April 10: The pathway to Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened for the spring season.…
April 10: The pathway to Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened for the spring season.…
April 10: Tourism industry, one of the mainstays of Nepal's economy, is gradually returning to normalcy after being battered by COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two…
April 8: The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal has been rising since the beginning of 2022.…
April 3: An open paragliding championship is going to be held in Pokhara with the objective of promoting the tourism business which has slowed down due to Covid-19.…
April 3: Lately, tourism activities in Chitwan National Park has increased due to the decline in Covid-19 cases.…
April 3: With the onset of spring season, aspiring mountaineers have already started obtaining climbing permits and are all set to begin their…
March 31: The inflow of domestic and external tourists has increased in Mustang, considered to be one of the two districts beyond the mountains, with the fear of coronanvirus infection receding of…
March 21: Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has taken initiative to organise tourism marts in all seven provinces as well as border areas in order to promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from neighbouring India.…
March 21: The hotel business that was badly affected by the Covid-19 is gradually returning back to…
February 11: A cable car connecting Butwal and Palpa and a five star hotel in Basantapur of Palpa are being constructed in collaboration between two big private companies of Nepal.…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 10: The pathway to Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened for the spring season. A team of icefall doctors, tasked with building the pathway to the world's highest peak, Mt Everest, has cleared the route from the base camp to the Camp II. According to the Mount Everest Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), six icefall doctors are currently working on installing signals, stairs, and ropes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The climbers have now already left for Camp II after the pathway was cleared by the icefall doctors, said SPCC vice-president Lama Kaji Sherpa. In order to acclimatize, the climbers have to go from the base camp to the camp II and return. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sherpa said that 15 stairs have been used from the base camp to the Camp II this time. Earlier, 32 were used in 2018, but only 20 in 2019 BS. The pathway to Camp II is also used to climb Lhotse and Nuptse mountains. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the onset of the tourist season, the number of foreign tourists visiting Khumbu in the Everest region has increased. Khum Prasad Poudal, an employee of the Lukla branch of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said that the flights to the Tenzing Hillary Airport in Lukla have increased. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Up to 45 flights by helicopters and 35 flights by different airlines is taking place daily in Lukla these days. He said that as many as 266 tourists arrive in Khumbu by 14 aircraft and 225 tourists via 45 helicopter on Friday. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-10', 'modified' => '2022-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14815', 'image' => '20220410115017_Camp2_01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-10 11:49:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15072', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourism in Nepal Returning back to Normalcy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' April 10: Tourism industry, one of the mainstays of Nepal's economy, is gradually returning to normalcy after being battered by COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 10: Tourism industry, one of the mainstays of Nepal's economy, is gradually returning to normalcy after being battered by COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This spring season witnessed considerable number of foreign tourists arriving in Nepal. A total of 42,006 tourists arrived here from air route in March alone. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, during the same period, 14,977 foreign tourists had visited Nepal. According to the statistics of the Department of Tourism, Nepal has welcomed 78,747 foreign tourists since January this year till March end. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has formed a Tourism Revival Steering Committee under the chairmanship of the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation which is mandated to undertake initiatives for the revival of the tourism industry by exploring new possibilities, identifying new avenues, promoting the tourism industry and creating enabling investment environment in the tourism sector among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Towards this end, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has been organizing Travel Marts in all seven provinces. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Fewa Festival is going to be held from April 13-14. A team of foreign chefs led by Master Chef UK contest winner Santosh Shah will reach various destinations for 10 days and participate in promotional events with special focus on culinary tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mahesh Phuyal, general-manager of Ramada Encore, a 4-star hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu said that Ramada had 70 per cent occupancy of late. Mostly, American, India and European tourists book the 90-room hotel, shared Phuyal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The inflow of foreign tourists has excited tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara, one of the popular tourist destinations in the country. Bharatra Parajuli, a local entrepreneur, said that the tourism entrepreneurs like him were upbeat due to increasing number of tourism activities in Pokhara. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He said that development and promotion of adventurous tourism destinations in and around Pokhara, famed for lakes and natural landscapes, has helped boost the country's tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN)'s Acting President Binayak Shah shared that the hotels in Pokhara were receiving many inquiries lately. He opined that tourism was gradually reviving in Nepal after two years of pandemic-induced crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN)'s former vice-president Nilhari Bastola suggested that in order to revive tourism in Nepal, the government of Nepal needs to spread the message that Nepal is ready and open for tourist and this could be done through foreign ambassadors and consuls stationed in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further recommended the government to devise attractive packages such as free visa for a month among others to bolster the influx of foreign tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB's CEO Dr Dhananjay Regmi informed that the number of tourists from India and Bangladesh had increased significantly as the board had conducted targeted promotional events in these countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Echoing with Shah, Regmi said that tourism in Nepal which was plagued by COVID-19 was slowly clawing back to normalcy. He called for the need to facilitate Indian tourists arriving in Nepal via road ways through various border points. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-10', 'modified' => '2022-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14814', 'image' => '20220410081846_himalaya-trekkers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-10 08:17:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15068', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourism Industry Expected to Boost Foreign Exchange Reserves', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 8: The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal has been rising since the beginning of 2022. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 8: The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal has been rising since the beginning of 2022. Along with the improvement in tourist arrivals, foreign exchange earnings are also increasing. The increase in tourist arrivals amid the deteriorating state of the economy is expected to have a positive impact on foreign exchange reserves.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Tourism Board, 42,006 foreigners visited Nepal in March 2022 alone. In March 2021, the number was 14,977. Mani Raj Lamichhane, director of Nepal Tourism Board, said that tourist arrivals improved after the end of Covid-19 pandemic. He said that more than Rs 3 billion was earned from tourists in March alone.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the board, 17,661 tourists visited Nepal in March from neighboring countries including India. The number of people coming from Europe has also increased significantly. In March, 11,277 tourists arrived in Nepal from European countries. During the corresponding month last year, the number was 1,790. The number of tourists arriving from the USA and Canada is 5,646.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Arrival of tourists from northern neighbor China however has been declining. In March, only 431 Chinese tourists visited Nepal. The number was 1,207 last year. According to Lamichhane, the the tourism industry has contributed to foreign exchange. Compared to 2019, the revenue collected from tourists declined by 20 percent because of the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Tourism Statistics-2020 released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal earned foreign currencies worth Rs 75.37 billion in the fiscal year 2075/76 before Covid-19. The income, however, declined sharply after the pandemic. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank, the country has earned foreign currencies worth Rs 11.35 billion from tourism in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. The amount was Rs 3.89 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Chief Executive Officer of the Tourism Board, Deepak Raj Joshi, suggested that the tourism sector should be given first priority to boost the economy. He said, “One of the fastest growing sources of foreign exchange in Nepal is the tourism sector. Tourism can contribute 15 to 20 percent to the economy as soon as there is an improvement in arrival of tourists.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that Nepal earns billions from the tourism sector under normal circumstances, Joshi said that something should be done immediately as tourists are excited to come to Nepal even in the midst of the crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Joshi suggested that the government and concerned bodies should encourage the airlines to bring tourists, by conveying the message that it is safe to visit Nepal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-08', 'modified' => '2022-04-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14810', 'image' => '20220408032128_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-08 15:20:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15035', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Paragliding Competition in Pokhara to Promote Tourism', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 3: An open paragliding championship is going to be held in Pokhara with the objective of promoting the tourism business which has slowed down due to Covid-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 3: An open paragliding championship is going to be held in Pokhara with the objective of promoting the tourism business which has slowed down due to Covid-19. The three-day competition will kick off on April 6. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The competition is being organized by Nepal Airsports Association (NAA) with the support of various organizations related to paragliding. Krishna Bhandari, president of the association, said that the competition is being organized to attract domestic and foreign tourists as well as to promote adventure sports activities. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, in the championship this year will feature competitions in various categories including Accuracy, Overall Landing, Women's Landing, Team Landing, Accuracy Tandem and Air Show Costume. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Male and female athletes will participate in four different events towards the accuracy of paragliding. Bhandari said that the first, second, third and position holders of the Overall Landing event will receive cash prizes of Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the first, second, third and players in the women’s landing will receive cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, the first three winners of Team Accuracy will receive Rs 20,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. Similarly, in other areas under accuracy tandem, the players finishing first, second, third will receive cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The first place winner as Best Acrobat in the Air Show will get Rs 15,000 cash prize, second will get Rs 10,000 and third place winner will get Rs 5,000 along with medals and certificates. Along with this, prize money of Rs 10,000 will also be given to Best Costumes in the competition. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The organizers have said that the names can be registered online till April 3 to participate in the competition. Nepalis and foreigners are participating in the competition. According to the organizers, it will cost around Rs 3 million to organise the competition. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The annual competition had not been held for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14777', 'image' => '20220403063530_20220108023033_Clipboard60.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 18:34:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15032', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourist Activities up in Chitwan National Park', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 3: Lately, tourism activities in Chitwan National Park has increased due to the decline in Covid-19 cases. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 3: Lately, tourism activities in Chitwan National Park has increased due to the decline in Covid-19 cases. The park confirmed that the number of tourists, especially those from within the country, has started increasing after the decline in Covid-19 infection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the park officials, 108,254 tourists have already visited the park in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, which is more than that of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The number of tourists visiting the park was 92,209 in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The park officials informed that a total of 182,435 people had visited the park in the last fiscal year. According to the park's information officer Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, 5,394 foreign tourists visited the park in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. Among the foreign tourists, the number of female tourists is 2,540 and male tourists is 2,854.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the park, 4,865 tourists from SAARC countries visited the park in the current fiscal year. Last year, the number of foreign tourists from SAARC countries was 1,364 when 1,244 people from countries other than SAARC nations had visited the park.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14774', 'image' => '20220403024054_Chitwan-sunset-sauraha-nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 14:40:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15029', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => '22 Groups get Climbing Permits for Spring Expedition', 'sub_title' => ' Government collects royalties of Rs 56 million so far ', 'summary' => 'April 3: With the onset of spring season, aspiring mountaineers have already started obtaining climbing permits and are all set to begin their expeditions.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 3: With the onset of spring season, aspiring mountaineers have already started obtaining climbing permits and are all set to begin their expeditions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informed that 22 expedition groups were granted permission as of March 31. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, five groups have received permission for climbing the highest mountain in the world Mt Everest while four have obtained permission to scale Mt Annapurna. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, one group each was given permit for scaling Mt Ama Dablam, Mt Lhotse, Mt Kanchejungha and Mt Dhaulagiri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Permits were also issued for climbing peaks such as Mt Nuptse and Minglung Peak. Altogether 153 aspiring climbers, including 37 women and 116 men, have received permits to climb various mountains, the department said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The fepartment further shared that over Rs 56 million has been collected in royalties from the climbers so far. - RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14771', 'image' => '20220403080643_Spring Expedition (8).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 08:05:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15019', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Inflow of Tourists up in Mustang ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 31: The inflow of domestic and external tourists has increased in Mustang, considered to be one of the two districts beyond the mountains, with the fear of coronanvirus infection receding of late. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dhruba Sagar Sharma/RSS </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 31: The inflow of domestic and external tourists has increased in Mustang, considered to be one of the two districts beyond the mountains, with the fear of coronanvirus infection receding of late. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs are delighted at the moment to welcome around 3,000 tourists entering Mustang and Lo-Manthang through land and air routes on a daily basis. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sources at Jomsom Airport said around 15 flights are taking place a day now in Mustang – the centre of attraction for domestic and external tourists. Likewise, there seems a long queue of vehicles transport means along the Beni-Jomsom road leading to Muktinath and Lo-Manthang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs said arrival of tourists has increased significantly in Mustang which saw almost zero arrival of tourists for almost two years during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This is the prime season for tourists and their number has been increasing thanks to the decline in Covid-19 infection and the rise in vaccination drive.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the festival of Chaite Dashain just around the corner, a huge number of people is expected to offer homage to their ancestors at Kaagbeni of Mustang district.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Devlal Poudel, a local of Gaindakot Municipality-12, Harkapur said, "I found Mustang much more captivating than expected. It was difficult to get hotel room due to huge number of tourists." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Nepalis residing in different countries are also returning home with the advent of cultural fair at Lo-Manthang in upper Mustang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of Jomsom Airport Puskal Raj Sharma informed that 15 flights are taking place daily after Mustang-Pokhara air service resumed since March 6. Each flight has a capacity of 18 passengers. With this, daily 250 plus people are entering Mustang via air route, he informed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lately over 2,000 tourists are daily entering Mustang on tourist buses, jeeps and motorbike via the land route, the district police office sources said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hotel entrepreneurs said that the tourism industry which was almost nil is now revitalizing with the rise in the arrival of tourists. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-31', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14761', 'image' => '20220331114824_459932_589579011065826_229923417_o.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-31 11:47:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14969', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'NTB Organizing Travel Marts to Promote Domestic Tourism', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 21: Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has taken initiative to organise tourism marts in all seven provinces as well as border areas in order to promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from neighbouring India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:11.0pt">March 21: </span></strong>Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has taken initiative to organise tourism marts in all seven provinces as well as border areas in order to promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from neighbouring India. In accordance with the plan, NTB is organizing Eastern Tourism Travel Mart in Dharan of Province 1 from March 25-27, 2022.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During a press conference organised at NTB on March 22, Dr Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of NTB, informed that the board is organizing tourism marts for tourism promotion in the border areas. NTB is organizing 'Provincial Travel Mart' in each province to develop and expand tourism activities of different provinces and to establish business relations with the tour operators of the international market. These programs are under the policy and program of 2078-79, Regmi said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In this regard, to promote the tourism activities in Nepalgunj, Bardiya, and Karnali provinces, the Western Tourism Travel Mart was held on March 10 to 12 jointly by the Board and Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City. In this mart, the city of Nepalgunj was promoted as the Gateway of Karnali.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, NTB, in collaboration with the Dharan sub-metropolis will organize the Eastern Tourism Travel Mart in Province 1 in Dharan on 25-27, March 2022. Similarly, the board will organize Far-Western Tourism Travel Mart in Dhangadhi on 8th-10th April 2022.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhawesh Kumar Shrestha, the coordinator of Eastern Tourism Travel Mart, informed that promoting the overall tourism activities and destinations of the country nationally and internationally is the objective of the Eastern Tourism Travel Mart. He informed that Eastern Tourism Travel Mart 2022 is the third edition of the mart organized in Dharan since 2018 BS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the organisers of the Far West Tourism Travel March 2022, plan to promote tourist destinations of the province that spread from the Shuklaphanta plains to the Api and Saipal mountains in the north under the branding of ‘Sundar Sudur Paschin – from Shukla to Api/Saipal’ during the event in Dhangadhi on April 8, 9 and 10.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Hikmat Singh Aire, senior director of the board, these marts will have the active participation of state-level chapters of NATTA, as well as local tourism-related organizations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In these marts, there will be business interaction between Nepal's tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers to promote the sale of tour packages in the region by involving tour operators from bordering Indian cities. In these marts, tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers will promote attractive packages, said Aire. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers will promote packages with attractive stalls. Local cultural presentations and performances, and food stalls are the major attractions of the mart.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-22', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14711', 'image' => '20220322123309_Nepal-Tourism-Board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-22 12:32:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14963', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Hotel Occupancy Climbs to 35 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 21: The hotel business that was badly affected by the Covid-19 is gradually returning back to normalcy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 21: The hotel business that was badly affected by the Covid-19 is gradually returning back to normalcy. The occupancy of hotels in the Kathmandu valley as well as other tourist destinations has started to improve.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to hoteliers, their business is gradually improving. Hotel occupancy, which fell to 5 percent during the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic, has risen to 35 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shreejana Rana, president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), said that the situation at present has improved compared to the past.</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> She said that the hotel sector has become active due to domestic and Indian tourists. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The Ukraine-Russia war has made the arrival of European tourist uncertain," Rana said. She said that the government should give more priority to identifying tourist destinations and their marketing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rana stressed on the need for training to provide a better environment to the Indian tourists. She urged the authorities to set up “Namaste Desks” in the border areas to facilitate Indian tourists. Sajan Shakya, executive director of Kathmandu Prince Hotel and general secretary of HAN, informed that the occupancy of hotels has increased on an average.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He noted that the hotel business has improved in February and March compared to the last month of 2021 and the beginning of January 2022. "March and April are also tourist seasons," said Shakya. "This season, the number of tourists coming for trekking is on the rise. He said that the tourists are interested in trekking and adventure activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Bikal Tulachan, president of HAN's Pokhara chapter, said that although the occupancy rate could not improve significantly due to the reduction in night stay, tourism activities have increased overall. He said that the presence of domestic tourists was significant while the number of foreign tourists has also increased to some extent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the number of tourists arriving from European countries is low, he said. According to him, even though the occupancy rate of hotels in Pokhara is 10 percent, arrival of tourists is improving. Businessmen in the Bhairahawa area of Rupandehi said that tourism activities have increased due to the presence of Indian tourists. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CP Shrestha, president of Siddhartha Hotel Association of Nepal, said that the improvement in the arrival of Indian tourists and the influx of tourists due to various project works have improved the business of hotels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the occupancy rate of hotels is at least 25 to 30 percent at present. Similarly, up to 15 percent of booking has been done from Maharashtra and other states of India, he said. Arrival of tourists has almost doubled in February 2022 compared to the period of Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 36,741 tourists from 33 countries visited Nepal in the first two months of 2022.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-21', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14705', 'image' => '20220321115638_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-21 11:55:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13034', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Hotel and Cable Car in Palpa in the Pipeline ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 11: A cable car connecting Butwal and Palpa and a five star hotel in Basantapur of Palpa are being constructed in collaboration between two big private companies of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">February 11: A cable car connecting Butwal and Palpa and a five star hotel in Basantapur of Palpa are being constructed in collaboration between two big private companies of Nepal. This construction is being done jointly by Sharma & Company and IME Group. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">These companies have started the work by establishing a company called Lumbini Cable Car Pvt Ltd. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday approved the company to use 6.27 hectares of national forest under Rupandehi and Palpa districts for 25 years. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will lay the foundation stone of the cable car, hotel and two temples that will be built with an investment of Rs 3.50 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Altogether 3.16 hectares of land falls in the Chure Community Forest of Butwal Sub-metropolitan city – 3, Rupandehi and 3.11 hectares of land in Chuiri danda/Nyauli Community Forest of Tinau Rural municipality – 3, Palpa. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Meanwhile, the government has given permission to the company to remove 1,338 poles and trees in the area. Ramesh Sharma, Managing Director (MD) of Sharma & Company, informed that a tender is will be issued after signing an agreement with the cable car construction company. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the construction of the cable car will be completed within the next two years and the hotel will be operational within the next three years. As there will be delay in hotel occupancy, the two companies are preparing to open a restaurant prior to the hotel. These companies were planning to invest Rs 5 billion for cable car and 200-bed capacity hotels and resort. However, they cut down the investment due to the coronavirus pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">As it will take more time for tourists to come due to coronavirus and many new hotels have been opened in the area, Sharma said that the hotels are being built with less capacity due to increased competition. “The investment has been reduced as the virus has affected tourism sector,” he said, “The bed capacity has been reduced to 150, so the cost has also been reduced.” </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-02-11', 'modified' => '2021-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12780', 'image' => '20210211021226_index.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-02-11 14:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15073', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Pathway to Camp II of Everest Opened ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: The pathway to Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened for the spring season. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 10: The pathway to Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened for the spring season. A team of icefall doctors, tasked with building the pathway to the world's highest peak, Mt Everest, has cleared the route from the base camp to the Camp II. According to the Mount Everest Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), six icefall doctors are currently working on installing signals, stairs, and ropes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The climbers have now already left for Camp II after the pathway was cleared by the icefall doctors, said SPCC vice-president Lama Kaji Sherpa. In order to acclimatize, the climbers have to go from the base camp to the camp II and return. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sherpa said that 15 stairs have been used from the base camp to the Camp II this time. Earlier, 32 were used in 2018, but only 20 in 2019 BS. The pathway to Camp II is also used to climb Lhotse and Nuptse mountains. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the onset of the tourist season, the number of foreign tourists visiting Khumbu in the Everest region has increased. Khum Prasad Poudal, an employee of the Lukla branch of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said that the flights to the Tenzing Hillary Airport in Lukla have increased. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Up to 45 flights by helicopters and 35 flights by different airlines is taking place daily in Lukla these days. He said that as many as 266 tourists arrive in Khumbu by 14 aircraft and 225 tourists via 45 helicopter on Friday. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-10', 'modified' => '2022-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14815', 'image' => '20220410115017_Camp2_01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-10 11:49:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15072', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourism in Nepal Returning back to Normalcy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' April 10: Tourism industry, one of the mainstays of Nepal's economy, is gradually returning to normalcy after being battered by COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 10: Tourism industry, one of the mainstays of Nepal's economy, is gradually returning to normalcy after being battered by COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This spring season witnessed considerable number of foreign tourists arriving in Nepal. A total of 42,006 tourists arrived here from air route in March alone. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, during the same period, 14,977 foreign tourists had visited Nepal. According to the statistics of the Department of Tourism, Nepal has welcomed 78,747 foreign tourists since January this year till March end. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has formed a Tourism Revival Steering Committee under the chairmanship of the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation which is mandated to undertake initiatives for the revival of the tourism industry by exploring new possibilities, identifying new avenues, promoting the tourism industry and creating enabling investment environment in the tourism sector among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Towards this end, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has been organizing Travel Marts in all seven provinces. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Fewa Festival is going to be held from April 13-14. A team of foreign chefs led by Master Chef UK contest winner Santosh Shah will reach various destinations for 10 days and participate in promotional events with special focus on culinary tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mahesh Phuyal, general-manager of Ramada Encore, a 4-star hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu said that Ramada had 70 per cent occupancy of late. Mostly, American, India and European tourists book the 90-room hotel, shared Phuyal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The inflow of foreign tourists has excited tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara, one of the popular tourist destinations in the country. Bharatra Parajuli, a local entrepreneur, said that the tourism entrepreneurs like him were upbeat due to increasing number of tourism activities in Pokhara. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He said that development and promotion of adventurous tourism destinations in and around Pokhara, famed for lakes and natural landscapes, has helped boost the country's tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN)'s Acting President Binayak Shah shared that the hotels in Pokhara were receiving many inquiries lately. He opined that tourism was gradually reviving in Nepal after two years of pandemic-induced crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN)'s former vice-president Nilhari Bastola suggested that in order to revive tourism in Nepal, the government of Nepal needs to spread the message that Nepal is ready and open for tourist and this could be done through foreign ambassadors and consuls stationed in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further recommended the government to devise attractive packages such as free visa for a month among others to bolster the influx of foreign tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB's CEO Dr Dhananjay Regmi informed that the number of tourists from India and Bangladesh had increased significantly as the board had conducted targeted promotional events in these countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Echoing with Shah, Regmi said that tourism in Nepal which was plagued by COVID-19 was slowly clawing back to normalcy. He called for the need to facilitate Indian tourists arriving in Nepal via road ways through various border points. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-10', 'modified' => '2022-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14814', 'image' => '20220410081846_himalaya-trekkers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-10 08:17:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15068', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourism Industry Expected to Boost Foreign Exchange Reserves', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 8: The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal has been rising since the beginning of 2022. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 8: The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal has been rising since the beginning of 2022. Along with the improvement in tourist arrivals, foreign exchange earnings are also increasing. The increase in tourist arrivals amid the deteriorating state of the economy is expected to have a positive impact on foreign exchange reserves.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Tourism Board, 42,006 foreigners visited Nepal in March 2022 alone. In March 2021, the number was 14,977. Mani Raj Lamichhane, director of Nepal Tourism Board, said that tourist arrivals improved after the end of Covid-19 pandemic. He said that more than Rs 3 billion was earned from tourists in March alone.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the board, 17,661 tourists visited Nepal in March from neighboring countries including India. The number of people coming from Europe has also increased significantly. In March, 11,277 tourists arrived in Nepal from European countries. During the corresponding month last year, the number was 1,790. The number of tourists arriving from the USA and Canada is 5,646.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Arrival of tourists from northern neighbor China however has been declining. In March, only 431 Chinese tourists visited Nepal. The number was 1,207 last year. According to Lamichhane, the the tourism industry has contributed to foreign exchange. Compared to 2019, the revenue collected from tourists declined by 20 percent because of the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Tourism Statistics-2020 released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal earned foreign currencies worth Rs 75.37 billion in the fiscal year 2075/76 before Covid-19. The income, however, declined sharply after the pandemic. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank, the country has earned foreign currencies worth Rs 11.35 billion from tourism in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. The amount was Rs 3.89 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Chief Executive Officer of the Tourism Board, Deepak Raj Joshi, suggested that the tourism sector should be given first priority to boost the economy. He said, “One of the fastest growing sources of foreign exchange in Nepal is the tourism sector. Tourism can contribute 15 to 20 percent to the economy as soon as there is an improvement in arrival of tourists.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that Nepal earns billions from the tourism sector under normal circumstances, Joshi said that something should be done immediately as tourists are excited to come to Nepal even in the midst of the crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Joshi suggested that the government and concerned bodies should encourage the airlines to bring tourists, by conveying the message that it is safe to visit Nepal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-08', 'modified' => '2022-04-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14810', 'image' => '20220408032128_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-08 15:20:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15035', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Paragliding Competition in Pokhara to Promote Tourism', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 3: An open paragliding championship is going to be held in Pokhara with the objective of promoting the tourism business which has slowed down due to Covid-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 3: An open paragliding championship is going to be held in Pokhara with the objective of promoting the tourism business which has slowed down due to Covid-19. The three-day competition will kick off on April 6. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The competition is being organized by Nepal Airsports Association (NAA) with the support of various organizations related to paragliding. Krishna Bhandari, president of the association, said that the competition is being organized to attract domestic and foreign tourists as well as to promote adventure sports activities. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, in the championship this year will feature competitions in various categories including Accuracy, Overall Landing, Women's Landing, Team Landing, Accuracy Tandem and Air Show Costume. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Male and female athletes will participate in four different events towards the accuracy of paragliding. Bhandari said that the first, second, third and position holders of the Overall Landing event will receive cash prizes of Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the first, second, third and players in the women’s landing will receive cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, the first three winners of Team Accuracy will receive Rs 20,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. Similarly, in other areas under accuracy tandem, the players finishing first, second, third will receive cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The first place winner as Best Acrobat in the Air Show will get Rs 15,000 cash prize, second will get Rs 10,000 and third place winner will get Rs 5,000 along with medals and certificates. Along with this, prize money of Rs 10,000 will also be given to Best Costumes in the competition. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The organizers have said that the names can be registered online till April 3 to participate in the competition. Nepalis and foreigners are participating in the competition. According to the organizers, it will cost around Rs 3 million to organise the competition. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The annual competition had not been held for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14777', 'image' => '20220403063530_20220108023033_Clipboard60.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 18:34:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15032', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourist Activities up in Chitwan National Park', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 3: Lately, tourism activities in Chitwan National Park has increased due to the decline in Covid-19 cases. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 3: Lately, tourism activities in Chitwan National Park has increased due to the decline in Covid-19 cases. The park confirmed that the number of tourists, especially those from within the country, has started increasing after the decline in Covid-19 infection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the park officials, 108,254 tourists have already visited the park in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, which is more than that of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The number of tourists visiting the park was 92,209 in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The park officials informed that a total of 182,435 people had visited the park in the last fiscal year. According to the park's information officer Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, 5,394 foreign tourists visited the park in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. Among the foreign tourists, the number of female tourists is 2,540 and male tourists is 2,854.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the park, 4,865 tourists from SAARC countries visited the park in the current fiscal year. Last year, the number of foreign tourists from SAARC countries was 1,364 when 1,244 people from countries other than SAARC nations had visited the park.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14774', 'image' => '20220403024054_Chitwan-sunset-sauraha-nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 14:40:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15029', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => '22 Groups get Climbing Permits for Spring Expedition', 'sub_title' => ' Government collects royalties of Rs 56 million so far ', 'summary' => 'April 3: With the onset of spring season, aspiring mountaineers have already started obtaining climbing permits and are all set to begin their expeditions.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 3: With the onset of spring season, aspiring mountaineers have already started obtaining climbing permits and are all set to begin their expeditions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informed that 22 expedition groups were granted permission as of March 31. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, five groups have received permission for climbing the highest mountain in the world Mt Everest while four have obtained permission to scale Mt Annapurna. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, one group each was given permit for scaling Mt Ama Dablam, Mt Lhotse, Mt Kanchejungha and Mt Dhaulagiri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Permits were also issued for climbing peaks such as Mt Nuptse and Minglung Peak. Altogether 153 aspiring climbers, including 37 women and 116 men, have received permits to climb various mountains, the department said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The fepartment further shared that over Rs 56 million has been collected in royalties from the climbers so far. - RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14771', 'image' => '20220403080643_Spring Expedition (8).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 08:05:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15019', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Inflow of Tourists up in Mustang ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 31: The inflow of domestic and external tourists has increased in Mustang, considered to be one of the two districts beyond the mountains, with the fear of coronanvirus infection receding of late. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dhruba Sagar Sharma/RSS </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 31: The inflow of domestic and external tourists has increased in Mustang, considered to be one of the two districts beyond the mountains, with the fear of coronanvirus infection receding of late. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs are delighted at the moment to welcome around 3,000 tourists entering Mustang and Lo-Manthang through land and air routes on a daily basis. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sources at Jomsom Airport said around 15 flights are taking place a day now in Mustang – the centre of attraction for domestic and external tourists. Likewise, there seems a long queue of vehicles transport means along the Beni-Jomsom road leading to Muktinath and Lo-Manthang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs said arrival of tourists has increased significantly in Mustang which saw almost zero arrival of tourists for almost two years during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This is the prime season for tourists and their number has been increasing thanks to the decline in Covid-19 infection and the rise in vaccination drive.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the festival of Chaite Dashain just around the corner, a huge number of people is expected to offer homage to their ancestors at Kaagbeni of Mustang district.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Devlal Poudel, a local of Gaindakot Municipality-12, Harkapur said, "I found Mustang much more captivating than expected. It was difficult to get hotel room due to huge number of tourists." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Nepalis residing in different countries are also returning home with the advent of cultural fair at Lo-Manthang in upper Mustang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of Jomsom Airport Puskal Raj Sharma informed that 15 flights are taking place daily after Mustang-Pokhara air service resumed since March 6. Each flight has a capacity of 18 passengers. With this, daily 250 plus people are entering Mustang via air route, he informed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lately over 2,000 tourists are daily entering Mustang on tourist buses, jeeps and motorbike via the land route, the district police office sources said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hotel entrepreneurs said that the tourism industry which was almost nil is now revitalizing with the rise in the arrival of tourists. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-31', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14761', 'image' => '20220331114824_459932_589579011065826_229923417_o.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-31 11:47:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14969', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'NTB Organizing Travel Marts to Promote Domestic Tourism', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 21: Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has taken initiative to organise tourism marts in all seven provinces as well as border areas in order to promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from neighbouring India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:11.0pt">March 21: </span></strong>Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has taken initiative to organise tourism marts in all seven provinces as well as border areas in order to promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from neighbouring India. In accordance with the plan, NTB is organizing Eastern Tourism Travel Mart in Dharan of Province 1 from March 25-27, 2022.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During a press conference organised at NTB on March 22, Dr Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of NTB, informed that the board is organizing tourism marts for tourism promotion in the border areas. NTB is organizing 'Provincial Travel Mart' in each province to develop and expand tourism activities of different provinces and to establish business relations with the tour operators of the international market. These programs are under the policy and program of 2078-79, Regmi said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In this regard, to promote the tourism activities in Nepalgunj, Bardiya, and Karnali provinces, the Western Tourism Travel Mart was held on March 10 to 12 jointly by the Board and Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City. In this mart, the city of Nepalgunj was promoted as the Gateway of Karnali.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, NTB, in collaboration with the Dharan sub-metropolis will organize the Eastern Tourism Travel Mart in Province 1 in Dharan on 25-27, March 2022. Similarly, the board will organize Far-Western Tourism Travel Mart in Dhangadhi on 8th-10th April 2022.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhawesh Kumar Shrestha, the coordinator of Eastern Tourism Travel Mart, informed that promoting the overall tourism activities and destinations of the country nationally and internationally is the objective of the Eastern Tourism Travel Mart. He informed that Eastern Tourism Travel Mart 2022 is the third edition of the mart organized in Dharan since 2018 BS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the organisers of the Far West Tourism Travel March 2022, plan to promote tourist destinations of the province that spread from the Shuklaphanta plains to the Api and Saipal mountains in the north under the branding of ‘Sundar Sudur Paschin – from Shukla to Api/Saipal’ during the event in Dhangadhi on April 8, 9 and 10.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Hikmat Singh Aire, senior director of the board, these marts will have the active participation of state-level chapters of NATTA, as well as local tourism-related organizations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In these marts, there will be business interaction between Nepal's tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers to promote the sale of tour packages in the region by involving tour operators from bordering Indian cities. In these marts, tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers will promote attractive packages, said Aire. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers will promote packages with attractive stalls. Local cultural presentations and performances, and food stalls are the major attractions of the mart.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-22', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14711', 'image' => '20220322123309_Nepal-Tourism-Board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-22 12:32:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14963', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Hotel Occupancy Climbs to 35 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 21: The hotel business that was badly affected by the Covid-19 is gradually returning back to normalcy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 21: The hotel business that was badly affected by the Covid-19 is gradually returning back to normalcy. The occupancy of hotels in the Kathmandu valley as well as other tourist destinations has started to improve.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to hoteliers, their business is gradually improving. Hotel occupancy, which fell to 5 percent during the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic, has risen to 35 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shreejana Rana, president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), said that the situation at present has improved compared to the past.</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> She said that the hotel sector has become active due to domestic and Indian tourists. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The Ukraine-Russia war has made the arrival of European tourist uncertain," Rana said. She said that the government should give more priority to identifying tourist destinations and their marketing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rana stressed on the need for training to provide a better environment to the Indian tourists. She urged the authorities to set up “Namaste Desks” in the border areas to facilitate Indian tourists. Sajan Shakya, executive director of Kathmandu Prince Hotel and general secretary of HAN, informed that the occupancy of hotels has increased on an average.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He noted that the hotel business has improved in February and March compared to the last month of 2021 and the beginning of January 2022. "March and April are also tourist seasons," said Shakya. "This season, the number of tourists coming for trekking is on the rise. He said that the tourists are interested in trekking and adventure activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Bikal Tulachan, president of HAN's Pokhara chapter, said that although the occupancy rate could not improve significantly due to the reduction in night stay, tourism activities have increased overall. He said that the presence of domestic tourists was significant while the number of foreign tourists has also increased to some extent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the number of tourists arriving from European countries is low, he said. According to him, even though the occupancy rate of hotels in Pokhara is 10 percent, arrival of tourists is improving. Businessmen in the Bhairahawa area of Rupandehi said that tourism activities have increased due to the presence of Indian tourists. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CP Shrestha, president of Siddhartha Hotel Association of Nepal, said that the improvement in the arrival of Indian tourists and the influx of tourists due to various project works have improved the business of hotels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the occupancy rate of hotels is at least 25 to 30 percent at present. Similarly, up to 15 percent of booking has been done from Maharashtra and other states of India, he said. Arrival of tourists has almost doubled in February 2022 compared to the period of Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 36,741 tourists from 33 countries visited Nepal in the first two months of 2022.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-21', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14705', 'image' => '20220321115638_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-21 11:55:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13034', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Hotel and Cable Car in Palpa in the Pipeline ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 11: A cable car connecting Butwal and Palpa and a five star hotel in Basantapur of Palpa are being constructed in collaboration between two big private companies of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">February 11: A cable car connecting Butwal and Palpa and a five star hotel in Basantapur of Palpa are being constructed in collaboration between two big private companies of Nepal. This construction is being done jointly by Sharma & Company and IME Group. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">These companies have started the work by establishing a company called Lumbini Cable Car Pvt Ltd. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday approved the company to use 6.27 hectares of national forest under Rupandehi and Palpa districts for 25 years. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will lay the foundation stone of the cable car, hotel and two temples that will be built with an investment of Rs 3.50 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Altogether 3.16 hectares of land falls in the Chure Community Forest of Butwal Sub-metropolitan city – 3, Rupandehi and 3.11 hectares of land in Chuiri danda/Nyauli Community Forest of Tinau Rural municipality – 3, Palpa. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Meanwhile, the government has given permission to the company to remove 1,338 poles and trees in the area. Ramesh Sharma, Managing Director (MD) of Sharma & Company, informed that a tender is will be issued after signing an agreement with the cable car construction company. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the construction of the cable car will be completed within the next two years and the hotel will be operational within the next three years. As there will be delay in hotel occupancy, the two companies are preparing to open a restaurant prior to the hotel. These companies were planning to invest Rs 5 billion for cable car and 200-bed capacity hotels and resort. However, they cut down the investment due to the coronavirus pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">As it will take more time for tourists to come due to coronavirus and many new hotels have been opened in the area, Sharma said that the hotels are being built with less capacity due to increased competition. “The investment has been reduced as the virus has affected tourism sector,” he said, “The bed capacity has been reduced to 150, so the cost has also been reduced.” </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-02-11', 'modified' => '2021-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12780', 'image' => '20210211021226_index.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-02-11 14:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15073', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Pathway to Camp II of Everest Opened ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: The pathway to Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened for the spring season. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 10: The pathway to Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened for the spring season. A team of icefall doctors, tasked with building the pathway to the world's highest peak, Mt Everest, has cleared the route from the base camp to the Camp II. According to the Mount Everest Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), six icefall doctors are currently working on installing signals, stairs, and ropes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The climbers have now already left for Camp II after the pathway was cleared by the icefall doctors, said SPCC vice-president Lama Kaji Sherpa. In order to acclimatize, the climbers have to go from the base camp to the camp II and return. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sherpa said that 15 stairs have been used from the base camp to the Camp II this time. Earlier, 32 were used in 2018, but only 20 in 2019 BS. The pathway to Camp II is also used to climb Lhotse and Nuptse mountains. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the onset of the tourist season, the number of foreign tourists visiting Khumbu in the Everest region has increased. Khum Prasad Poudal, an employee of the Lukla branch of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said that the flights to the Tenzing Hillary Airport in Lukla have increased. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Up to 45 flights by helicopters and 35 flights by different airlines is taking place daily in Lukla these days. He said that as many as 266 tourists arrive in Khumbu by 14 aircraft and 225 tourists via 45 helicopter on Friday. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-10', 'modified' => '2022-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14815', 'image' => '20220410115017_Camp2_01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-10 11:49:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15072', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourism in Nepal Returning back to Normalcy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' April 10: Tourism industry, one of the mainstays of Nepal's economy, is gradually returning to normalcy after being battered by COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 10: Tourism industry, one of the mainstays of Nepal's economy, is gradually returning to normalcy after being battered by COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This spring season witnessed considerable number of foreign tourists arriving in Nepal. A total of 42,006 tourists arrived here from air route in March alone. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, during the same period, 14,977 foreign tourists had visited Nepal. According to the statistics of the Department of Tourism, Nepal has welcomed 78,747 foreign tourists since January this year till March end. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has formed a Tourism Revival Steering Committee under the chairmanship of the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation which is mandated to undertake initiatives for the revival of the tourism industry by exploring new possibilities, identifying new avenues, promoting the tourism industry and creating enabling investment environment in the tourism sector among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Towards this end, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has been organizing Travel Marts in all seven provinces. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Fewa Festival is going to be held from April 13-14. A team of foreign chefs led by Master Chef UK contest winner Santosh Shah will reach various destinations for 10 days and participate in promotional events with special focus on culinary tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mahesh Phuyal, general-manager of Ramada Encore, a 4-star hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu said that Ramada had 70 per cent occupancy of late. Mostly, American, India and European tourists book the 90-room hotel, shared Phuyal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The inflow of foreign tourists has excited tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara, one of the popular tourist destinations in the country. Bharatra Parajuli, a local entrepreneur, said that the tourism entrepreneurs like him were upbeat due to increasing number of tourism activities in Pokhara. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He said that development and promotion of adventurous tourism destinations in and around Pokhara, famed for lakes and natural landscapes, has helped boost the country's tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN)'s Acting President Binayak Shah shared that the hotels in Pokhara were receiving many inquiries lately. He opined that tourism was gradually reviving in Nepal after two years of pandemic-induced crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN)'s former vice-president Nilhari Bastola suggested that in order to revive tourism in Nepal, the government of Nepal needs to spread the message that Nepal is ready and open for tourist and this could be done through foreign ambassadors and consuls stationed in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further recommended the government to devise attractive packages such as free visa for a month among others to bolster the influx of foreign tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB's CEO Dr Dhananjay Regmi informed that the number of tourists from India and Bangladesh had increased significantly as the board had conducted targeted promotional events in these countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Echoing with Shah, Regmi said that tourism in Nepal which was plagued by COVID-19 was slowly clawing back to normalcy. He called for the need to facilitate Indian tourists arriving in Nepal via road ways through various border points. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-10', 'modified' => '2022-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14814', 'image' => '20220410081846_himalaya-trekkers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-10 08:17:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15068', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourism Industry Expected to Boost Foreign Exchange Reserves', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 8: The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal has been rising since the beginning of 2022. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 8: The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal has been rising since the beginning of 2022. Along with the improvement in tourist arrivals, foreign exchange earnings are also increasing. The increase in tourist arrivals amid the deteriorating state of the economy is expected to have a positive impact on foreign exchange reserves.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Tourism Board, 42,006 foreigners visited Nepal in March 2022 alone. In March 2021, the number was 14,977. Mani Raj Lamichhane, director of Nepal Tourism Board, said that tourist arrivals improved after the end of Covid-19 pandemic. He said that more than Rs 3 billion was earned from tourists in March alone.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the board, 17,661 tourists visited Nepal in March from neighboring countries including India. The number of people coming from Europe has also increased significantly. In March, 11,277 tourists arrived in Nepal from European countries. During the corresponding month last year, the number was 1,790. The number of tourists arriving from the USA and Canada is 5,646.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Arrival of tourists from northern neighbor China however has been declining. In March, only 431 Chinese tourists visited Nepal. The number was 1,207 last year. According to Lamichhane, the the tourism industry has contributed to foreign exchange. Compared to 2019, the revenue collected from tourists declined by 20 percent because of the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Tourism Statistics-2020 released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal earned foreign currencies worth Rs 75.37 billion in the fiscal year 2075/76 before Covid-19. The income, however, declined sharply after the pandemic. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank, the country has earned foreign currencies worth Rs 11.35 billion from tourism in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. The amount was Rs 3.89 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Chief Executive Officer of the Tourism Board, Deepak Raj Joshi, suggested that the tourism sector should be given first priority to boost the economy. He said, “One of the fastest growing sources of foreign exchange in Nepal is the tourism sector. Tourism can contribute 15 to 20 percent to the economy as soon as there is an improvement in arrival of tourists.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that Nepal earns billions from the tourism sector under normal circumstances, Joshi said that something should be done immediately as tourists are excited to come to Nepal even in the midst of the crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Joshi suggested that the government and concerned bodies should encourage the airlines to bring tourists, by conveying the message that it is safe to visit Nepal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-08', 'modified' => '2022-04-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14810', 'image' => '20220408032128_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-08 15:20:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15035', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Paragliding Competition in Pokhara to Promote Tourism', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 3: An open paragliding championship is going to be held in Pokhara with the objective of promoting the tourism business which has slowed down due to Covid-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 3: An open paragliding championship is going to be held in Pokhara with the objective of promoting the tourism business which has slowed down due to Covid-19. The three-day competition will kick off on April 6. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The competition is being organized by Nepal Airsports Association (NAA) with the support of various organizations related to paragliding. Krishna Bhandari, president of the association, said that the competition is being organized to attract domestic and foreign tourists as well as to promote adventure sports activities. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, in the championship this year will feature competitions in various categories including Accuracy, Overall Landing, Women's Landing, Team Landing, Accuracy Tandem and Air Show Costume. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Male and female athletes will participate in four different events towards the accuracy of paragliding. Bhandari said that the first, second, third and position holders of the Overall Landing event will receive cash prizes of Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the first, second, third and players in the women’s landing will receive cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, the first three winners of Team Accuracy will receive Rs 20,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. Similarly, in other areas under accuracy tandem, the players finishing first, second, third will receive cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The first place winner as Best Acrobat in the Air Show will get Rs 15,000 cash prize, second will get Rs 10,000 and third place winner will get Rs 5,000 along with medals and certificates. Along with this, prize money of Rs 10,000 will also be given to Best Costumes in the competition. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The organizers have said that the names can be registered online till April 3 to participate in the competition. Nepalis and foreigners are participating in the competition. According to the organizers, it will cost around Rs 3 million to organise the competition. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The annual competition had not been held for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14777', 'image' => '20220403063530_20220108023033_Clipboard60.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 18:34:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15032', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourist Activities up in Chitwan National Park', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 3: Lately, tourism activities in Chitwan National Park has increased due to the decline in Covid-19 cases. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 3: Lately, tourism activities in Chitwan National Park has increased due to the decline in Covid-19 cases. The park confirmed that the number of tourists, especially those from within the country, has started increasing after the decline in Covid-19 infection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the park officials, 108,254 tourists have already visited the park in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, which is more than that of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The number of tourists visiting the park was 92,209 in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The park officials informed that a total of 182,435 people had visited the park in the last fiscal year. According to the park's information officer Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, 5,394 foreign tourists visited the park in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. Among the foreign tourists, the number of female tourists is 2,540 and male tourists is 2,854.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the park, 4,865 tourists from SAARC countries visited the park in the current fiscal year. Last year, the number of foreign tourists from SAARC countries was 1,364 when 1,244 people from countries other than SAARC nations had visited the park.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14774', 'image' => '20220403024054_Chitwan-sunset-sauraha-nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 14:40:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15029', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => '22 Groups get Climbing Permits for Spring Expedition', 'sub_title' => ' Government collects royalties of Rs 56 million so far ', 'summary' => 'April 3: With the onset of spring season, aspiring mountaineers have already started obtaining climbing permits and are all set to begin their expeditions.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 3: With the onset of spring season, aspiring mountaineers have already started obtaining climbing permits and are all set to begin their expeditions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informed that 22 expedition groups were granted permission as of March 31. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, five groups have received permission for climbing the highest mountain in the world Mt Everest while four have obtained permission to scale Mt Annapurna. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, one group each was given permit for scaling Mt Ama Dablam, Mt Lhotse, Mt Kanchejungha and Mt Dhaulagiri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Permits were also issued for climbing peaks such as Mt Nuptse and Minglung Peak. Altogether 153 aspiring climbers, including 37 women and 116 men, have received permits to climb various mountains, the department said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The fepartment further shared that over Rs 56 million has been collected in royalties from the climbers so far. - RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14771', 'image' => '20220403080643_Spring Expedition (8).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 08:05:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15019', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Inflow of Tourists up in Mustang ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 31: The inflow of domestic and external tourists has increased in Mustang, considered to be one of the two districts beyond the mountains, with the fear of coronanvirus infection receding of late. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dhruba Sagar Sharma/RSS </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 31: The inflow of domestic and external tourists has increased in Mustang, considered to be one of the two districts beyond the mountains, with the fear of coronanvirus infection receding of late. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs are delighted at the moment to welcome around 3,000 tourists entering Mustang and Lo-Manthang through land and air routes on a daily basis. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sources at Jomsom Airport said around 15 flights are taking place a day now in Mustang – the centre of attraction for domestic and external tourists. Likewise, there seems a long queue of vehicles transport means along the Beni-Jomsom road leading to Muktinath and Lo-Manthang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs said arrival of tourists has increased significantly in Mustang which saw almost zero arrival of tourists for almost two years during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This is the prime season for tourists and their number has been increasing thanks to the decline in Covid-19 infection and the rise in vaccination drive.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the festival of Chaite Dashain just around the corner, a huge number of people is expected to offer homage to their ancestors at Kaagbeni of Mustang district.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Devlal Poudel, a local of Gaindakot Municipality-12, Harkapur said, "I found Mustang much more captivating than expected. It was difficult to get hotel room due to huge number of tourists." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Nepalis residing in different countries are also returning home with the advent of cultural fair at Lo-Manthang in upper Mustang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of Jomsom Airport Puskal Raj Sharma informed that 15 flights are taking place daily after Mustang-Pokhara air service resumed since March 6. Each flight has a capacity of 18 passengers. With this, daily 250 plus people are entering Mustang via air route, he informed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lately over 2,000 tourists are daily entering Mustang on tourist buses, jeeps and motorbike via the land route, the district police office sources said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hotel entrepreneurs said that the tourism industry which was almost nil is now revitalizing with the rise in the arrival of tourists. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-31', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14761', 'image' => '20220331114824_459932_589579011065826_229923417_o.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-31 11:47:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14969', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'NTB Organizing Travel Marts to Promote Domestic Tourism', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 21: Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has taken initiative to organise tourism marts in all seven provinces as well as border areas in order to promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from neighbouring India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:11.0pt">March 21: </span></strong>Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has taken initiative to organise tourism marts in all seven provinces as well as border areas in order to promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from neighbouring India. In accordance with the plan, NTB is organizing Eastern Tourism Travel Mart in Dharan of Province 1 from March 25-27, 2022.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During a press conference organised at NTB on March 22, Dr Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of NTB, informed that the board is organizing tourism marts for tourism promotion in the border areas. NTB is organizing 'Provincial Travel Mart' in each province to develop and expand tourism activities of different provinces and to establish business relations with the tour operators of the international market. These programs are under the policy and program of 2078-79, Regmi said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In this regard, to promote the tourism activities in Nepalgunj, Bardiya, and Karnali provinces, the Western Tourism Travel Mart was held on March 10 to 12 jointly by the Board and Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City. In this mart, the city of Nepalgunj was promoted as the Gateway of Karnali.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, NTB, in collaboration with the Dharan sub-metropolis will organize the Eastern Tourism Travel Mart in Province 1 in Dharan on 25-27, March 2022. Similarly, the board will organize Far-Western Tourism Travel Mart in Dhangadhi on 8th-10th April 2022.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhawesh Kumar Shrestha, the coordinator of Eastern Tourism Travel Mart, informed that promoting the overall tourism activities and destinations of the country nationally and internationally is the objective of the Eastern Tourism Travel Mart. He informed that Eastern Tourism Travel Mart 2022 is the third edition of the mart organized in Dharan since 2018 BS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the organisers of the Far West Tourism Travel March 2022, plan to promote tourist destinations of the province that spread from the Shuklaphanta plains to the Api and Saipal mountains in the north under the branding of ‘Sundar Sudur Paschin – from Shukla to Api/Saipal’ during the event in Dhangadhi on April 8, 9 and 10.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Hikmat Singh Aire, senior director of the board, these marts will have the active participation of state-level chapters of NATTA, as well as local tourism-related organizations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In these marts, there will be business interaction between Nepal's tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers to promote the sale of tour packages in the region by involving tour operators from bordering Indian cities. In these marts, tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers will promote attractive packages, said Aire. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers will promote packages with attractive stalls. Local cultural presentations and performances, and food stalls are the major attractions of the mart.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-22', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14711', 'image' => '20220322123309_Nepal-Tourism-Board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-22 12:32:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14963', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Hotel Occupancy Climbs to 35 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 21: The hotel business that was badly affected by the Covid-19 is gradually returning back to normalcy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 21: The hotel business that was badly affected by the Covid-19 is gradually returning back to normalcy. The occupancy of hotels in the Kathmandu valley as well as other tourist destinations has started to improve.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to hoteliers, their business is gradually improving. Hotel occupancy, which fell to 5 percent during the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic, has risen to 35 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shreejana Rana, president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), said that the situation at present has improved compared to the past.</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> She said that the hotel sector has become active due to domestic and Indian tourists. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The Ukraine-Russia war has made the arrival of European tourist uncertain," Rana said. She said that the government should give more priority to identifying tourist destinations and their marketing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rana stressed on the need for training to provide a better environment to the Indian tourists. She urged the authorities to set up “Namaste Desks” in the border areas to facilitate Indian tourists. Sajan Shakya, executive director of Kathmandu Prince Hotel and general secretary of HAN, informed that the occupancy of hotels has increased on an average.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He noted that the hotel business has improved in February and March compared to the last month of 2021 and the beginning of January 2022. "March and April are also tourist seasons," said Shakya. "This season, the number of tourists coming for trekking is on the rise. He said that the tourists are interested in trekking and adventure activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Bikal Tulachan, president of HAN's Pokhara chapter, said that although the occupancy rate could not improve significantly due to the reduction in night stay, tourism activities have increased overall. He said that the presence of domestic tourists was significant while the number of foreign tourists has also increased to some extent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the number of tourists arriving from European countries is low, he said. According to him, even though the occupancy rate of hotels in Pokhara is 10 percent, arrival of tourists is improving. Businessmen in the Bhairahawa area of Rupandehi said that tourism activities have increased due to the presence of Indian tourists. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CP Shrestha, president of Siddhartha Hotel Association of Nepal, said that the improvement in the arrival of Indian tourists and the influx of tourists due to various project works have improved the business of hotels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the occupancy rate of hotels is at least 25 to 30 percent at present. Similarly, up to 15 percent of booking has been done from Maharashtra and other states of India, he said. Arrival of tourists has almost doubled in February 2022 compared to the period of Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 36,741 tourists from 33 countries visited Nepal in the first two months of 2022.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-21', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14705', 'image' => '20220321115638_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-21 11:55:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13034', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Hotel and Cable Car in Palpa in the Pipeline ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 11: A cable car connecting Butwal and Palpa and a five star hotel in Basantapur of Palpa are being constructed in collaboration between two big private companies of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">February 11: A cable car connecting Butwal and Palpa and a five star hotel in Basantapur of Palpa are being constructed in collaboration between two big private companies of Nepal. This construction is being done jointly by Sharma & Company and IME Group. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">These companies have started the work by establishing a company called Lumbini Cable Car Pvt Ltd. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday approved the company to use 6.27 hectares of national forest under Rupandehi and Palpa districts for 25 years. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will lay the foundation stone of the cable car, hotel and two temples that will be built with an investment of Rs 3.50 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Altogether 3.16 hectares of land falls in the Chure Community Forest of Butwal Sub-metropolitan city – 3, Rupandehi and 3.11 hectares of land in Chuiri danda/Nyauli Community Forest of Tinau Rural municipality – 3, Palpa. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Meanwhile, the government has given permission to the company to remove 1,338 poles and trees in the area. Ramesh Sharma, Managing Director (MD) of Sharma & Company, informed that a tender is will be issued after signing an agreement with the cable car construction company. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the construction of the cable car will be completed within the next two years and the hotel will be operational within the next three years. As there will be delay in hotel occupancy, the two companies are preparing to open a restaurant prior to the hotel. These companies were planning to invest Rs 5 billion for cable car and 200-bed capacity hotels and resort. However, they cut down the investment due to the coronavirus pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">As it will take more time for tourists to come due to coronavirus and many new hotels have been opened in the area, Sharma said that the hotels are being built with less capacity due to increased competition. “The investment has been reduced as the virus has affected tourism sector,” he said, “The bed capacity has been reduced to 150, so the cost has also been reduced.” </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-02-11', 'modified' => '2021-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12780', 'image' => '20210211021226_index.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-02-11 14:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15073', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Pathway to Camp II of Everest Opened ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: The pathway to Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened for the spring season. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 10: The pathway to Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened for the spring season. A team of icefall doctors, tasked with building the pathway to the world's highest peak, Mt Everest, has cleared the route from the base camp to the Camp II. According to the Mount Everest Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), six icefall doctors are currently working on installing signals, stairs, and ropes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The climbers have now already left for Camp II after the pathway was cleared by the icefall doctors, said SPCC vice-president Lama Kaji Sherpa. In order to acclimatize, the climbers have to go from the base camp to the camp II and return. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sherpa said that 15 stairs have been used from the base camp to the Camp II this time. Earlier, 32 were used in 2018, but only 20 in 2019 BS. The pathway to Camp II is also used to climb Lhotse and Nuptse mountains. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the onset of the tourist season, the number of foreign tourists visiting Khumbu in the Everest region has increased. Khum Prasad Poudal, an employee of the Lukla branch of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said that the flights to the Tenzing Hillary Airport in Lukla have increased. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Up to 45 flights by helicopters and 35 flights by different airlines is taking place daily in Lukla these days. He said that as many as 266 tourists arrive in Khumbu by 14 aircraft and 225 tourists via 45 helicopter on Friday. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-10', 'modified' => '2022-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14815', 'image' => '20220410115017_Camp2_01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-10 11:49:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15072', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourism in Nepal Returning back to Normalcy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' April 10: Tourism industry, one of the mainstays of Nepal's economy, is gradually returning to normalcy after being battered by COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 10: Tourism industry, one of the mainstays of Nepal's economy, is gradually returning to normalcy after being battered by COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This spring season witnessed considerable number of foreign tourists arriving in Nepal. A total of 42,006 tourists arrived here from air route in March alone. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, during the same period, 14,977 foreign tourists had visited Nepal. According to the statistics of the Department of Tourism, Nepal has welcomed 78,747 foreign tourists since January this year till March end. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has formed a Tourism Revival Steering Committee under the chairmanship of the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation which is mandated to undertake initiatives for the revival of the tourism industry by exploring new possibilities, identifying new avenues, promoting the tourism industry and creating enabling investment environment in the tourism sector among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Towards this end, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has been organizing Travel Marts in all seven provinces. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Fewa Festival is going to be held from April 13-14. A team of foreign chefs led by Master Chef UK contest winner Santosh Shah will reach various destinations for 10 days and participate in promotional events with special focus on culinary tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mahesh Phuyal, general-manager of Ramada Encore, a 4-star hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu said that Ramada had 70 per cent occupancy of late. Mostly, American, India and European tourists book the 90-room hotel, shared Phuyal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The inflow of foreign tourists has excited tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara, one of the popular tourist destinations in the country. Bharatra Parajuli, a local entrepreneur, said that the tourism entrepreneurs like him were upbeat due to increasing number of tourism activities in Pokhara. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He said that development and promotion of adventurous tourism destinations in and around Pokhara, famed for lakes and natural landscapes, has helped boost the country's tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN)'s Acting President Binayak Shah shared that the hotels in Pokhara were receiving many inquiries lately. He opined that tourism was gradually reviving in Nepal after two years of pandemic-induced crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN)'s former vice-president Nilhari Bastola suggested that in order to revive tourism in Nepal, the government of Nepal needs to spread the message that Nepal is ready and open for tourist and this could be done through foreign ambassadors and consuls stationed in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further recommended the government to devise attractive packages such as free visa for a month among others to bolster the influx of foreign tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB's CEO Dr Dhananjay Regmi informed that the number of tourists from India and Bangladesh had increased significantly as the board had conducted targeted promotional events in these countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Echoing with Shah, Regmi said that tourism in Nepal which was plagued by COVID-19 was slowly clawing back to normalcy. He called for the need to facilitate Indian tourists arriving in Nepal via road ways through various border points. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-10', 'modified' => '2022-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14814', 'image' => '20220410081846_himalaya-trekkers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-10 08:17:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15068', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourism Industry Expected to Boost Foreign Exchange Reserves', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 8: The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal has been rising since the beginning of 2022. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 8: The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal has been rising since the beginning of 2022. Along with the improvement in tourist arrivals, foreign exchange earnings are also increasing. The increase in tourist arrivals amid the deteriorating state of the economy is expected to have a positive impact on foreign exchange reserves.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Tourism Board, 42,006 foreigners visited Nepal in March 2022 alone. In March 2021, the number was 14,977. Mani Raj Lamichhane, director of Nepal Tourism Board, said that tourist arrivals improved after the end of Covid-19 pandemic. He said that more than Rs 3 billion was earned from tourists in March alone.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the board, 17,661 tourists visited Nepal in March from neighboring countries including India. The number of people coming from Europe has also increased significantly. In March, 11,277 tourists arrived in Nepal from European countries. During the corresponding month last year, the number was 1,790. The number of tourists arriving from the USA and Canada is 5,646.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Arrival of tourists from northern neighbor China however has been declining. In March, only 431 Chinese tourists visited Nepal. The number was 1,207 last year. According to Lamichhane, the the tourism industry has contributed to foreign exchange. Compared to 2019, the revenue collected from tourists declined by 20 percent because of the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Tourism Statistics-2020 released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal earned foreign currencies worth Rs 75.37 billion in the fiscal year 2075/76 before Covid-19. The income, however, declined sharply after the pandemic. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank, the country has earned foreign currencies worth Rs 11.35 billion from tourism in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. The amount was Rs 3.89 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Chief Executive Officer of the Tourism Board, Deepak Raj Joshi, suggested that the tourism sector should be given first priority to boost the economy. He said, “One of the fastest growing sources of foreign exchange in Nepal is the tourism sector. Tourism can contribute 15 to 20 percent to the economy as soon as there is an improvement in arrival of tourists.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that Nepal earns billions from the tourism sector under normal circumstances, Joshi said that something should be done immediately as tourists are excited to come to Nepal even in the midst of the crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Joshi suggested that the government and concerned bodies should encourage the airlines to bring tourists, by conveying the message that it is safe to visit Nepal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-08', 'modified' => '2022-04-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14810', 'image' => '20220408032128_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-08 15:20:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15035', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Paragliding Competition in Pokhara to Promote Tourism', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 3: An open paragliding championship is going to be held in Pokhara with the objective of promoting the tourism business which has slowed down due to Covid-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 3: An open paragliding championship is going to be held in Pokhara with the objective of promoting the tourism business which has slowed down due to Covid-19. The three-day competition will kick off on April 6. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The competition is being organized by Nepal Airsports Association (NAA) with the support of various organizations related to paragliding. Krishna Bhandari, president of the association, said that the competition is being organized to attract domestic and foreign tourists as well as to promote adventure sports activities. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, in the championship this year will feature competitions in various categories including Accuracy, Overall Landing, Women's Landing, Team Landing, Accuracy Tandem and Air Show Costume. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Male and female athletes will participate in four different events towards the accuracy of paragliding. Bhandari said that the first, second, third and position holders of the Overall Landing event will receive cash prizes of Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the first, second, third and players in the women’s landing will receive cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, the first three winners of Team Accuracy will receive Rs 20,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. Similarly, in other areas under accuracy tandem, the players finishing first, second, third will receive cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The first place winner as Best Acrobat in the Air Show will get Rs 15,000 cash prize, second will get Rs 10,000 and third place winner will get Rs 5,000 along with medals and certificates. Along with this, prize money of Rs 10,000 will also be given to Best Costumes in the competition. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The organizers have said that the names can be registered online till April 3 to participate in the competition. Nepalis and foreigners are participating in the competition. According to the organizers, it will cost around Rs 3 million to organise the competition. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The annual competition had not been held for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14777', 'image' => '20220403063530_20220108023033_Clipboard60.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 18:34:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15032', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Tourist Activities up in Chitwan National Park', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 3: Lately, tourism activities in Chitwan National Park has increased due to the decline in Covid-19 cases. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 3: Lately, tourism activities in Chitwan National Park has increased due to the decline in Covid-19 cases. The park confirmed that the number of tourists, especially those from within the country, has started increasing after the decline in Covid-19 infection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the park officials, 108,254 tourists have already visited the park in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, which is more than that of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The number of tourists visiting the park was 92,209 in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The park officials informed that a total of 182,435 people had visited the park in the last fiscal year. According to the park's information officer Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, 5,394 foreign tourists visited the park in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. Among the foreign tourists, the number of female tourists is 2,540 and male tourists is 2,854.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the park, 4,865 tourists from SAARC countries visited the park in the current fiscal year. Last year, the number of foreign tourists from SAARC countries was 1,364 when 1,244 people from countries other than SAARC nations had visited the park.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14774', 'image' => '20220403024054_Chitwan-sunset-sauraha-nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 14:40:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15029', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => '22 Groups get Climbing Permits for Spring Expedition', 'sub_title' => ' Government collects royalties of Rs 56 million so far ', 'summary' => 'April 3: With the onset of spring season, aspiring mountaineers have already started obtaining climbing permits and are all set to begin their expeditions.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 3: With the onset of spring season, aspiring mountaineers have already started obtaining climbing permits and are all set to begin their expeditions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informed that 22 expedition groups were granted permission as of March 31. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, five groups have received permission for climbing the highest mountain in the world Mt Everest while four have obtained permission to scale Mt Annapurna. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, one group each was given permit for scaling Mt Ama Dablam, Mt Lhotse, Mt Kanchejungha and Mt Dhaulagiri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Permits were also issued for climbing peaks such as Mt Nuptse and Minglung Peak. Altogether 153 aspiring climbers, including 37 women and 116 men, have received permits to climb various mountains, the department said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The fepartment further shared that over Rs 56 million has been collected in royalties from the climbers so far. - RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-03', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14771', 'image' => '20220403080643_Spring Expedition (8).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-03 08:05:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15019', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Inflow of Tourists up in Mustang ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 31: The inflow of domestic and external tourists has increased in Mustang, considered to be one of the two districts beyond the mountains, with the fear of coronanvirus infection receding of late. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dhruba Sagar Sharma/RSS </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 31: The inflow of domestic and external tourists has increased in Mustang, considered to be one of the two districts beyond the mountains, with the fear of coronanvirus infection receding of late. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs are delighted at the moment to welcome around 3,000 tourists entering Mustang and Lo-Manthang through land and air routes on a daily basis. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sources at Jomsom Airport said around 15 flights are taking place a day now in Mustang – the centre of attraction for domestic and external tourists. Likewise, there seems a long queue of vehicles transport means along the Beni-Jomsom road leading to Muktinath and Lo-Manthang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs said arrival of tourists has increased significantly in Mustang which saw almost zero arrival of tourists for almost two years during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This is the prime season for tourists and their number has been increasing thanks to the decline in Covid-19 infection and the rise in vaccination drive.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the festival of Chaite Dashain just around the corner, a huge number of people is expected to offer homage to their ancestors at Kaagbeni of Mustang district.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Devlal Poudel, a local of Gaindakot Municipality-12, Harkapur said, "I found Mustang much more captivating than expected. It was difficult to get hotel room due to huge number of tourists." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Nepalis residing in different countries are also returning home with the advent of cultural fair at Lo-Manthang in upper Mustang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of Jomsom Airport Puskal Raj Sharma informed that 15 flights are taking place daily after Mustang-Pokhara air service resumed since March 6. Each flight has a capacity of 18 passengers. With this, daily 250 plus people are entering Mustang via air route, he informed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lately over 2,000 tourists are daily entering Mustang on tourist buses, jeeps and motorbike via the land route, the district police office sources said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hotel entrepreneurs said that the tourism industry which was almost nil is now revitalizing with the rise in the arrival of tourists. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-31', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14761', 'image' => '20220331114824_459932_589579011065826_229923417_o.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-31 11:47:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14969', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'NTB Organizing Travel Marts to Promote Domestic Tourism', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 21: Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has taken initiative to organise tourism marts in all seven provinces as well as border areas in order to promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from neighbouring India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:11.0pt">March 21: </span></strong>Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has taken initiative to organise tourism marts in all seven provinces as well as border areas in order to promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from neighbouring India. In accordance with the plan, NTB is organizing Eastern Tourism Travel Mart in Dharan of Province 1 from March 25-27, 2022.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During a press conference organised at NTB on March 22, Dr Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of NTB, informed that the board is organizing tourism marts for tourism promotion in the border areas. NTB is organizing 'Provincial Travel Mart' in each province to develop and expand tourism activities of different provinces and to establish business relations with the tour operators of the international market. These programs are under the policy and program of 2078-79, Regmi said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In this regard, to promote the tourism activities in Nepalgunj, Bardiya, and Karnali provinces, the Western Tourism Travel Mart was held on March 10 to 12 jointly by the Board and Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City. In this mart, the city of Nepalgunj was promoted as the Gateway of Karnali.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, NTB, in collaboration with the Dharan sub-metropolis will organize the Eastern Tourism Travel Mart in Province 1 in Dharan on 25-27, March 2022. Similarly, the board will organize Far-Western Tourism Travel Mart in Dhangadhi on 8th-10th April 2022.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhawesh Kumar Shrestha, the coordinator of Eastern Tourism Travel Mart, informed that promoting the overall tourism activities and destinations of the country nationally and internationally is the objective of the Eastern Tourism Travel Mart. He informed that Eastern Tourism Travel Mart 2022 is the third edition of the mart organized in Dharan since 2018 BS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the organisers of the Far West Tourism Travel March 2022, plan to promote tourist destinations of the province that spread from the Shuklaphanta plains to the Api and Saipal mountains in the north under the branding of ‘Sundar Sudur Paschin – from Shukla to Api/Saipal’ during the event in Dhangadhi on April 8, 9 and 10.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Hikmat Singh Aire, senior director of the board, these marts will have the active participation of state-level chapters of NATTA, as well as local tourism-related organizations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In these marts, there will be business interaction between Nepal's tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers to promote the sale of tour packages in the region by involving tour operators from bordering Indian cities. In these marts, tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers will promote attractive packages, said Aire. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tour operators, hoteliers, and tourism service providers will promote packages with attractive stalls. Local cultural presentations and performances, and food stalls are the major attractions of the mart.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-22', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14711', 'image' => '20220322123309_Nepal-Tourism-Board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-22 12:32:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14963', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Hotel Occupancy Climbs to 35 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 21: The hotel business that was badly affected by the Covid-19 is gradually returning back to normalcy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 21: The hotel business that was badly affected by the Covid-19 is gradually returning back to normalcy. The occupancy of hotels in the Kathmandu valley as well as other tourist destinations has started to improve.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to hoteliers, their business is gradually improving. Hotel occupancy, which fell to 5 percent during the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic, has risen to 35 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shreejana Rana, president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), said that the situation at present has improved compared to the past.</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> She said that the hotel sector has become active due to domestic and Indian tourists. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The Ukraine-Russia war has made the arrival of European tourist uncertain," Rana said. She said that the government should give more priority to identifying tourist destinations and their marketing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rana stressed on the need for training to provide a better environment to the Indian tourists. She urged the authorities to set up “Namaste Desks” in the border areas to facilitate Indian tourists. Sajan Shakya, executive director of Kathmandu Prince Hotel and general secretary of HAN, informed that the occupancy of hotels has increased on an average.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He noted that the hotel business has improved in February and March compared to the last month of 2021 and the beginning of January 2022. "March and April are also tourist seasons," said Shakya. "This season, the number of tourists coming for trekking is on the rise. He said that the tourists are interested in trekking and adventure activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Bikal Tulachan, president of HAN's Pokhara chapter, said that although the occupancy rate could not improve significantly due to the reduction in night stay, tourism activities have increased overall. He said that the presence of domestic tourists was significant while the number of foreign tourists has also increased to some extent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the number of tourists arriving from European countries is low, he said. According to him, even though the occupancy rate of hotels in Pokhara is 10 percent, arrival of tourists is improving. Businessmen in the Bhairahawa area of Rupandehi said that tourism activities have increased due to the presence of Indian tourists. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CP Shrestha, president of Siddhartha Hotel Association of Nepal, said that the improvement in the arrival of Indian tourists and the influx of tourists due to various project works have improved the business of hotels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the occupancy rate of hotels is at least 25 to 30 percent at present. Similarly, up to 15 percent of booking has been done from Maharashtra and other states of India, he said. Arrival of tourists has almost doubled in February 2022 compared to the period of Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 36,741 tourists from 33 countries visited Nepal in the first two months of 2022.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-21', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14705', 'image' => '20220321115638_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-21 11:55:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13034', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Hotel and Cable Car in Palpa in the Pipeline ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 11: A cable car connecting Butwal and Palpa and a five star hotel in Basantapur of Palpa are being constructed in collaboration between two big private companies of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">February 11: A cable car connecting Butwal and Palpa and a five star hotel in Basantapur of Palpa are being constructed in collaboration between two big private companies of Nepal. This construction is being done jointly by Sharma & Company and IME Group. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">These companies have started the work by establishing a company called Lumbini Cable Car Pvt Ltd. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday approved the company to use 6.27 hectares of national forest under Rupandehi and Palpa districts for 25 years. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will lay the foundation stone of the cable car, hotel and two temples that will be built with an investment of Rs 3.50 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Altogether 3.16 hectares of land falls in the Chure Community Forest of Butwal Sub-metropolitan city – 3, Rupandehi and 3.11 hectares of land in Chuiri danda/Nyauli Community Forest of Tinau Rural municipality – 3, Palpa. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Meanwhile, the government has given permission to the company to remove 1,338 poles and trees in the area. Ramesh Sharma, Managing Director (MD) of Sharma & Company, informed that a tender is will be issued after signing an agreement with the cable car construction company. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the construction of the cable car will be completed within the next two years and the hotel will be operational within the next three years. As there will be delay in hotel occupancy, the two companies are preparing to open a restaurant prior to the hotel. These companies were planning to invest Rs 5 billion for cable car and 200-bed capacity hotels and resort. However, they cut down the investment due to the coronavirus pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">As it will take more time for tourists to come due to coronavirus and many new hotels have been opened in the area, Sharma said that the hotels are being built with less capacity due to increased competition. “The investment has been reduced as the virus has affected tourism sector,” he said, “The bed capacity has been reduced to 150, so the cost has also been reduced.” </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-02-11', 'modified' => '2021-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12780', 'image' => '20210211021226_index.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-02-11 14:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
