The Hindu : Nepal Tourism Board woos tourists with Shivarathri package

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Nepal Tourism Board woos tourists with Shivarathri package

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JAN. 28. The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has come back to Bangalore to woo people for next month's Mahashivarathri at the shrine of Lord Pashupathinath near Kathmandu.

But the board knows that the "bird flu" which has hit South Asia could play havoc with its plans of boosting revenue from tourism.

"We have not made any preparations for such an eventuality. Such decisions come from the topmost level," the Chief Executive Officer of the board, Tek Bahadur Dangi, said on the sidelines of a media interaction here on Wednesday.

But he pointed out that the flu, if it crossed over to India (Pakistan confirmed a case this week) or its neighbours, "could impact the entire region".

Mr. Dangi admitted that tourism had been affected by the Maoist insurgency in the Hindu kingdom during 1999 and 2002 but things improved in 2003 when the number of tourists grew by 23 per cent. No tourist had been targeted in the past eight years of Maoist violence, he stressed, adding that Indians accounted for one-third of the total inflow of tourists.

"The India market grew 33 per cent to 87,066 visitors," he said.

He hoped it would go up 50 per cent this year.

There were some 30,000 Indians for Mahashivarathri last year. "That has prompted us to come here", he said. The festival is on February 18 and the board, the Pashupathi Area Development Trust, and Royal Nepal Airlines (RNA), have a "Pashupathinath Darshan Package", valid between February 15 and March 31.

The package was launched in Chennai two days ago by the Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. But Nepal had many religiously significant sites like Muktinath, Lumbini, Swargadwari, Janakpurdham, and Manakamna, Mr. Dangi pointed out.

The RNA operates Bangalore-Kathmandu flights on Thursdays and Sundays. A round trip (for the Mahashivrathri fest) will cost Rs. 9,999 per person from Bangalore and includes a tour of Lord Pashupathi shrine on the western banks of the Bagmati, about five km. north-east of Kathmandu.

The RNA officials were also present.

Similar interactions will be held in Mumbai and Delhi. The board and RNA officials will come back in February "to sustain interest in the Pashupathinath Darshan Package".

For more details, visit www.welcomenepal.com or contact RNA, 205 Barton Centre, M.G. Road on phone 25597878.

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