally...” says Tourism Market Trends: World Overview and Tourism Topics -2002. It is a matter of national pride as well as another opportunity for our tourism industry to boost the market value of Nepal to a higher level.”