Nepal, India Join Hands In Promoting Buddhist And Eco-Tourism

Neeti Chopra - New Delhi

Tek Bahadur Dangi

In what may be seen as an effort to revive arrivals from India to Nepal, which has taken a nosedive due to recent political upheavals and tense law and order situations, the Nepal Tourism Board is taking the support of the tourism ministry of India to sensitise potential Indian tourists about safety and security of the tourist destination. This was evident from the fact that Amitabh Kant, joint secretary, ministry of tourism, made a brief appearance of 15 minutes to present a strong argument for Nepal's tourism attractions and safety. The need to galvanise the tourism component of the country and woo Indians with several attractive packages was felt because India is the largest source market of Nepal accounting for 33 per cent of total arrivals.

Significantly, India and Nepal have come together to jointly promote the Buddhist circuit and eco-tourism to improve regional tourism. Speaking about the initiatives being taken Tek Bahadur Dangi, CEO Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said, "NTB is promoting eco and buddhist tourism with a planned and sustainable approach because we have Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha and some award-winning eco-tourism attractions like the Annapurna Trail, Tiger Lodge etc. Hence, Nepal will also be hosting the Second World Buddhist Summit in Lumbini from November 30 to December 2, 2004 as holding the summit will help garner publicity of Nepal in international markets and link Lumbini with other Buddhist pilgrimage sites of India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Further, India and Nepal will jointly promote eco-tourism bringing together attractions in eastern Himalayas."

This linking is as per the Asian Development Bank (ADB) initiative called BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal). "BBIN is working towards projecting South Asia as a buddhist and eco-tourism circuit. South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) under the funding of ADB has concluded the feasibility study of the Buddhist circuit linking BBIN and for this purpose each of the four countries have contributed US$ 10,000. We are in a process of finalising brochures, posters and CD ROMs, which will be a part of our marketing strategy to promote our products," informed Dangi.

The objective behind organising such historic events, pointed out Dangi, was to create positive publicity about the destination embroiled in internal conflict. "For instance, inspired by the grand success of the Mount Everest Golden Jubilee in May 2003, this year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Mount Cho-Oyu on October 19 to fetch positive publicity about Nepal as a pioneer in the arena of mountain sports and adventure activities," he added.

According to Dangi, this year NTB expects about 1, 25,000 tourists from India. "Sustained Pashupati Darshan Package launched by us in August 2003 as well as in February 2004 has been successful in India. We are planning to relaunch this package soon. Plus, Royal Nepal Airlines is offering some special fares. So we hope to achieve the target," he mentioned.